5G Experimental Trials Using Millimeter-Wave and Sub-6 GHz Bands in Manufacturing Factory

5th-generation mobile communication system (5G) has already launched commercially since 2019 and has been introduced worldwide. 5G attracts much attention as a promising technology that can solve future industrial and social issues. Since industrial 5G use cases need not only high-speed and large-capacity communications, but also high-reliability and low-latency communications, higher requirements and performances are required compared to communication services for consumers. This paper introduces 5G experimental trials using millimeter-wave and sub-6 GHz bands in an actual manufacturing factory, which are conducted for further utilization of 5G in the industrial use cases. The experimental trials evaluate and compare some performances of 5G wireless transmission in 28 GHz and 3.7 GHz bands. In the trials, Nokia's 5G base station (BS) equipment was installed in the manufacturing area of OMRON Kusatsu Factory, and a commercial 5G mobile station (MS) was mounted on an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) moving at a low speed through the factory. Experimental results demonstrate both advantages and disadvantages in 28 GHz and 3.7 GHz bands and the effectiveness of 28 GHz compared to 3.7 GHz in the manufacturing factory.