Leadership to the IEEE P3388 Standard Working Group (previously IEEE P1451.5p)

NIST researchers Rick Candell, Karl Montgomery, Mohamed Hany, and Kang Lee are providing technical leadership to the IEEE P3388 standard committee (previously identified as IEEE P1451.5p). While wireless technology is slated to be an important factor in the emergence of smart manufacturing concepts of Industry 4.0, many challenges must be addressed to make the wireless medium less uncertain and more predictable so that users can better predict the performance of the wireless networks and expected behavior of the applications that use them.  These applications include sensing applications but also automation, safety, and control applications in which the wireless network must operate at peak reliability.  Industrial applications must be able to incorporate the characteristics of the network and adapt accordingly.  This cannot be done without consistent and repeatable testing strategies.  The industrial wireless medium is susceptible to interference and effects from reflection and attenuation.  These impacts are exacerbated by the mission critical nature of the attached sensing and control applications. Therefore, adoption of wireless networks can be made more acceptable if the uncertainty of the wireless medium is better understood.  This can be achieved through standardized evaluation of network performance prior to its deployment, and hence the importance of IEEE P3388.  This standard will provide a uniform industrial wireless network performance evaluation approach.  Richard Candell will be serving as the Chair of the IEEE P3388, and Mohamed Hany will serve as the working group Secretary.  The NIST Industrial Wireless Systems Laboratory will provide research guidance and testbed resources for the evaluation of concepts and ideas proposed by the emerging IEEE P3388 (previously P1451.5p) standard.