TSN over 5G: From Broadcast Synchronization to Deterministic Wireless Automation

Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is not new. It has been evolving for decades, originally driven by the needs of professional audio and video production. In fact, the industry alliance behind TSN, Avnu Alliance, reflects those roots in its name.

Why Synchronisation Matters

Synchronisation is conceptually simple but technically demanding. Time is always relative to another time reference. In television production, the visible manifestation of synchronisation is lip sync.

Audio and video are often transported over different networks, each with its own latency and clock domain. Yet the viewer consumes them simultaneously. The classical solution is straightforward: delay the faster stream (typically audio) and align it with the slower video stream before output. This is similar in principle to buffering in video streaming, where network jitter is absorbed to ensure smooth playback.

Buffering works in media distribution. It does not work in factory automation.

Determinism vs. Buffering in Industrial Networks

In industrial automation, adding delay reduces throughput and impacts control loop performance. Manufacturing systems depend on deterministic behaviour—predictable latency, bounded jitter, and synchronised actions across devices.

The solution is not buffering but unified time.

TSN achieves this by distributing a single, precise time reference across all devices in the network. When endpoints share the same clock and adhere to deterministic scheduling, the network becomes predictable. This is essential for robotics, motion control, and closed-loop automation.

But what happens when devices are mobile? Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), for example, cannot rely on fixed Ethernet infrastructure. Historically, delivering TSN-level determinism wirelessly has been either technically insufficient or economically unviable.

That is now changing with TSN over 5G.

Is TSN over 5G an Application—or a New Network?

TSN over 5G is often described as an application layer capability on top of a 5G network. That is partially true. However, it also fundamentally alters network behaviour.

Delivering TSN over 5G requires:

• Enhanced User Equipment (UE) capabilities

• Application residence time-aware base stations

• Core network support for time distribution

• A highly accurate external time source

• Precise synchronisation delivery mechanisms such as IEEE 1588 xyz

There are even implications at the air interface level. While we would not suggest calling it a “new G,” the architectural shift is significant.

In practice, TSN over 5G forms a new class of deterministic wireless network.

The Critical Role of the Time Source

In TSN over 5G deployments, the time source is not a peripheral component—it is as critical as the base station or network switch.

Network performance is directly dependent on:

• The accuracy of the primary time source

• The stability of the clock distribution

• Compliance with synchronisation standards such as IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP)

Telecom and industrial networks are inherently multi-vendor environments. As a result, the TSN over 5G ecosystem must expand beyond traditional mobile network vendors to include specialised timing technology providers.

This is why cooperation with time source companies is essential. For example, Cumucore has recently signed a cooperation agreement with Timebeat to strengthen deterministic capabilities in private 5G deployments.

One Time Domain, Multiple Benefits

An accurate and shared time source in a TSN over 5G network enables more than deterministic application traffic. The same timing infrastructure can provide PTP synchronisation for base stations.

This is particularly valuable in:

• Indoor industrial deployments

• Underground mines

• GNSS-denied environments

In these scenarios, distributing a reliable clock to radio units becomes a major engineering challenge. A unified TSN-grade time architecture simplifies synchronisation across the entire system.

The Bottom Line

TSN began in broadcast production. Today, it is enabling deterministic automation across factories, ports, and critical infrastructure.

TSN over 5G extends determinism into the wireless domain—bringing mobility to time-critical industrial processes without sacrificing precision.

At Cumucore, we see TSN over 5G not as an incremental feature, but as a structural evolution of private mobile networks: from connectivity platforms to synchronised, deterministic infrastructure.