Hytera: Connecting Public and Private Networks for Smart Factories

Translated from the Chinese article dated 14 February 2024. Industry statistics below describe the period covered by the original article.

Smart factories represent a further stage in the development of factory information systems. Manufacturing companies have been adopting smart-factory approaches alongside Industry 4.0, the industrial internet, the Internet of Things and cloud computing.

The original article cites Ministry of Industry and Information Technology data indicating that 5G applications had reached 60 of China's 97 major economic sectors, with more than 50,000 application cases. It describes 5G and industrial-internet applications extending into core production processes.

Different factories require different communications

Feng Zhiyong said that high data rates, low latency and the ability to connect large numbers of devices can help unlock the industrial internet's potential. Industrial sectors and applications also provide a broad range of uses for 5G.

He emphasized that a 5G industrial-internet deployment is a systems project, with application, network and terminal requirements that vary considerably. Examples include production management, group dispatch, unmanned patrol inspections, augmented reality, remote diagnosis, digital twins, AI inspection and automated equipment checks.

Combining public and private networks

Low latency and network stability are important for these applications. As converged private networks develop, terminal requirements are also becoming more intelligent. Multimode terminals support smart-factory deployments in which services need to move smoothly between public and private networks, broadband and narrowband systems, and mobile and fixed networks.

The article describes Hytera's multimode smart terminals as combining mission-critical voice communications with broadband data. They are intended to support coordinated operation across broadband, narrowband, public-network and private-network communications, providing a consistent communications experience and access to business applications while supporting information security.