Performance model for factory automation in 5G networks

The fifth generation (5G) of mobile networks is emerging as a key enabler of modern factory automation (FA) applications that ensure timely and reliable data exchange between network components. Network slicing (NS), which shares an underlying infrastructure with different applications and ensures application isolation, is the key 5G technology to support the diverse quality of service requirements of modern FA applications. In this article, an end-to-end (E2E) NS solution is proposed for FA applications in a 5G network. Regression approaches are used to construct a performance model for each slice to map the service level agreement to the network attributes. Interference coordination approaches for switched beam systems are proposed to optimize radio access network (RAN) performance models. A case study of a non-public network is used to show the proposed NS solution. Simulation result shows that for services with different QoS requirements, different IC approaches should be used as optimization methods. Design prediction using regression approach has been evaluated and shows that the prediction successful rate increases when more existing data are used.