NIST Team Presents its 5G Industrial Wireless Testbed and Research Direction at AIM Conference

NIST researcher Jing Geng of the Operational Technology (OT) Wireless Team, Smart Connected Systems Division, presented the paper, “An Industrial Private 5G Testbed for Networked Automation Systems” at the International Conference on Advance Intelligent Mechatronics in Boston on July 18, 2024. This paper introduces a novel 5G private networking testbed designed to support research across various industrial use cases. The NIST testbed offers precise control over the network and RF channel, enabling detailed measurement and new research capabilities. The motivation for this work is the growing need for industrial wireless solutions and the potential benefits of adopting 5G technology across different industrial sectors. The network architecture and main elements of the testbed include a software-based 5G system, network devices for radio channel control, precision measurement tools, 5G user equipment (UEs), and computing devices to support 5G-capable industrial scenarios. The primary contribution of this testbed is the creation of a 5G research platform that incorporates real industrial equipment. This platform can simulate the impact of aggressors in industrial environments and adapt to various use case scenarios. Moving forward, the OT Wireless Team will focus on research in 5G resource scheduling, Quality of Service (QoS) implementations, adaptive RAN optimization with intelligent control, RF aggressor impacts, and a gap analysis of 5G for OT applications.