A novel, high-precision timestamping platform for wireless networks

The introduction of wireless networks in the factory floor offers many advantages. Besides a new flexibility for automation, also features like the localisation of wireless devices ease the use of this technology. However, for the application on the factory floor real-time guarantees have to be given, which can be ensured by schemes like TDMA, which is based on implicit or explicit clock synchronization. This is typically supported by a high accurate timestamping of incoming packets for the reduction of jitter effects introduced by the protocol layers. This paper introduces an open platform, which supports research on receiver and timestamper design. The receiver is implemented in a flexible fashion, in order to support simultaneous multi-channel monitoring as well as easy reconfiguration for technologies other than IEEE 802.11b/g for efficient deployment in automation systems.