Wireless extension of Ethernet Powerlink networks based on the IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN

Recently, two new types of communication networks have become available at the low levels of factory automation systems. Besides field buses, which have been traditionally used since long time, both real-time Ethernet (RTE) and wireless networks may now be employed. Consequently, it is envisaged that hybrid configurations using all types of the available communication systems will be even more deployed in the future. In this paper we focus, specifically, on hybrid systems which realize wireless extensions of wired networks. In detail, we address the extension of Ethernet Powerlink, a popular RTE network, by means of the IEEE 802.11 WLAN. We consider two types of extensions based on both bridge and gateway devices. After a discussion concerning the actual implementation of the extensions, we provide some performance figures obtained from both a theoretical analysis and numerical simulations.