Austin, TX. Time-sensitive networking (TSN) and MIMO test with applicability to 5G prototyping were key topics at NIWeek.
On Wednesday, NI announced an early access technology platform for TSN as part of its continued commitment to support the development of new standard technologies for synchronization and communications. NI said that in coordination with Cisco and Intel it is empowering customers to build distributed systems that perform synchronized I/O, code execution, and deterministic communication for distributed control and measurement loops, all using standard Ethernet.
A Wednesday NIWeek keynote demonstration featured a network used for an industrial measurement-and-control application. When video traffic typical of an IT network was added, performance degraded—a situation that could possible damage expensive industrial equipment. With TSN functionality added, the measurement-and-control application continued to function properly in spite of video traffic.
Kevin Stanton, senior principal engineer at Intel, and Paul Didier, a solutions architect at Cisco, emphasized the need to converge OT and IT systems. “At Intel we are very excited about TSN and bringing OT and IT into the same network,” Stanton said.
Mark Buckner, power and energy systems group leader at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, also spoke during the Wednesday keynote session. “Oak Ridge National Laboratory is working to address challenges to the stability and control of the world’s power grids caused by the accelerating deployment of distributed renewable energy sources,” he said. “In partnership with NI and Cisco, we are demonstrating how Time Sensitive Networking can enable an unprecedented level of microgrid coordination and control, significantly increasing the resiliency of power delivery systems.”
TSN delivers mechanisms to create distributed, synchronized, hard real-time systems over standard Ethernet. These systems use the same infrastructure to provide real-time control and communicate all standard IT data, powering convergence of control, measurement, configuration, UI, and file-exchange infrastructure.
The early access technology platform includes new CompactRIO controllers featuring Intel Atom processors and the Intel i210 TSN-enabled NIC for a faster, lower energy, and more cost-effective solution. These controllers use LabVIEW system design software to maintain synchronized time to the network and expose that time to code running on the real-time processor, as well as the code running on the FPGA.
MIMO test for 5G
NI on Wednesday also announced what it calls the world’s first MIMO Application Framework. When paired with NI software-defined radio hardware, this software reference design provides a well-documented, reconfigurable, parameterized physical layer written and delivered in LabVIEW source code that enables researchers to build both traditional MIMO and Massive MIMO prototypes.
“NI’s SDR platform enabled us to iterate quickly and allows us to optimize our algorithms and publish the first paper on massive MIMO results, not just theory,” Dr. Ove Edfors, professor, Lund university, told attendees at the Wednesday keynote session.
“NI’s MIMO platform has been instrumental in enabling our Massive MIMO research,” added Professor Andrew Nix, Head of the CSN Group and Dean of Engineering at the University of Bristol. “The MIMO Application Framework NI provided allowed our team to begin our work from an advanced starting point, and the seamless interaction between the software and hardware let us move quickly from theory to real-world prototyping. As a result, we were able to prove the potential of Massive MIMO as a candidate technology for 5G by setting world records in spectral efficiency.”
