Manufacturing
Underpinning safe and innovative manufacturing
Challenges
Wireless Unfriendly:
Manufacturing sites are typically “wireless unfriendly” with physical barriers to wireless signals across the site. Large assembly areas, production lines with extensive equipment, and isolated control rooms all present their own challenge. Achieving consistent, reliable coverage demands tailored connectivity solutions specifically designed to overcome the issues associated with each space.
Future proofing:
As with many industries, we are seeing greater adoption of connected machinery to improve operations. This is a huge driver for manufacturing facility operators to explore Private 5G as the foundation for applications including automation, robotics, and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs).
Mission Critical:
Although manufacturing environments prioritize safety, accidents can still happen. In the event of an emergency, Manufacturing facility operators and emergency services need true mission-critical connectivity that works consistently and reliably.
Fire Safety:
A significant driver for upgrading connectivity solutions among our manufacturing customers is the need for communication systems that offer full site coverage and will continue to operate in the event of a fire. Facilities must meet strict fire safety regulations to avoid issues arising from non-compliance and ensure safety.
Need for Green:
The materials used to make a warehouse energy efficient, are also the materials that are best suited to keeping wireless coverage out. This makes in-building solutions essential to deliver any kind of reliable, quality connectivity.
Indutry Trends
True Mission Critical
One of the key requirements of manufacturing facilities when it comes to connectivity is comprehensive site-wide coverage. Achieving this requires different approaches depending on the nature of each environment across the site. RFS supports this with:
- Combined DRS and DAS systems allow reliable wireless in densely packed and isolated spaces.
- RADIAFLEX offers contoured coverage that works around physical barriers to wireless.
- RFS’s predominantly passive systems are energy-efficient, further supporting green goals.
Unlocking Innovation with Private 5G
For manufacturing operations to utilize advanced applications, such as unmanned assembly lines, automated production lines, and smarter, connected facilities, secure, reliable, and low-latency connectivity is essential. Private 5G far surpasses previous standards as a means of achieving this:
- Low-latency connectivity that supports applications from real-time monitoring to automated robotics.
- Resilient and uninterrupted coverage across complex industrial environments for productivity and safety.
- Support seamless integration of emerging technologies and IoT devices.
True Mission Critical
To ensure site safety, warehouses must have mission-critical coverage across the entire site. Wireless connectivity solutions that meet regulatory requirements and keep staff safe:
- Extend across every area of the site to give complete coverage in an emergency.
- Meet the highest global standards for low smoke, flame, and fire retardance.
- Support all communications technologies and frequencies up to 6 GHz.
RFS Solutions
RADIAFLEX® Radiating Cables
RFS RADIAFLEX is the industry’s most advanced portfolio of 5G-ready radiating cables for contoured wireless coverage in buildings and underground. RADIAFLEX cables support all services up to 6 GHz with high performance, making them ideal for multiband, multi-operator applications in any indoor environment. With a variety of different bending radii, performance levels and outer conductor types to choose from, there’s a RADIAFLEX radiating cable for even the most challenging coverage requirements.
RADIAFLEX® Radiating Waveguide
The RFS RADIAFLEX radiating waveguide is a distributed antenna system for tunnels, mines, large building complexes and other challenging locations. The broadband solution simultaneously supports multiple one-way and two-way communications systems, so a single waveguide can be used for all applications. A specialized manufacturing and longitudinal seam welding process developed by RFS ensures optimal electrical performance and good bending properties.
HYBRIFLEX® Solutions for Buildings and Campuses
RFS HYBRIFLEX solutions for building and campuses make it fast and easy to bring fiber and power to distributed antenna system (DAS), distributed radio system (DRS) and small cells deployments in these environments. The solutions target requirements for high-density, plug-and-play fiber, mission-critical connectivity and indoor/outdoor cross-campus connectivity. They support all wired and wireless technologies and frequencies and are optimized for high-bandwidth Radio over Fiber (RoF) applications.
Indoor Connectivity
RFS’s range of RF, Fiber, and Hybrid solutions for indoor environments is designed for high-performance business-critical and mission-critical coverage in any environment. All solutions in this category meet the standards for safety and quality with flexible configuration options for all indoor deployments. They are also designed and manufactured in line with RFS’s sustainability principles to support the environmental goals of customers.
CPR-Compliant Radiating and Coaxial Cables
RFS CPR-compliant radiating and coaxial cables feature a specially developed jacket that allows them to achieve best-in-class ratings for burning droplets (d0), low smoke emission (s1) and corrosivity (a1), the most important criteria for fire safety in cables that are installed indoors and underground. All RFS CPR-compliant cables are also designated as low-smoke, zero-halogen (LSZH) and meet International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards for flame spread, smoke acidity and low smoke emission.
References
TSMC - World’s Largest Semiconductor Manufacturer
Global | 2024
TSMC needed a solution to deliver a highly secure network over five of its manufacturing and R&D facilities with multiple manufacturing sites in Taiwan, China, and the US. Based on its cybersecurity needs, the most appropriate solution was an Enterprise-Grade Mobile Virtual Private Network (MVPN) to enable secure, remote access to the company's private network from multiple locations. RFS supplied the indoor coverage systems to support TSMC’s MVPN network across several manufacturing facilities using RADIAFLEX radiating cable, fire-resistant cable, connectors, and passive components. This combination of solutions allowed RFS to build a highly secure MVPN while meeting the additional safety and future-proofing needs of TSMC.
Resources
Indoor Connectivity - RF / Fiber / Hybrid - Solutions for Buildings and Tunnels
Brochure
RADIAFLEX® Radiating Cable Selection Guide
Brochure
Complete Connectivity Solutions for Warehouse
Brochure
Secure and Safe Connectivity for a Manufacturing World Leader
Case Study
Spectrum efficiency: Making the most of private networks
Blog
Accelerating digital transformation across industries
Brochure
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