Project summary

Objectives

An innovative high-performance radio fieldbus (R-FIELDBUS) able to support extended application services is proposed. Such a radio fieldbus architecture will ease the resolution of problems found in manufacturing plants, such as the need for re-cabling or the need to install new, and probably moving, sensors and control units. Therefore, the wireless capabilities of R-FIELDBUS bring important improvements in terms of flexibility and, consequently, in the ability to supported that applications that need to evolve.
The R-FIELDBUS system must provide full transparent access to any information needed on-site, such as data concerning real-time control and status information, or transparent access to specification drawings and other industrial-type multi-media information (real-time voice and low-resolution digital video sequences). The R-FIELDBUS architecture will be based on the integration of emerging wireless technologies for broadband systems and networks with existent industrial communication protocols such as those specified in the European Standard EN50170. The main objective of the R-FIELDBUS system is to support both the real-time requirements of control and status data as well as a user defined QoS for the multi-media communications. The R-FIELDBUS system must additionally support mobile industrial devices and its interoperability with existing devices supported by wired industrial networks.

Description of work

An important first stage in the R-FIELDBUS project will be the extensive study of the end-user requirements and the characterisation of channel/mobility for flexible industrial automation systems. This study will consider relevant aspects such as the requirements for mobility and multi-media services, the requirements in real-time and dependable aspects, and, most importantly will assess and investigate the use of existent radio technologies within industrial environments. Of paramount importance is the determination and evaluation of the propagation conditions and the influence of disturbances and obstructions to the quality of this propagation. Also in this first stage, existing standard fieldbus communication protocols (e.g. EN 50170) will be considered and assessed as an enabling platform for the R-FIELDBUS architecture. This means the identification of required extensions (in protocols and services) enabling the fulfilment of the R-FIELDBUS target functionalities and performance.
An important output of this first stage will be the definition of the general R-FIELDBUS architecture, including the definition of its radio interface.
The second stage will mainly consist of the specification and development of the R-FIELDBUS system, with a special focus on the development of a state-of-the-art radio-based physical layer and the implementation of the required real-time and multi-media functionalities through the necessary EN 50170 protocol extensions.
The main sub-systems of the R-FIELDBUS system will be:

• A high-speed, high-performance and reliable radio Physical Layer (PL) capable of guaranteeing important industrial requirements, such as real-time and reliability.
• A Data Link Layer (DLL) supporting dominant European fieldbus standards and with the necessary protocol extensions for the additional services (real-time distributed control traffic, industrial related multi-media traffic, mobility, etc.).
• An interconnection mechanism, enabling the interconnection of the R-FIELDBUS system to wired fieldbus networks already existent in the industrial environments.
• A QoS mechanism to guarantee the required quality of service to the multi-media communication services.
• A set of application-level support services covering issues such as the exchange of hard real-time control data, exchange of industrial multi-media traffic and mobile IP, providing transparent access to manufacturing and management information systems.
• Advanced network management services to support the real-time requirements and the required robustness of the wireless fieldbus, including fault tolerance, security and safety mechanisms. Finally on a third stage, the R-FIELDBUS system will be tested and evaluated within two different field trials based on pilot applications. These trials will demonstrate both the R-FIELDBUS technical feasibility in real industrial environments and its benefits for the end-user applications.

Expected Results

1. Requirements for the R-FIELDBUS architecture: categorised profile of the end-user requirements for the flexible real-time industrial automation systems with mobile equipment.
2. Implementation of the R-FIELDBUS: new advanced, integrated, real-time wireless fieldbus solution, compatible with existing standard wired systems; industrial networking applications with special requirements, like robustness, mobility and multi-media support.
3. Field Trials of the R-FIELDBUS architecture: end-user applications demonstrating the advancement and advantages of the proposed technologies and functionalities.
4. Dissemination and evaluation: Stimulation of standardisation groups in the area of industrial wireless communications.
5. Exploitation: Clear exploitation plan before the end of the project and agreements between the partners for joint exploitation where possible.

Project Duration and Time Schedule

Deliverable list