Industrial Shared Wireless Communication Systems-Use Case of Autonomous Guided Vehicles with Collaborative Robot

Area of Science:

• Industrial Automation and Communication Systems
• Real-Time Systems Engineering
• Wireless Networking

Background:

• Traditional industrial communication relied on dedicated fieldbuses for real-time control.
• Modern Industrial Ethernet supports multiple services but often single real-time protocols.
• Shop-floor demands require integrating diverse traffic with varying temporal needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the challenges and feasibility of combining multiple real-time protocols over a single wireless network interface.
• To address the research gap in wireless integration of industrial real-time communication protocols.
• To evaluate the real-time performance of a combined wireless network for industrial applications.

Main Methods:

• Experimental setup involving a Collaborative Robot (CoBotAGV) and a production station.
• Integration of two distinct real-time protocols: Profinet for process data and OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) for system integration.
• Utilizing a single wireless network interface to carry both protocols simultaneously.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the successful combination of Profinet and OPC UA protocols on one wireless network.
• Presented achievable communication cycle times and jitter metrics for the integrated system.
• Provided empirical data on the real-time capabilities of this wireless protocol combination.

Conclusions:

• Combining multiple real-time industrial protocols wirelessly is achievable and necessary for flexible manufacturing.
• The experimental results offer insights into the performance of integrated wireless communication for systems like CoBotAGV.
• This research paves the way for more advanced, unified wireless communication solutions in industrial automation.