Working from AMRC North-West in Blackburn, FoFoRAN will develop, test, and showcase flexible Open RAN deployment approaches for the manufacturing sector.
Total project funding amount: £2,714,375
Project date(s): -
Category: Government Funded
Location(s): AMRC North-West, Roy Chadwick Way, Samlesbury Aerospace Enterprise Zone, Mellor Brook, Blackburn BB2 7HP
Status: Open
Partners
- AMRC (University of Sheffield)
- Dassault Systemes
- aql
- Productive Machines
- Safenetics
Project Summary
Industry 4.0 has pushed organisations to digitise manufacturing. Intelligent machines, internet of things, AI, cobot mobile robot and mixed reality technologies are becoming accelerators to gain commercial advantage for the UK in future markets and put the UK ahead as global leaders in this field. They are now evolving as essential elements of NextGen factories and connected supply chains, but they demand greater connectivity, high bandwidth, and near-zero latency of the network to function effectively.
Currently the manufacturing industry’s preferred choice for 5G deployment is single vendor/private configurations. This is affordable for larger/Tier 1 manufactures, but is not for SMEs, nor suitable for wider manufacturing supply chain interconnections, which vary in size, digital skill set, readiness, and financial capacity. Individual manufacturers need the freedom to choose different levels of vendors, services and technical features at varying costs. These options need to be interoperable, secure, reliable, affordable to the entire manufacturing supply chain.
Working from AMRC North-West in Blackburn, FoFoRAN will develop, test, and showcase flexible Open RAN deployment approaches for the manufacturing sector. Our consortium is composed of expert partners AMRC (University of Sheffield), Dassault Systemes, aql, Productive Machines and Safenetics. Open RAN components’ ability to customise and fine-tune the characteristics specifically for high demand density manufacturing factory networks will be explored and benchmarked against the single vendor solutions.
Professor Rab Scott, director of industrial digitalisation for the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), said:
We are proud to lead a consortium which comprises manufacturers, tech providers and telecom suppliers - flying the 5G flag for manufacturing and the northern region.
Professor Rab Scott, director of industrial digitalisation for the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), said:
We are proud to lead a consortium which comprises manufacturers, tech providers and telecom suppliers - flying the 5G flag for manufacturing and the northern region.
The FoFoRAN project builds on the successful 5G Factory of the Future test bed and trials programme, showcasing how Open RAN-based telecom infrastructure can enhance productivity and efficiency in manufacturing. This advancement may lead to carbon reduction and faster market access, benefiting smaller players in telecom and manufacturing tech.
John Kitchingman, Senior VP of Global Customer Engagement at Dassault Systèmes, expressed his enthusiasm for aiding manufacturers in harnessing data’s power through virtual manufacturing experiences, adding:
We are looking forward to seeing how this technology will be applied to factories of the future and the subsequent benefits for customers within the UK. We truly believe this project will ensure our manufacturing sector can maintain its competitive edge and forge a resilient, robust, and formidable future.
Organisations participating in this project
University of Sheffield AMRC
The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) is a network of world-leading research and innovation centres working with manufacturing companies of any size from around the globe.
