Microwave Communication to Moving Parts Inside Machines

Abstract

Cables to moving parts on a linear actuator in production machines, such as pick-and-place machines, are a source of unreliability owing to the possible breaking of a cable. They further reduce the positioning precision of the actuator owing to additional forces. Slotted waveguide systems for rail vehicles based on 2.4 GHz transmission frequency are well known, but transmitters/receivers and waveguides are bulky. The paper reports on the reduction in size of the equipment, adapted to 5.8 GHz using a commercial off-the-shelf RadioLan communication module. Further, the efficient termination of the waveguide and a new way to reduce standing-wave effects is also discussed.