Deterministic Connected Systems
With almost 25 years of experience, IDLab specializes in designing, prototyping, and benchmarking connected systems for challenging applications. We focus on areas like industrial control and automation, professional multimedia, cable replacement in airplanes and vehicles, mission-critical communication, and cooperative autonomous driving.
Our mission is clear: to deliver connectivity services with deterministic end-to-end guarantees using programmable wireless & wireline hardware. This encompasses both digital hardware and software designs to monitor, control, manage and customize end-to-end programmable connected systems. Our approach considers full-stack solutions, addressing all connectivity, computing, and processing functions along the wired/wireless end-to-end path.
We focus on next-generation Wi-Fi, beyond 5G/6G, converged Wi-Fi/5G networks and advanced wireless architectures as the foundations for these deterministic connected systems. We have at our disposal unique white-box prototyping platforms that allow full control and foster innovation and customization. Noteworthy platforms are openwifi and the 5G-6G network-in-a-box:
- The openwifi platform presents a comprehensive full-stack Wi-Fi design (IEEE 802.11a/g/n/ax) that complies with Wi-Fi standards. This platform is extended with time-sensitive features (a.o., time synchronization with microsecond accuracy, millisecond-level end-to-end latency-bounded scheduling), impactless bootstrapping of new devices, and seamless mobility. The openwifi platform seamlessly integrates with Time-Sensitive Ethernet and is designed to meet the stringent requirements of time-sensitive applications, aligning with the goals of 5G URLLC (Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications).
- The 5G-6G network-in-a-box consists of multiple O-RAN-compliant portable units that allow testing, experimentation, and novel research based on 5G, beyond 5G and 6G network technologies. These 5G units consist of both commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and software-defined radio (SDR) equipment enabling flexibility for extensions and customization beyond features offered in 3GPP releases and capability for end-to-end experimentation involving business-critical and/or mission-critical applications with demanding QoS requirements in dynamic wireless environments. Besides 5G-NR, multiple other technologies are supported, such as C-V2X (LTE/5G Uu and Sidelink/PC5), ITS-G5 (DSRC), Wi-Fi, etc.
