Hannover Messe 2024: Researchers pave the way for future wireless machine control using 6G mobile communications

The digitalisation of production offers companies many advantages, including improved flexibility in production and resilience regarding downtimes. The future 6G mobile communications standard should finally enable this potential for market-orientated communication solutions. At the University Kaiserslautern-Landau, a team of researchers is working on concepts for wireless interconnectivity via networks-in-networks approaches, i.e. specialised “subnetworks”. A machine tool, a CNC milling machine, has been used as an example. They will be presenting their research work at Hannover Messe from 22 to 26 April at the joint stand of the 6G platform – stand H06, hall 014.

“Modern companies need an adaptable manufacturing system to remain competitive. This is the only way they can manufacture customised products efficiently and react quickly to disturbances such as supply chain bottlenecks,” says Jan Mertes, research associate at the Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Production Systems. Manufacturing can achieve this level of performance through digitalisation and a high level of interconnectivity between the various machines and devices. This interconnectivity enables new, intelligent solutions for production control, planning and system interaction.

Current, wireless solutions do not fulfil these requirements or are not compatible with other communication architectures due to their proprietary design. “The control of production machines places extremely high demands on latency in particular, which means the time it takes for signals to travel from the transmitter to the receiver,” says Daniel Lindenschmitt, research associate at the department for Wireless Communication and Navigation, who is researching 6G concepts together with Mertes. “It's not just about how long the delay is. The arrival time of the signal must also be predictable and therefore reliable. In other words, our research work is concerned with what is known as 'ultra-reliable and low-latency communication'. This vision should finally become true with the 6G mobile phone standard.”

Here's the idea: A network-in-network system

The two researchers are using wireless networks-in-networks (NiN) for their concept. This is a specialised architecture that meets the different requirement of various industrial applications by integrating subnetworks in holistic 6G architecture.

Lindenschmitt and Mertes are combining their results about NiN, also known as underlay networks, in a demonstrator: We developed a CNC milling machine that is controlled with a closed control loop – a highly complex application. “Until now, the hardware of control components has been connected to production machines and systems by wire. Our concept now enables the virtualisation of control components of the milling machine  due to the due to the low latency communication and reliability of signal transmission.”

At the Hannover Messe, the two researchers will present a simple example to illustrate the influence of different properties of networks on control technologies. They show an inverted pendulum whose control is integrated into a NiN-System. In order to remain in an upright position, reliable and extremely fast signal transmission is required. “This allows interested parties to directly experience the advantages of networks-in-networks concepts and what we want to achieve with our 6G research,” summarises Lindenschmitt.

Sub-project in the “Open6GHub”

The project is part of the “Open6GHub”, a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Professor Dr.-Ing. Hans D. Schotten, Head of the Institute of Wireless Communication and Navigation at the University Kaiserslautern-Landau and Head of the Intelligent Networks research department at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), coordinates the project. The Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Production Systems at the University Kaiserslautern-Landau, headed by Professor Dr.-Ing. Jan C. Aurich, is also contributing its expertise. In addition to RPTU and DFKI, other universities and research institutes are also involved in the Open6GHub project.

Within this research alliance, the partners want to contribute to the development of an overall 6G architecture and also launch end-to-end solutions in the following areas: Extended network topologies with highly agile so-called organic networking, security and resilience, Thz and photonic transmission methods, sensor functionalities integration in the networks and their intelligent utilisation and further processing and application-specific radio protocols.

The researchers are open to dialogue and cooperation: “We are looking for an early and interactive dialogue with the public and are equally ready for collaborations with industry and users,” says Schotten. “To achieve this, we will install open labs and open experimental fields. Last but not least, we want to promote an open innovation system by involving SMEs and start-ups and their results.”

Questions can be directed to:

Daniel Lindenschmitt
Institute for Wireless Communication and Navigation
RPTU in Kaiserslautern

Phone: +49 631 205-5211
E-mail: daniel.lindenschmitt[at]rptu.de

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Jan Mertes
Institute for Manufacturing, Technology and Production Systems
RPTU in Kaiserslautern

Phone: +49 631 205-4306
E-mail: jan.mertes[at]rptu.de

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Klaus Dosch, Department of Technology and Innovation, is organizing the presentation of the researchers of the RPTU Kaiserslautern at the fair. He is the contact partner for companies and, among other things, establishes contacts to science. Contact: Klaus Dosch, E-mail: dosch[at]rptu.de, Phone: +49 631 205-3001