Li-Fi TSN Node for Industrial Real-time Communications

The new Time-Sensitive Network (TSN) standard will create new opportunities to combine critical real-time (RT) traffic with uncritical user data from conventional Ethernet networks. The main strings of these networks will operate at 1 Gbit/s. TSN is still cable-based, which makes it inflexible for mobile applications. For wireless TSN-connectivity, radio-frequency (RF) based technologies like Wi-Fi are no option due to their insufficient latency and bandwidth. However, it was shown that Li-Fi is able to meet RT requirements with high bandwidth. This work introduces a two-port Li-Fi TSN node for 1 Gbit/s full-duplex wireless RT communications. The node includes a processing unit, which makes it possible to connect to external controllers, run higher level protocols like OPC UA or attach non-TSN devices. The work shows how to program embedded designs that make use of Li-Fi and TSN. Bandwidth and latency measurements within a TSN network prove the functionality with mobile devices.