5G PLC Communication Control with Emergency Stop Group UPF Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
When a 5G network is applied to an industrial system, the User Plane Function (UPF) becomes a single point of failure, leading to weak fault tolerance as all data exchanged between Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) is transferred through the UPF.
Innovation Solution
A communication control system is implemented, where each control device calculates emergency stop groups and creates slice information to connect to the same number of UPFs as the total number of emergency stop groups. This allows each emergency stop group to be associated with a unique destination UPF without duplication, stored in a destination conversion table.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single UPF is used to transfer all data exchanged between PLCs in a 5G network, then the network structure is simplified, but the fault tolerance deteriorates because the UPF becomes a single point of failure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the network data flow by dividing PLCs into multiple emergency stop groups, where each group is assigned to a different UPF. This segmentation prevents a single UPF from handling all data traffic, thereby eliminating the single point of failure while maintaining manageable network structure through organized group assignments.
2Reliability
If multiple UPFs are deployed to improve fault tolerance, then the reliability improves, but the device complexity increases due to multiple network functions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different characteristics to different UPFs based on their designated emergency stop groups. Each UPF is optimized for specific groups rather than being identical general-purpose nodes, allowing the system to achieve high reliability through specialized distribution while keeping individual UPF functions relatively simple and manageable.
3Ease of operation
If all PLCs are assigned to the same UPF, then the data routing is simplified, but the system loses fault tolerance when the UPF fails
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-assigning emergency stop groups to specific UPFs and storing the correspondence in advance in a destination conversion table. This pre-configuration enables simple data routing decisions at runtime without complex real-time calculations, while simultaneously ensuring fault tolerance through the distributed group-UPF mapping that prevents single points of failure.
Data Source
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AI summary
A communication control system (500) includes a plurality of control devices (100) that communicate via a 5G network and a plurality of controlled devices (200) respectively controlled by the plurality of control devices (100). A control device (100) acquires, from emergency stop group information, emergency stop group numbers of emergency stop groups to which the control devices (100) belong. Then, the control device (100) calculates the total number of emergency stop groups, and creates slice information for connecting to the same number of UPFs as the total number of emergency stop groups. The control device (100) registers itself with the 5G network, acquires UPF destination information, which is destination information to UPFs (410), and stores, in a destination conversion table, information in which each emergency stop group number is associated with a destination UPF without duplication of a destination UPF (410) between the emergency stop groups.