Toyota, NEC developing productivity-boosting system for factories

MANILA: NEC Corporation and Toyota Technical Development Corporation (TTDC) announced the formation of a reliable wireless control system for cars and other moving objects in industrial facilities.

This system integrates NEC Wireless-connection Stabilization Software (NOTE) to TTDC communication modules, which are then installed on cars, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and other vehicles to maintain stable, interruption-free communication. By addressing the issues associated with roaming-based communication with moving objects, the system provides real-time data acquisition and command transmission, thereby increasing the production site’s productivity and efficiency.

This system has already been implemented at Toyota Motor Corporation's Motomachi Plant in Japan, where it is helping to improve productivity by utilizing wireless communication within the facility.

The two companies plan to apply what they have learned from this collaboration to systems that perform wireless control of AGVs, machine tools, robots, and the like, gather inspection data, and transmit programs for Toyota Motor Corporation and other production customers.

The digital transformation (DX) of the manufacturing sector through automation and the Internet of Things (IoT) is advancing as businesses seek to increase productivity and address increasing labor shortages. There is a growing demand for highly reliable and low-delay wireless communication systems for AGVs and robots used over large areas or across multiple processes. In factories and warehouses, where equipment and facilities block radio waves and make flexible changes in production lines difficult, stable wireless communication is identified as a critical issue.

NEC and TTDC designed this system to achieve secure communication with moving objects by maintaining good wireless reception, recognizing low-interference communication paths with other wireless devices in real time, and seamlessly shifting to these paths.

This system, which employs NEC's patented technology, recognizes functional communication bands in real time based on how congested the bands are as well as the field strength of the access points, allowing for a smooth transition to high-quality communication paths and access points. This allows for stable wireless communication even in environments with fluctuating reception and congestion.

The system generates a virtual image of the entire wireless communication space and switches to the right communication paths on this virtualized network, strengthening wireless connections without the use of complex access point functions. The system can thus be used with existing access points and network equipment.

Using TTDC's patented technology, this system was established within a compact module for simple mounting in a wide range of moving objects with limited installation space.

This system will be presented at the Wireless Technology Park (WTP) 2022 exhibition, which will be held at Tokyo Big Sight from today to the 27th.

Image from Toyota

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