Wireless
Broadband Alliance Members Successfully Complete First Phase Wi-Fi 6 Industry
4.0 Trials with Mettis Aerospace
- Proven reliability of high bandwidth and low latency IoT communications
- Next generation Wi-Fi delivers Mixed Reality and 4K video streaming
across factory network
The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the body leading
development of next generation Wi-Fi services, today confirmed the
successful completion of its phase one trial of Wi-Fi 6 infrastructure and
services at the Mettis Aerospace factory in the UK. The trial was the first of its kind in the
world and an important part of the WBA’s Wi-Fi 6 test and development program.
Tests included applications
of 4K video streaming, large scale file transfers, messaging and voice/video
communications as well as the first stage of IoT sensor and mixed reality
testing. Previous implementation tests with Wi-Fi failed to work in
Mettis’ challenging factory environment. During the
trial, speeds of 700 Mbps using 80 MHz channels were achieved and low latency
applications, like video calling and video streaming, performed well with
results below 6ms. These results proved that Wi-Fi 6 infrastructure can operate
well in the presence of interference and noise in a complex and challenging
factory environment as well as deliver high quality services for monitoring and
maximizing machinery performance, minimizing downtime, and improving
communications on the factory floor.
“The completion of this
initial phase marks a significant milestone for the adoption of Wi-Fi 6,” said
WBA CEO, Tiago Rodrigues. “The Mettis facility is an especially challenging
environment for wireless communications with furnaces, presses and heat, a lot
of moving heavy machinery and the presence of dust and in-air particulates.
Nevertheless, the field tests in this highly charged atmosphere have proven
that Wi-Fi 6 technology works well and can play a vital role within the industrial
enterprise and IoT ecosystem. If Wi-Fi 6 can deliver highly reliable, high
quality and high bandwidth communications in this type of factory environment,
then it can deliver it almost anywhere,” he added.
“The Wi-Fi 6 infrastructure
installed as part of the trials has exceeded our expectations in terms of
performance, reliable connectivity and consistent coverage across the target
area,” said Dave Green, Head of IT, Mettis Aerospace. “We are seeing immediate
benefits in terms of the data we’re now able to collect and use. Moving
forward, we will be able to vastly increase the data we collect from devices
across our business, enhancing our manufacturing processes, reducing
variability and increasing productivity.”
The trial took place at the
27-acre Mettis Aerospace facility in the West Midlands in collaboration with
WBA member companies including Broadcom, Cisco, iBwave and Intel as well as
Concurrent Engineering and Keysight. Mettis Aerospace supplies companies such
as Airbus, Boeing and Rolls-Royce.
The Wi-Fi 6 technology had
to prove it was able to provide total connectivity across the factory floor and
enable improved synchronization of factory floor machinery and equipment with
centralized monitoring and control systems.
This required the Wi-Fi network to deliver real-time high bandwidth
communications, with very low latency and clear prioritization of data across a
large-scale, complex factory environment.
As part of the project, Cisco
provided 11 Catalyst 9100 access points (along with WLC and POE Catalyst
switches) configured to ensure persistent and
consistent signal reliability throughout the day under regularly changing
conditions. To help achieve this, iBwave
undertook a site survey of the manufacturing floor recorded noise level measurements
(with machinery on and off) and gathered essential details about obstructions
and the variability of the environment. This was critical to the success of the
project due to the prevalence of metal surfaces that can disrupt radio (RF)
connectivity.
Cisco and Mettis worked together
using survey results to guide the deployment of the access points and to optimize
the configuration for the environment.
Using devices that included smartphones, tablets, laptops and webcams –
equipped with the Broadcom and Intel Wi-Fi 6 chipset, a series of tests were
performed using Ix Chariot software to assess and troubleshoots the networks
and the applications both before and after the deployment.
Concurrent Engineering’s PTC Vuforia
augmented (mixed) reality software was used by the maintenance team to enable
‘walk- by’ machine monitoring. This test showed it was possible to position a
tablet alongside a piece of machinery and get an instant reading of the
real-time pressure and performance of the machine. In future, this will speed
fault-finding and diagnosis, aid preventative maintenance and minimize machine
downtime.
Using devices such as
smartphones, tablets, laptops and webcams equipped with the Broadcom (R) BCM4375
and Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 chipsets, the following tests were among those included
in the Phase 1 trial:
●
4k streaming from a
webcam mounted on machinery within the factory
●
4k YouTube streaming
from a laptop with Intel AX200 chip
●
Uploads of very
large video files over Wi-Fi
●
Roaming, Latency and
persistent connectivity during Wi-Fi video calling using smartphones equipped
with Broadcom’s BCM4375 chip
●
Augmented reality
testing of machinery using devices with Wi-Fi 6 chipset
Commenting on the successful
completion of the trial, Gabriel Desjardins, Director of Marketing for the
Wireless Communications and Connectivity Division at Broadcom Inc, said:
"These results are so exciting because they openly demonstrate the
superior performance, scalability and reliability of Wi-Fi 6 and that this
generational upgrade of Wi-Fi technology will enable many new use cases at low
cost for enterprises worldwide."
"Mettis is a great example
of a ‘hostile’ Wi-Fi environment. That's why manufacturing and other industrial
organizations should be so excited by these results," said Matt
MacPherson, CTO Wireless at Cisco. "Using Cisco wireless technology,
Mettis was able to reliably use Wi-Fi for truly game-changing applications.
This is a testament to the capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 for industrial use cases, as
well as the innovation of the WBA, Cisco and partners. The lessons we've
learned as part of this trial will help so many other companies as they look to
digitize."
Eric A. Mclaughlin, GM Wireless Solutions Group, Intel
Corporation, said: “We are really proud of what has been achieved in
collaboration with our WBA partners in these initial Mettis Aerospace pilot
tests. The Intel® Wi-Fi 6 enabled laptop successfully delivered 4K video
streaming and high-speed, low-latency throughput in real-world factory
conditions. These results help confirm Wi-Fi 6 benefits for PC clients in
challenging industrial wireless environments.”
“With
demand for Wi-Fi 6 connectivity set to take-off, iBwave intends to lead the way
toward creating high standards for designing business critical applications on
top of this burgeoning technology. Our software helped provide an accurate
design that accounted for possible signal interferences such as metal material,
ensuring maximum connectivity could be achieved for a project of this scale,”
said Ziad Akl-Chedid, of iBwave’s product management team.
The Mettis factory also lies
within the region selected by the UK Government as a 5G test bed for
manufacturing. The WBA test results clearly demonstrate the important role
Wi-Fi 6 can play within the broader 5G ecosystem.
Phase Two of the trial will
focus on further tests of the Mixed reality applications and IoT sensing of key
assets.
Source: Wireless Broadband Alliance media announcement
