Exploiting mm-Wave Wave Communications to Boost the Performance of Industrial Wireless Networks
Abstract: This work explores the potentiality of millimeter waves (mmW (mmW) as physical layer in industrial wireless networks. Innovative models and a link design method are proposed to achieve reliable communication, at a distance of tens of meters for a single hop, even in harsh environments. By exploiting the worldwide worldwide-free band of several GHz, available around 60 GHz, mmW links allow to achieve a performance boosting of up to two orders of magnitude, w.r.t. conventional sub-6-GHz sub wireless links, in indoor industrial environments. Time slotted channel hopping and frequency-diversity ersity can be implemented with a large number of channels, and with high bit rate (several Mb/s per channel). This allows for robust networking of high data-rate rate sensors, such as cameras, radars, or laser scanners. Featuring a low bit error rate, mmW communication commu allows for low-latency latency link and large number of hops in networks with a large radius. Finally, it ensures interference separation from operating frequencies of electrical machines, switching converters, and other industrial wireless networks (e.g., (e.g., 802.11 or 802.15). Implementation results for key HW blocks in low-cost low cost technologies show the feasibility of mmW communication nodes with low-power low and compact size.