Case Study: 5G Cellular Router Reduces O&M Costs by 30% in AGV Networking Project at an Auto Factory—In-Depth Analysis and Real-World Implementation
In the wave of smart manufacturing, AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles) have become the "workhorses" of auto factories. At the Shanghai plant of a leading global automaker, 106 AGVs are deployed in the final assembly workshop, handling material handling tasks for core processes such as interior trim and chassis lines. However, as the number of AGVs surged, the traditional networking solution began to expose three major pain points:
Frequent IP Conflicts: AGVs move across multiple workshops (e.g., stamping, welding, painting), where network segment conflicts cause device disconnections, averaging 5 daily faults with each repair taking 2 hours.
Poor Network Stability: Dense metal equipment in workshops creates severe electromagnetic interference, leading to a 40% signal attenuation rate for 4G networks. AGVs frequently lose positioning, disrupting production rhythms.
High O&M Costs: Manual inspections require navigating high-temperature, dusty environments, with each maintenance visit costing over ¥500. Annual O&M expenses account for 15% of total equipment investment.
With an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles, each hour of downtime directly costs the factory over ¥2 million. Upgrading technology to "reduce costs and boost efficiency" became an urgent priority for management.
Traditional solutions left AGVs vulnerable to IP conflicts during cross-workshop movement, causing communication disruptions. The project team adopted the NAT translation feature of the USR-G816 5G cellular router, using its built-in network segment isolator to map identical IP addresses to different virtual segments. For example:
Scenario Application: Between the painting workshop (192.168.1.0/24) and final assembly workshop (192.168.2.0/24), the router automatically converts an AGV’s source IP (192.168.1.100) to the target segment IP (192.168.2.100), enabling seamless switching.
Effect Verification: IP conflict rates dropped from 5 daily incidents to zero, with device uptime rising to 99.97%.
To address electromagnetic interference, the USR-G816’s 5G full-network capability and multi-network redundancy technology proved critical:
Frequency Coverage: Supports 5G SA/NSA networking across China’s four major carriers (China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, China Broadnet), including the 700MHz "golden" band for 30% better penetration.
Smart Switching: When the 5G primary link signal strength falls below -105dBm, the router automatically switches to a 4G backup network with <50ms latency, ensuring AGV positioning accuracy within <1cm.
Real-World Data: In the welding workshop with the strongest interference, 5G speeds reached 700Mbps (10x faster than 4G), with packet loss rates dropping from 12% to 0.3%.
The USR-G816’s remote management capabilities revolutionized O&M workflows:
Fault Alerts: Real-time monitoring of device temperature, voltage, and traffic via built-in hardware watchdogs and SNMP protocols. Alerts trigger WeChat/SMS notifications to technicians when temperatures exceed 75°C.
Remote Repairs: Technicians can upgrade firmware or adjust configurations via the USR Cloud platform without entering workshops. For example, a firmware vulnerability causing communication failures was resolved remotely in 10 minutes, avoiding downtime losses.
Cost Comparison: Traditional O&M required 4 full-time staff; with USR-G816, this dropped to 2, saving over ¥600,000 annually in labor costs.
The team selected the final assembly workshop for a pilot, deploying 20 USR-G816 routers across 5 AGV production lines. Key steps included:
Network Planning: Adopted a "5G primary link + wired backup" model, prioritizing control command transmission while limiting video traffic bandwidth to 10Mbps.
Protocol Conversion: Used the router’s built-in Modbus-to-MQTT function to upload AGV PLC data directly to the MES system, eliminating dedicated gateway costs.
Security Hardening: Configured ACL rules to restrict management interface access, enabled IPSec VPN for encrypted communication between headquarters and workshops, and achieved Level 2 compliance with China’s Cybersecurity Classification Protection 2.0 standard.
Pilot Results:
Building on pilot success, the team deployed 106 USR-G816 routers across the factory, optimizing the following:
Multi-WAN Load Balancing: Aggregated three 100Mbps broadband lines for 300Mbps total bandwidth, meeting large file transfer demands.
Edge Computing: Deployed data filtering rules at the router level to discard anomalies and upload only valid data to the cloud, reducing traffic costs by 40%.
Positioning Expansion: Added GNSS positioning for outdoor AGV path planning, enabling cross-workshop collaboration.
Factory-Wide Benefits:
In the Industry 4.0 era, AGV intelligence has become a core metric of factory competitiveness. The USR-G816 5G cellular router addresses IP conflicts, network instability, and high O&M costs through NAT translation, multi-network redundancy, and cloud-based O&M. By adopting a "scenario-driven, technology-empowered" approach, it helps enterprises build reliable, efficient IoT infrastructure.
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