3GPP New Radio Release 16: Evolution of 5G for Industrial Internet of Things

As a key component of the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0, robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) require enhanced ultra-reliable and low-latency communications, which may not be guaranteed under the first (Release 15) 5G communications standard called New Radio (NR), defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Recently, 3GPP Release 16 NR standardization has been completed, and a large subset of new features targets evolution of existing NR standards for various vertical applications. It includes the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) Work Item, which aims to define enabling technologies to fulfill the stringent and time-sensitive requirements of RAS applications. In this article, we outline newly introduced key technical features of IIoT in NR and how they enable new RAS applications.