Integration of LiFi Technology in an Industry 4.0 Learning Factory

We are currently developing a modular and decentralized learning factory to demonstrate Industry 4.0 and Logistics 4.0 scenarios to both, students and employees from the companies. The factory shall allow the setup and evaluation of any preferred factory layout. One major challenge is the design of an appropriate strategy for communication between the factory modules and the identification of adequate communication technologies. There are two main requirements, which we consider for the communication design. First, the communication shall be wireless in order to reduce the effort for changing the factory structure. Second, the communication strategy shall allow an easy identification of the current factory layout and the interconnection of factory resources. According to our current state of knowledge, we believe that LiFi (Light Fidelity) is a suitable technology to fulfill these requirements. In the paper, we discuss the benefits and drawbacks of LiFi as communication technology and present a concept for the integration of LiFi in our learning factory. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.