Metaverse for Industry 5.0 in NextG Communications: Potential Applications and Future Challenges

TL;DR

This paper reviews the integration of the metaverse into Industry 5.0, highlighting key technologies, applications across various sectors, and addressing challenges and future research directions for immersive industrial experiences.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the industrial metaverse, detailing enabling technologies, applications, and challenges, which is a novel synthesis in the context of Industry 5.0.

Findings

Identifies key enabling technologies like VR, AI, and blockchain.

Explores diverse applications in healthcare, agriculture, and supply chain.

Discusses challenges and future research directions for industrial metaverse.

Abstract

With the advent of new technologies and endeavors for automation in almost all day-to-day activities, the recent discussions on the metaverse life have a greater expectation. Furthermore, we are in the era of the fifth industrial revolution, where machines and humans collaborate to maximize productivity with the effective utilization of human intelligence and other resources. Hence, Industry 5.0 in the metaverse may have tremendous technological integration for a more immersive experience and enhanced communication.These technological amalgamations are suitable for the present environment and entirely different from the previous perception of virtual technologies. This work presents a comprehensive review of the applications of the metaverse in Industry 5.0 (so-called industrial metaverse). In particular, we first provide a preliminary to the metaverse and industry 5.0 and discuss key enabling technologies of the industrial metaverse, including virtual and augmented reality, 3D modeling, artificial intelligence, edge computing, digital twin, blockchain, and 6G communication networks. This work then explores diverse metaverse applications in Industry 5.0 vertical domains like Society 5.0, agriculture, supply chain management, healthcare, education, and transportation. A number of research projects are presented to showcase the conceptualization and implementation of the industrial metaverse. Furthermore, various challenges in realizing the industrial metaverse, feasible solutions, and future directions for further research have been presented.