Autonomous mobile robot (AMR)

Autonomous mobile robots communicate wirelessly; in the Siemens example they use a private 5G network on the company's own site. SCALANCE M industrial routers on the vehicles connect them to the network, while radio units provide coverage across the area. According to the source, standard Wi-Fi often fails to meet the requirements for deterministic communication, and public mobile networks are subject to the operators' conditions.

Yes, provided the network carries the controller's industrial protocols. Siemens transmits PROFINET IO through a VXLAN tunnel between router and firewall across its private 5G network. Local controllers on AGVs and other mobile participants can then be dropped, and one central controller handles several vehicles. This reduces engineering and maintenance effort and saves space on the vehicles.

In the solution example, in in-plant material logistics. Siemens trialled its private 5G solution at its own plant in Karlsruhe, where autonomous mobile robots transport material and communicate over the 5G network. The associated use case is efficient material supply. Besides manufacturing, the source names the process industry as a field for private 5G networks, for example for mobile platforms carrying cameras.

Through a dedicated wireless network on the plant site and industrial routers on the vehicles. At Siemens, the 5G core and parts of the radio access network run on industrial PCs in a server room, with a fibre-optic link to the distributed radio units. SCALANCE M routers connect the robots. Because PROFINET IO is carried over the network too, existing controllers and equipment can still be used and retrofitted for communication.