White paper | Contactless Power and Data Transmission with NearFi Technology
System features for industrial applications
Deterministic real-time behavior and protocol transparency NearFi enables bidirectional communication without additional system-induced latency by implementing the uplink and downlink over two parallel 60 GHz connections in separate frequency bands. This enables full-duplex communication, which is suitable for time-critical Industrial Ethernet protocols such as PROFINET or EtherCAT. Since transmission occurs at the physical layer, NearFi can be used independently of the higher-level Ethernet protocol.
Bit- vs. packet-based wireless communication( causes of latency) Packet-based wireless systems such as WLAN, Bluetooth, or 5G rely on shared transmission media and cause system-related latency due to mechanisms such as medium access( e. g., CSMA / CA in WLAN with Listen Before Talk), scheduling( e. g., in 5G), as well as packet processing and retransmissions in the event of collisions or interference. Particularly in dense industrial environments with high frequency utilization, these methods result in variable latency and limited determinism due to coexistence mechanisms and interference.
NearFi, on the other hand, operates bit-transparently at the physical layer as a pure transmission medium(“ cable replacement”) and completely avoids packet-based access methods, addressing, or protocol mechanisms. This eliminates the latency typical of packet-based wireless technologies.
Communication occurs deterministically without any additional transmission delay, while data integrity – similar to wired Ethernet – is ensured by mechanisms in the higher-level protocol layers.
Coexistence and immunity to interference in dense environments Due to the locally confined near-field coupling, the electromagnetic field remains concentrated within the intended transmission range. This
Ethernet 100 Mbit / s
Protocol-independent near-field communication in real time
Phoenix Contact 6