Overview of 5G Industry Terminal Development

With the continuous development of the fifth generation of mobile communication technology and the gradual acceleration of its commercialization process worldwide, my country has taken a leading position in the world in terms of 5G network construction, user scale and number of applications, forming a 5G application pattern covering multiple key industries such as industry, medical care, education, and transportation. As the connection node between the network and the industry, 5G terminals play an indispensable and key role in the process of realizing 5G empowerment of thousands of industries, and have received attention from the industry and support from national policies.

Analysis on the current status of 5G industry terminal development

The development of the industry is inseparable from the support of relevant national policies. Considering the important role of 5G industry terminals in promoting 5G commercialization and industrial modernization, relevant policies have been introduced at the national and local levels to promote the development of 5G industry terminals. Specifically, in 2019, 5G applications moved from mobile Internet to industrial Internet, entering the "first year of commercialization". In March 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Promoting the Accelerated Development of 5G".

In 2021, the 14th Five-Year Plan proposes to accelerate the large-scale deployment of 5G networks, build 5G-based application scenarios and industrial ecosystems, and promote energy efficiency improvements in emerging fields such as 5G and big data centers. In 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "2023 Work Plan of the Industrial Internet Special Working Group", further emphasizing the need to strengthen the research and development and application of 5G industrial chips, modules, and terminals, and enhance the hardware foundation for my country's industrial development.

Based on the favorable industrial environment for 5G industry terminals established by national and local policies, the types of 5G industry terminals are gradually enriched, increasingly meeting the customized needs of industry users. Technologies such as 5G industry module grading and layering strategies and simplified 5G chips have effectively reduced the overall cost of industry 5G terminals, and the price of domestic industry 5G modules has dropped to around 400 yuan. At the same time, customized 5G industry terminals are gradually appearing on the market. For example, in 2022, customized 5G industry terminals with integrated positioning, high-precision timing and industrial protection (such as automated 5G power distribution equipment, 5G automatic guided transport vehicles in mines, 5G explosion-proof equipment in mines, etc.) have effectively improved the stability and efficiency of 5G in industry applications.

In addition, 5G industry terminals integrate technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and edge computing, which improve the intelligence level of traditional equipment. Industry terminal products such as 5G Dongle, gateway, and data transfer unit (DTU) are combined with mining tunneling machines and port gantry cranes to form an efficient industry solution.

5G industry terminal development trends and challenges

At present, 5G industry terminals have received support from relevant policies and the attention of the industry, but their development still faces challenges in terms of supply, technology maturity, price, and operation and maintenance. First, the range of 5G industry terminals is relatively small. At the same time, as an important form of 5G industry application, the implementation cycle of 5G customized network projects usually spans 2 to 3 years, which is a great test for manufacturers. Second, the relevant technologies for 5G industry terminals to cooperate with customized network projects to carry out terminal IP transformation and improve security and reliability are not yet mature. Third, the price of 5G industry terminals often plays a decisive role in the fierce market competition of current customized network projects, but the current cost of 5G industry terminals is relatively high, and its operation and maintenance, transformation and other links are difficult, which makes small and medium-sized manufacturers discouraged, thereby limiting the development of 5G industry terminals.

Considering the challenges currently faced by the development of 5G industry terminals and the future needs of digitalization and intelligent development in thousands of industries, 5G industry terminals will make further breakthroughs in the three major directions of customization, intelligent cloud computing, and scale in the future.

Customization

As the 5G commercialization process continues to advance, technologies such as enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-reliable low-latency communications, and large-scale machine communications continue to evolve, enabling 5G to cover a variety of business scenarios such as ultra-high-definition video and other high-traffic enhanced mobile broadband services, unmanned driving and industrial automation services that require low-latency and high-reliability connections, and large-scale Internet of Things services, meeting the needs of industry development. Specifically, facing the application needs of many industries, 5G industry terminals will be customized mainly in terms of form and function.

In terms of terminal form, industry applications will give rise to customized 5G industry terminals to meet industry needs and carry out connection tasks. In addition to the current traditional terminal forms such as customer premise equipment/customer premise equipment (CPE), DTU, gateway, etc., various terminals such as AGV, intelligent robots, vehicle routers, industrial cameras/cameras, drones/cars/ships will serve as expansions and supplements to the 5G industry terminal form to further meet the needs of industry development.

In terms of terminal functions, 5G industry terminal functions will also be more abundant to meet the specialized and refined industry needs. Specifically, unlike traditional mobile phones, tablets and other 5G consumer terminals that focus on universality and standardization, industry users' needs for terminal functions are often closely related to specific usage scenarios. Key industries such as industry, medical care, education, and transportation have put forward higher requirements for the reliability, stability, latency and other performance of 5G industry terminals, as well as functions such as protocol conversion and networking. At the same time, considering the complex and changeable industry terminal operating environment such as high temperature, high humidity, and dust, the development of terminal products that can operate stably and reliably in specific scenarios has become the focus of current industry attention. Customized research and development based on key capabilities such as multi-protocol conversion, low cost, waterproof/explosion-proof, safety, 5G Local Area Network (5G LAN), and in-depth understanding of industry solutions, providing users with "turnkey" products has become an important issue for the future development of 5G industry terminals.

Intelligent Cloud

With the development of technologies such as cloud computing, cloud storage, edge computing, and artificial intelligence, the intelligent collaboration of "end-edge-cloud" will accelerate the trend of terminal cloudification and realize rapid response, flexible deployment, and global scheduling of industry user services. Specifically, for scenarios with massive device connections such as 5G fully connected factories, the storage, computing, and processing of massive connection data can be deployed in the cloud, providing low-latency, low-cost, highly reliable, and timely response services to a large number of industry users through edge gateways and servers. At the same time, based on the intelligent collaboration of "end-edge-cloud", the intelligent cloudification of 5G industry terminals can be realized, thereby effectively reducing terminal costs and expanding the application scope of 5G industry terminals.

Scale

Through pilot explorations in various industries, 5G industry terminals will surely move towards scale. In the commercial stage, the maturity of 5G industry terminal customization technology will further stimulate industry demand, thereby giving rise to more diverse industry application scenarios and expanding the market size of 5G industry terminals.

At present, the lowest centralized procurement price of 5G modules is about 400 yuan. In 2022, the lightweight 5G (5G Reduced Capability, 5G RedCap) standard was frozen. Compared with the 5G eMBB module, the cost of the 5G Redcap module dropped by 40%~70%. It is expected that the price of 5G modules will drop to less than 200 yuan by the end of 2024. The accumulation of 5G industry terminal technology and the decline in module prices will surely promote the large-scale development of terminals. According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, by 2025, my country's 5G base stations will reach more than 3.6 million, and 5G network coverage in key areas will be completed first. By then, the total number of 5G terminals will exceed 3,200, of which the total number of industry terminals will reach 2,000. Therefore, how to replicate 5G industry terminal products on a large scale will become the main challenge for the development of 5G industry terminals and determine their future market value.

Operator layout and future development direction

Operators play three basic roles in the 5G industry ecosystem: infrastructure provider, application innovation promoter, and industry ecosystem integrator. They play a key role in the future development of 5G industry terminals and even 5G. Against the backdrop of the further acceleration of my country's digital economy, operators should comprehensively consider factors such as industry ecology, market demand, and Sino-US high-tech competition, and rationally plan their layout and direction of efforts in 5G industry terminals.

Improve the 5G industry terminal categories to adapt to new market demands

In the future, operators should focus on building two major 5G industry terminal systems, intensive and high-quality. Through classified product operations, they should build a 5G industry terminal library, and then improve the 5G industry terminal categories, meet market demand, and improve the 5G industry terminal ecosystem.

Intensive 5G industry terminals: mainly group-level 5G industry terminal products with clear demand, large scale and important significance, such as CPE, DTU, and gateway products. Operators should achieve the "four unifications" model of unified specifications, unified entry, unified policies, and unified sales, focusing on centralized procurement, grasping key links, reducing costs, and then expanding the market scale, and sharing benefits with chip, module, terminal manufacturers and industry users.

Premium 5G industry terminals: mainly for industry terminal products with relatively niche demand and small market size, but essential for 5G industry applications, such as smart industrial cameras, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) terminal equipment. Operators should consider "independent research and development + external cooperation" as the main approach, and further empower 5G industry terminals through structural design with software and hardware decoupling, interface standardization, and capability modularization.

Strengthen key technology research and promote industry development

Facing the convergence trend of communication technology (CT), information technology (IT), and operation technology (OT), operators should actively grasp the market trend based on the advantages of traditional CT and further transform into comprehensive information service providers. Specifically, operators should continue to strengthen the research on key technologies of 5G industry terminals, and actively increase investment in R&D of protocol conversion capabilities (industrial protocols, etc.), connection capabilities ("5G+", satellite communications, visible light communications, etc.), computing power capabilities (edge/end computing power collaboration, etc.), perception fusion capabilities (synesthesia integration, etc.), energy-saving capabilities (low-power technology, passive Internet of Things, etc.) and security capabilities (industry data privacy protection, application security protection), etc., to solve the pain points of the industry and promote the development of the industry.

Build an alliance cooperation system and promote the prosperity of the alliance ecosystem

On the basis of improving the industry terminal categories and strengthening the research and development of key technologies, operators should make full use of their understanding and insight into the industry market, actively build industry alliances, and form an empowerment system in three aspects: ecology, channels, and publicity, with the purpose of building a bridge for ecological cooperation, promoting exchanges among alliance members, and promoting joint innovation. Provide ecological partners with a variety of resource support such as alliance member identity authentication, business opportunity discovery and incubation sharing, channel platform funding support, and terminal procurement and sales cooperation. At the same time, operators should work with chip, module, and terminal manufacturers to focus on key industries, deepen industry application scenarios, and create benchmark engineering projects to jointly promote the prosperity and development of the 5G industry terminal ecology, help 5G applications go deeper and more practical, and promote the digital transformation and upgrading of thousands of industries.