Sebastian Itting

Bio: Sebastian Itting is an academic researcher from Dresden University of Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Computer science & Radio access network. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 2 citations.

5G Campus Networks: A First Measurement Study

Abstract: A 5G campus network is a 5G network for the users affiliated with the campus organization, e.g., an industrial campus, covering a prescribed geographical area. A 5G campus network can operate as a so-called 5G non-standalone (NSA) network (which requires 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) spectrum access) or as a 5G standalone (SA) network (without 4G LTE spectrum access). 5G campus networks are envisioned to enable new use cases, which require cyclic delay-sensitive industrial communication, such as robot control. We design a rigorous testbed for measuring the one-way packet delays between a 5G end device via a radio access network (RAN) to a packet core with sub-microsecond precision as well as for measuring the packet core delay with nanosecond precision. With our testbed design, we conduct detailed measurements of the one-way download (downstream, i.e., core to end device) as well as one-way upload (upstream, i.e., end device to core) packet delays and losses for both 5G SA and 5G NSA hardware and network operation. We also measure the corresponding 5G SA and 5G NSA packet core processing delays for download and upload. We find that typically 95% of the SA download packet delays are in the range from 4–10 ms, indicating a fairly wide spread of the packet delays. Also, existing packet core implementations regularly incur packet processing latencies up to 0.4 ms, with outliers above one millisecond. Our measurement results inform the further development and refinement of 5G SA and 5G NSA campus networks for industrial use cases. We make the measurement data traces publicly available as the IEEE DataPort 5G Campus Networks: Measurement Traces dataset (DOI 10.21227/xe3c-e968).

Private 5G Solutions for Mobile Industrial Robots: A Feasibility Study

Abstract: Mobile robots are an essential part of the vision of flexible production in a smart factory. To monitor and connect the robots, reliable and low latency communication is necessary. In this work, we conduct packet-based active measurements to evaluate the performance of a state-of-the-art 5G standalone system in a production environment. The focus is on whether 5G connections can meet the requirements specified by 3G PP in terms of delay and reliability. The results indicate that without cross-traffic, the requirement of a delay of less than 10 ms for 99.9 % of the packets can be met for the remote control and fleet management of mobile robots. However, as soon as cross-traffic is injected, especially in the uplink, the upper percentiles of the delay increase significantly, thus failing to hold the reliability requirements.

Empirical Study of 5G Downlink & Uplink Scheduling and its Effects on Latency

Abstract: 5G campus networks, whose advantages include flexible deployment, can be a promising candidate for production plants to complement existing Wifi-based networks. Toward that goal, 5G has to satisfy strict requirements about real-time communication to facilitate novel use cases. However, the realtime-capability of 5G is not well understood yet. In this work, we deliver insights into the functioning of 5G NR RAN Release 15, which includes actual one-way delay and Round-Trip Time (RTT) measurements for Downlink and Uplink in a private 5G Standalone campus network. The extensive measurement results reveal that these delays are correlated, and the corresponding RTT, i.e. the sum of Downlink and Uplink delays, is discreetly clustered, ranging between 12ms and 40ms. The measurements also show that the distribution of RTTs is mainly dependent on the packet rates and their inter-arrival times. Our study helps expand the current understanding of 5G used for latency-critical applications. We make the code and the measurement data traces publicly available as the IEEE DataPort 5G Campus Networks: Measurement Traces dataset (DOI 10.21227/xe3c-e968).

Performance of 5G Trials for Industrial Automation

Abstract: Wireless- and 5G-enabled industrial automation is expected to include a plethora of different applications with a wide variety of requirements. In this article, evaluations are undertaken for the deployment of 5G in realistic industrial production environments with realistic deployment settings. Both deployments using commercial 5G systems and a 5G prototype system including pre-commercial and standard compliant URLLC functionality have been investigated. Systematic latency and reliability measurements were performed, over the air and in live networks, for different packet sizes, different devices, and networks with different capabilities (at different sites) to characterize the expected performance. The results indicate that today’s 5G latency performance significantly depends on packet size, transmission direction (uplink or downlink), and network configuration as well as on the end device’s design and capabilities. Our over-the-air measurements also empirically show that 5G technology and future networks have the capability of providing one-way latency of around 1 ms in both uplink and downlink for the various packet sizes tested. It is concluded that the requirements for very low latencies can be achieved with high reliability guarantees, as required in some of the most stringent industrial IoT applications.

Traps and transport resistance are the next frontiers for stable non-fullerene acceptor solar cells

Abstract: Abstract Stability is one of the most important challenges facing material research for organic solar cells (OSC) on their path to further commercialization. In the high-performance material system PM6:Y6 studied here, we investigate degradation mechanisms of inverted photovoltaic devices. We have identified two distinct degradation pathways: one requires the presence of both illumination and oxygen and features a short-circuit current reduction, the other one is induced thermally and marked by severe losses of open-circuit voltage and fill factor. We focus our investigation on the thermally accelerated degradation. Our findings show that bulk material properties and interfaces remain remarkably stable, however, aging-induced defect state formation in the active layer remains the primary cause of thermal degradation. The increased trap density leads to higher non-radiative recombination, which limits the open-circuit voltage and lowers the charge carrier mobility in the photoactive layer. Furthermore, we find the trap-induced transport resistance to be the major reason for the drop in fill factor. Our results suggest that device lifetimes could be significantly increased by marginally suppressing trap formation, leading to a bright future for OSC.

Factory 5G: A Review of Industry-Centric Features and Deployment Options

Abstract: Fine-grained and wide-scale connectivity is a precondition to fully digitalize the manufacturing industry. Driven by this need, new technologies such as time-sensitive networking (TSN), 5G wireless networks, and industrial Internet-of-things (IIoT) are being applied to industrial communication networks to reach the desired connectivity spectrum. With TSN emerging as a wired networking solution, converging IT and operational technology (OT) data streams, 5G is upscaling its access and core networks to function as an independent or a transparent TSN carrier in demanding OT use-cases. In this article, we discuss the drivers for future industrial wireless systems and review the role of 5G and its industrial-centric evolution towards meeting the strict performance standards of factories. We also elaborate on the 5G deployment options, including frequency spectrum allocation and private networks, to help the factory owners discern various dimensions of solution space and concerns to integrate 5G in industrial networks.

Formation Control of Dual Auto Guided Vehicles Based on Compensation Method in 5G Networks

Abstract: With commercial application of 5G networks, many researchers have started paying attention to real-time control in 5G networks. This paper focuses on dual auto guided vehicles collaborative transport scenarios and designs a formation control system in current commercial 5G networks. Firstly, the structure of the 5G network researched in this paper is introduced. Then the round-trip time of 5G networks is measured and analyzed. The result shows that although the 5G round-trip time has randomness, it is mainly concentrated in 19 ± 3 ms, and the jitter mainly in 0 ± 3 ms. The Kalman filter is applied to estimate the transmission delay and experiment result shows the effectiveness of the estimation. Furthermore, the total delay including transmission delay and execution delay in control system is discussed. After establishing the AGV kinematic and formation model, complete control system based on compensation method is proposed. Finally, an experiment is carried out. Compared to the result without formation control, maximum distance error is reduced by 82.61% on average, while maximum angle error 45.91% on average. The result shows the effectiveness of the control system in formation maintaining in 5G network.