A Survey of 5G-Based Positioning for Industry 4.0: State of the Art and Enhanced Techniques

TL;DR

This survey reviews 5G-based positioning technologies for Industry 4.0, focusing on AGV applications, analyzing current methods, identifying limitations, and proposing enhanced techniques to improve accuracy in industrial settings.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of 5G positioning features and introduces novel techniques to enhance accuracy for industrial automation applications.

Findings

Current 5G positioning methods have limitations in industrial environments.

Enhanced techniques can improve positioning accuracy in controlled settings.

The survey highlights key 5G features like mmWave, MIMO, and RIS for industrial use.

Abstract

The fifth generation (5G) mobile communication technology integrates communication, positioning, and mapping functionalities as an in-built feature. This has drawn significant attention from industries owing to the capability of replacing the traditional wireless technologies used in industries with 5G infrastructure that can be used for both connectivity and positioning. To this end, we identify the Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) as a primary use case to benefit from the 5G functionalities. Given that there have been various works focusing on 5G positioning, it is necessary to analyze the existing works about their applicability with AGVs in industrial environments and provide insights to future research. In this paper, we present state of the art in 5G-based positioning, with a focus on key features, such as Millimeter Wave (mmWave) system, Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), Ultra-Dense Network (UDN), Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, and Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS). Moreover, we present the shortcomings in the current state of the art. Additionally, we propose enhanced techniques that can complement the accuracy of 5G-based positioning in controlled industrial environments.