Development and Application of a Vertical-Agnostic Methodological Assessment Framework for Evaluation of 5G-Based Use Cases

This paper addresses the industrial adoption gap of 5G/6G by presenting a novel, vertical-agnostic Methodological Assessment Framework (MAF). The MAF bridges the Network Key Performance Indicators (KPI) of 5G networks with user-centric User-KPIs and User-KVIs (Key Value Indicators) to quantify the techno-economic and societal value propositions of industrial 5G use cases from an end-user perspective. First, a detailed description of the MAF and its underlying principles is given, explaining how a use case’s value proposition can be captured. Second, the MAF is applied to three different industrial use cases from the verticals manufacturing, construction, and automotive utilizing the individual User-KPI and User-KVI for the quantification of the individual value propositions. The results show that the use of 5G can lead to enhanced process capability and reproducibility as well as increased insights into different processes. In addition, it is shown that the MAF objectively quantifies user value across diverse verticals and is able to strengthen interdisciplinary alignment over different verticals.