IIoT Communication
Communication technology for the industrial Internet of Things.
High frequency technology and communications engineering for the digitalization of industry.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Niels Neumann
What is the industrial internet of things and why communication technology is needed?
When producing goods, in logistics, in medical applications but also within buildings and in transportation more and more sensors are deployed providing precise information about the current status. Examples are temperature and moisture monitoring in production systems, the presence of humans or vehicles in transportation systems, tracking goods in logistics etc.
Depending on this information, actors can influence the environment - for example, light can be turned on and off when humans are present, valves can be opened for ventilation or automatic conveyor belts transport packets to the correct delivery vehicle. Without interconnection of the sensors and actors all of this this is not possible: Without knowledge about the sensor data, the actors do not know what setting to apply. Communication systems take care of the necessary data exchange: Already today more data is transfered between machines than between humans!
As a consequence, these communication systems have to distribute a large amount of data with as low as possible latency to variable locations. For this, tailored technologies are required: Radio systems for mobility and high frequencies (even laser light) for large data rates. The safety of the transmission plays a vital role in this field because many of the applications have a huge impact on human life - from power supply to transportation. Being immersed in communication systems, energy efficiency is a huge topic in our world today. Already small savings have an immense impact due to the large numbers of transmitters and receivers.
Our goal at the professorship is
to research, design and improve such communication systems
to educate and train people so that they can understand this technology and improve it by themselves
Do you want to work with us on these topics? We are looking forward to you - no matter whether you are still studying (--> open topics), work towards a Ph.D., just want to learn more about these topics or whether you approach us with interesting questions from industrial practice.