Indoor radio communications for factories of the future

Abstract

The need for reliable, real-time communication for automated factories is discussed. The ability of narrowband digital radio systems to meet that need is examined. The major problems encountered in multipath propagation, resulted from multiple reflections of the transmitted signal from the building structure and surrounding inventory. Radio wave propagation experiments at 1300 MHz, which were conducted by the author in five operational factories, are described. Other studies of multipath propagation are discussed, and techniques for overcoming it are considered. Research on multiple-access networking is summarized.