5G: The carrier-grade digital infrastructure for the software-defined factory of the future

What is the smart factory? In simple terms, it is the aspirational concept of a digitally transformed factory or warehouse. It is a cyber-physical ecosystem of virtualized and connected assets, people, and processes that constitute the manufacturing platform of the 4th industrial revolution that is Industry 4.0. One of the great expectations of 5G is that it will bring a new level of flexibility to the shop floor of a Smart Factory, allowing a growing number and range of mobile autonomous robots and vehicles to safely operate and coexist with humans in a manufacturing environment. The net expected outcome is the transition of today's static production models toward highly dynamic and software-defined production models.