Reliable wireless control: Wireless connection in the control loop

Wireless communication technologies are adopted more and more in industrial applications. While being accepted as an add-on focusing on tasks like asset management, the use of wireless connection in the control loop is still less common. A main requirement for such an application is a reliable communication solution. The paper discusses a system approach of integrating wireless communication systems into a control application by using a model predictive control and an intelligent radio proxy in order to minimize the issues derived from a wireless connection, like packet loss and jitter. The engineering of such a solution is supported by a specific PLC function block.