REBAKO: Controller-based coexistence management of diverse radio communication systems

Wireless communication systems, such as WLAN, Bluetooth or 5G, are becoming increasingly important in production systems because they enable simple commissioning, operation and maintenance, which ultimately reduces production costs. However, the demands on wireless communication systems are particularly high in production facilities; in concrete terms, they must be highly available, deterministic and fast. One of the greatest challenges is the parallel operation of wireless communication applications in license-free frequency ranges that are allocated in a technology-neutral way. In a typical production plant, different types of radio applications can be expected, which have communication needs with different requirement profiles or different priorities. These requirements cannot be met adequately if they are not coordinated.

The aim of the project is therefore to implement a controller-based approach for automatic coexistence management in order to control unpredictable changes in communication requirements during the operating phase and to maintain trouble-free operation of all systems under these conditions. The solution approach is based on the identification and classification of different radio systems and interferers, which is provided to a central controller as an actual value of the radio channel. The controller thus performs a continuous actual value to setpoint comparison and automatically allocates the required communication resources to the wireless systems. In order to validate the concepts developed, a reference implementation is to be created which will serve as a basis for further exploitation and subsequent industrial use.