![agv industrial robots agv industrial robots](https://thelogisticsworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/factory-automation-with-agv-and-robotic-arm-in-transportation-to-increase-transport-more-with-safety-1.jpg)
To use existing investments in wireless solutions.Especially in a brownfield environment, there may be existing technologies and processes in place that are either adopting or driving the new implementation of wireless access. Secondly, technology selection is usually not the only driver for the final architecture. Some use-cases can be solved in multiple ways, with different technologies. Traffic Types: Mixture of critical traffic, non-critical telemetry, and high-definition video Drivers for technology decisions Synchronicity: Clocking systems must be accurately synchronised to sub-microsecond level Reliability: Continued operation regardless of node and/or path failure
![agv industrial robots agv industrial robots](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/D0KN6B/automatic-guided-vehicles-agv-are-factory-robots-carrying-materials-D0KN6B.jpg)
The AGV actions may be part of broader industrial processes across the facility.īecause of the criticality of all the flows to achieve successful real-time physical operation in a dynamic environment, mobile robots and AGV have extremely strict and sensitive network service requirements, looking something like this: RequirementsĪvailability: Between five and several ninesĭeterminism: Varying transmission window depending on autonomous independence from applications ‘over the air’, possibly down to microsecond measurements at the most demanding All these flows are real-time and deterministic, meaning control and telemetry messages must be received within a specific window for real-time processing. Onboard safety processes may run that also interact with external systems. Additional flows exist to interact with third-party devices, such as any other moving object (crane, forklift, truck), or static objects that can interact (gates, doors, ramps, rails, manufacturing machines). Object InteractionsĬommunication flows can exist between mobile robots, to pass real-time telemetry information, pulling in primary data for route finding and collision avoidance algorithms. For this blog, I will consider the network traffic carrying interactions external to the mobile robot system, akin to the on-board intelligence model. There is a spectrum of possibilities due to the varying functional building block locations in the edge architecture. Some devices will have all intelligence and decision-making capabilities on board, and others will utilise a centralised control system. The communication flow for these devices depends upon the level of edge compute adoption in the system. I have also seen cooperating interactions with other machines to achieve a particular outcome. Modern AI techniques allow dynamic behaviours such as collision avoidance and route decision making on the fly. These machines are programmed to execute multiple tasks, with predefined outcomes, such as handling some equipment or material. Subsequent blogs will address the remaining of the three use-cases:ġ) Mobile Robots and Automated Guided Vehiclesģ) Process automation monitoring Mobile Robots and Automated Guided Vehicles I always ask the question: What are the different options to serve these application requirements? This blog is the first in a series, bringing a lens on robots and AGV, dissecting the application flow and a little detail on why the serving wireless medium must behave in a particular way to support it. Such articles often leave out critical details, such as what is actually needed from the network. For these digital industrial processes to run over wireless infrastructure, the communications technology must deliver against strict application requirements for performance and reliability. Examples include mobile robots, automated guided vehicles (AGV) and manufacturing infrastructure. One of the main features of Industry 4.0 is interoperability for mobile cyber-physical systems. For example, with digital twins and modular flexible systems. Adoption of digital industrial processes have accelerated since the German government led this initiative to maintain national industrial prowess. The Internet is littered with articles about Industry 4.0.