Study of a Safe and Secure Ecosystem based on IO-Link Wireless and a 5G Campus Network

Wireless networks support highly flexible manufacturing processes and are recognized as a crucial pillar towards the digitization of industrial production (automation). While 5G is currently being marketed as universal solution for future wireless communication, high density of sensor and actuator nodes in industrial manufacturing environments with respect to latency times and reliability, still represents an enormous technical challenge. In the field of production automation standards, IO-Link Wireless (IOLW) is already in operation offering energy-efficient and cost-effective solutions, even with battery-powered smart sensor devices. In this paper, the deterministic ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) features of 5G are combined with the outstanding performance characteristics of IOLW with respect to robustness and latency to realize even highly demanding safety applications in industrial environments.