Performance indicators and use case analysis for wireless networks in factory automation
Steven Dietrich, Gunther May, Oliver Wetter, Holger Heeren, Gerhard Fohler · 2017
Wireless networks are currently considered as extension of typical wired networks to increase flexibility and scalability. However, this design freedom is accompanied by the reduced reliability and real-time capability of the wireless communication. To put these advantages and disadvantages in the required relationship, we introduce a use case analysis of typical factory automation applications within this paper. Additionally, we compare performance indicators of industrial communication systems to enable the evaluation of the arising hybrid wired/wireless networks with regard to the requirements. Especially reliability parameters like the packet error rate (PER) are often only weakly linked to their industrial application. Therefore, we finally present a bottom-up analysis of a typical factory automation machine to derive more realistic PER values based on real applications.