ZTE Corp., together with the Zhejiang Branch of China Telecom, assisted Bluetron in commissioning China's first 5G SA (standalone) site, which put 5G slicing, edge computing and smart manufacturing into trial to help Bluetron build a new 5G smart factory.

To meet data requirements of industrial production, the Zhejiang Branch of China Telecom, ZTE and Bluetron have developed an integrated solution of 5G slicing, edge computing, and intelligent manufacturing. 

This solution realizes rapid deployment of machine vision slicing and fast backhaul of video streams by adopting key technologies such as, slicing stores, wireless slicing perception, end-to-end slicing security isolation, dynamic slice migration, UPF moving to edge and UPF offloading. These slices can reduce the latency, jitter and packet loss rate of video data transmission, guarantee the bandwidth and quality of video transmission and improve the accuracy and real-time performance of video analysis results.

This solution is applicable to wireless data collection and operation monitoring scenarios, allowing operators to avoid on-site processes in harsh environments, thereby reducing the labor intensity and security risks of operators. Industrial cameras and edge computing gateways are deployed on the production line to replace monitoring instruments. 

The industrial cameras take a video of the feed inlet and upload the stream to the MEC through the uplink 5G slice. After calculating and analyzing the images, the MEC will automatically notify the classifier and raises an alarm in case of any abnormal image. The solution can also be used in enterprise full-service data integration scenarios, such as visual analysis of the bearer flow, device data collection, personnel security management and remote device maintenance.

"Committed to continuous technological innovation, ZTE works with operators and industry partners to explore the cooperation mode of the edge cloud and build an edge ecosystem together to comprehensively promote the commercial use of  the MEC edge cloud and jointly promote the flourishing of 5G edge services," said Chen Xinyu, general manager of ZTE Telecom Cloud & Core Network Product Line

ZTE has so far obtained 25 commercial 5G contracts in major 5G markets such as Europe, Asia-Pacific and MEA (Middle East and Africa). ZTE commits 10 percent of its annual revenue to research and development and has leadership roles in international standard-setting organizations.