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Rohde - Schwarz provides the Industrial Radio Lab (IRL) in Dresden with high-performance network scanners to explore the reliability and robustness of wireless technologies for industrial applications. These test instruments are used to monitor radio spectrum and interference in real time.
In order to be used by applications that meet Industry 4.0 requirements such as mobile robots or automatically guided vehicles, industrial wireless communication networks must ensure a very high level of availability and reliability and have low latency in many situations. 5G NR technology, whose version 16 of the 3GPP has recently improved some specifications, provides ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC). This makes it perfectly suited to the deployment of private campus networks. However, as with any wireless transmission system, communication can be disrupted by possible interference on operating frequency bands.
The Industrial Radio Lab (IRL) in Dresden is dedicated to researching and testing radio systems for industrial applications. To do this, the laboratory cooperates with Rohde-Schwarz, a leading provider of 5G NR test solutions, which offers portable and easy-to-use test equipment to evaluate the performance of a network in the field. Rohde-Schwarz provided high-performance network scanners to the Dresden IRL to perform real-time monitoring of radio spectrum and interference. As part of this application, researchers collect important data that can detect, locate and prevent interference while maintaining a free local spectrum to ensure the reliability of wireless communications.
The Dresden IRL is one of four regional laboratories of the Industrial Radio Lab Germany (IRLG) dedicated to research and development in the field of wireless communication technologies of current and future generations for the industry. The IRLG develops innovative solutions, supports companies and collaborates with economic and political actors to ensure the transfer of knowledge to promote the digital transformation of industrial organisations. The Dresden IRL focuses in particular on the detection, location and mitigation of interference, as well as improving network resilience through real-time measurements of time-based channels on a shared frequency spectrum.
Dr Norman Franchi, project manager at the IRL in Dresden, said: "The solutions to deal with predictable and unpredictable disruptions and to provide appropriate self-optimization and self-healing mechanisms are still insufficient. It is increasingly important to have automatic and reliable processes, based on real-time measurements and analysis with artificial intelligence tools, to detect, locate and avoid involuntary self-interference as well as intentional interference by signal jamming techniques, for example. This is especially true in dynamic industrial applications and communication processes. The objective of our cooperation is to analyze and evaluate the requirements for the network and measurement sensors, and to determine what real-time performance can be achieved. »
Anne Stephan, vice-president of mobile network testing at Rohde-Schwarz, said: "Industrial campus networks, whether they operate a private radio spectrum or that of a public operator's network, must generally be deployed in a demanding operating environment. By partnering with a leading research institute such as the Dresden IRL, we are not only supporting basic research, but we are gathering critical information that we can leverage to fully adapt our advanced solutions to mobile network testing that meets the expectations of Industry 4.0 applications. »
