Low-Latency Wireless Network Extension for Industrial Internet of Things

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Electrical Engineering
• Network Engineering

Background:

• Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) networks increasingly require real-time, low-latency communication for critical message delivery.
• Existing wireless protocols face challenges in providing prioritized, time-sensitive networking (TSN) functionality due to latency issues from scheduling, carrier-sense multiple access (CSMA), and encryption.
• The migration of IIoT architectures towards wireless edges necessitates extending TSN capabilities to wireless environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a hardware-based technique for secure, low-latency wireless communication in IIoT networks.
• To extend Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) principles to wireless IIoT environments, ensuring rapid delivery of critical messages.
• To overcome the latency limitations of existing wireless protocols for prioritized traffic.

Main Methods:

• A hardware-validated low-latency technique based on receiver-assigned code division multiple access (RA-CDMA) was developed.
• The technique was implemented and tested on a hardware prototype using the Intel FPGA Arria 10 platform.
• The system was designed to provide a secure wireless extension for TSN-like functionality in IIoT.

Main Results:

• The hardware prototype demonstrated (sub-)millisecond single-hop latencies for message payloads ranging from 12 to 224 bits.
• One-way transmission times under 1 ms were achieved, validating the low-latency performance.
• The results confirm the feasibility of a reliable wireless TSN extension comparable to wired standards like 802.1Q and 5G.

Conclusions:

• The proposed RA-CDMA technique provides a viable solution for secure, low-latency wireless communication in IIoT.
• This hardware-validated approach enables Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) functionality in wireless IIoT networks, meeting critical real-time delivery requirements.
• The system offers a promising extension for future IIoT applications demanding high-performance, reliable wireless connectivity.