Supporting Smart Machine Communication with Private LTE Network | Consortium for Embedded Systems | SIU

Abstract: Smart industry machines and vehicles rely on the underlying network support for collaborative and intelligent manufacturing. To this end, LTE network presents several advantages over 802.11 WLAN such as security, high throughput, and quality-of-service (QoS) support. However, existing LTE networks and channels are only operated by commercial carriers, while industrial entities may wish to have a full control of the wireless network infrastructure. Those factors make private LTE network (in 3.65 GHz CBS brand) a suitable player in this field. Therefore, we propose to study the private LTE network’s capability on supporting smart machine communication in terms of coverage, delay, reliability, and throughput. Both theoretical analysis and field measurement will be utilized in this process. We also plan to solve challenges identified in the first step through protocol design, application adaptation, and network structure innovation. The expected outcome of this research include the measurement results of key network performances, an initial framework for integrating private LTE network into the smart machine domain, as well as a few demonstration application examples.

Problem: Smart machines and vehicles need to communicate in either machine-to-machine or machine-to-infrastructure manner to complete various manufacturing tasks intelligently and collaboratively. The vast amount of applications of such data communications imposes diverse requirements on the underlying wireless networks including security, mobility, bandwidth, reliability, and QoS. Thus, it is indispensable to design a suitable wireless network that can better satisfy the aforementioned requirements. Therefore, in this research, we study whether private LTE network on the 3.65 GHz CBS band can well serve this purpose.

Rationale / Approach: LTE is most suited for smart machine communication as they provide secure wireless connectivity with well-defined QoS support. However, current LTE networks and corresponding frequency bands are all owned and operated by carriers, which prevents the deployment of private wireless infrastructure. The recently released 3.65 GHz CBS band can be exploited to circumvent such barriers.

Novelty: The novelty of this project lies in the investigation of a new application domain of a mature 4G wireless communication technology (i.e. LTE) under the CBS frequency band. Therefore, the proposed algorithms, designs, analytical performance analysis tools, and optimization techniques for smart connectivity in industrial machines and vehicles will be unique for private LTE networks operating over the newly released CBS band.

Potential Member Company Benefits: With the results from this research project, industry members can better evaluate whether private LTE network fits into their smart manufacturing/production environment. For companies with traditional machines, this project can also promote the transition of importing smart machines.

Deliverables for the proposed year: (i) Technical report, (ii) Software implementation, (iii) prototype design The report summarizes all proposed designs, algorithms, optimization techniques, and theoretical analysis obtained from the project. The software implementations include code packages and prototype design include the proposed solution

Milestones for the proposed year: Quarter 1: Review the existing wireless connectivity techniques in industry smart machines and vehicles technologies. Quarter 2: Design algorithms and designs for smart connectivity by using private LTE networks in the CBS band.  Quarter 3: Develop analytical tools for evaluating and optimizing the proposed designs and algorithms Quarter 4: Validate, optimize and finalize the proposed solutions by using field measurements, trials and integration.