[en] Communication systems are a key enabling technology for the industry 4.0 revolution, since they provide the ability to exchange information between different devices. This makes tasks as remote monitoring and control of processes possible, adding a new degree of flexibility to the existing industrial facilities. The communications of this kind of use cases differ significantly with the ones that belong to more generic scenarios as home or office, since aspects as reliability and latency are critical to ensure the proper operation of industrial processes. In order to comply with the requirements, wired solutions were introduced first because they can meet the demands using relatively simple implementations thanks to the use of a dedicated medium. However, Wireless solutions offer several advantages compared to the wired counterpart such as a lower cost in deployment and maintenance, flexibility to re-organize factory plants or the ability to operate in moving or rotating elements. This is why the implementation of wireless industrial communications is an actively discussed topic in both academic and industrial fields. However, as wireless communications use a shared médium that is prone to interference and noise, none of the existing proposals meet the most stringent requirements defined in industrial use cases. In this thesis, the use of the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band was identified as a possible cause of this lack of reliability, since most of nowadays solutions opérate over this license-free frequency band that is already saturated with other applications and interference is unavoidable. In order to overcome this issue, the use of the 60 GHz mmWave spectrum is proposed as a possible alternative for the radio access, as it offers several advantages as a higher bandwidth or a far less saturated medium. Since the propagation of electromagnetic signals in the mmWave spectrum has not been widely characterized in industrial settings, this thesis is focused on expanding the existing knowledge in this particular field. The objective is to provide the required evidence to determine if the proposed solution is a valid candidate to achieve reliable industrial communications over a wireless medium. As for the contributions, a cost-effective double directional channel sounder that measures propagation in the mmWave spectrum was created first with the aim of characterizing industrial facilities. Two different measurement campaigns were carried out after with this equipment, where the key propagation metrics were obtained within two workshops and a pit oven from a steel company. A stochastic channel model that represents the observed propagation was developed then to be able to represent it in network simulation tools. At last, the performance that a commercial mmWave standard can offer in a typical industrial network was analysed to assess the viability of the technology and identify possible improvements that can be done to the standard. Regarding the results, the analysed standard showed potential to cope with the most demanding industrial use cases, even if modifications are required to reach the desired performance.

[eu] Komunikazio sistemak industria 4.0 eraldaketa lortzeko gakoa den teknologia dira, gailu desberdinen artean informazioa parekatzea ahalbidetzen dutelako. Honen bitartez, makina desberdinen monitorizazioa eta kontrola lekuan bertan egon gabe burutu ahal da, fabrikazio prozesuen kontrol eta jarraipen eraginkorragoa lortuz. Kasu hauetan erabiltzen diren komunikazioak ez dute inongo zerikusirik beste kontestu batzuetan aurki daitezkeen sareekin, esaterako etxe edo bulego batean. Arrazoi Nagusia industriako aplikazioetan dago, hauek determinismo eta latentziarekiko kritikoak diren baldintza batzuk bete behar dituztelako. Hau dela eta, sortu ziren lehenengo protokoloak kable bidez komunikatzen ziren, teknologia honek komunikatzeko kanal esklusibo bat eskaintzen duelako eta inplementazio sinpleek eskatzen diren baldintza guztiak betetzen dituztelako. Dena den, haririk gabeko protokoloek hainbat abantaila eskaintzen dituzten, haien artean instalazio eta mantentze-lanetarako kostu baxuago bat, makinak lekuz aldatzeko ahalmena edo mugimenduren bat duten piezetan instalatzeko gaitasuna egonik. Honegatik, haririk gabeko protokolo industrialen garapena asko eztabaidatzen den gai bat da, bai industria sailean eta baita mundu akademikoan ere. Teknologia honek duen arazorik handiena mezuak aire bidez transmititzen direla da, hau parekatzen den baliabide bat delako eta ondorioz interferentziekin erlazionatutako arazoak agertzen direlako. Honen ondorioz, garatu diren protokoloak ez dira gai aplikazio industrial kritikoenei dagokien baldintzak asebetetzeko. Tesi honen hasieran, arazo honen arrazoietako bat 2.4 GHz ko ISM frekuentzien erabilera dela identifikatu zen, izan ere frekuentzia hauetan lizentziarik gabe transmititu ahal da eta dagoeneko aplikazio askok erabiltzen dute, interferentzia maila areagotuz. Arazo hau ekiditeko, tesi honetan 60 GHz inguruko frekuentziak erabiltzea proposatzen da konponbide bezala. Proposamen honek abantaila ugari ditu, hauen artean banda zabalera handiago bat edo interferentzia gutxiago duen komunikazio kanal bat egonik. Mota honetako seinaleen propagazioa ez dago guztiz aztertuta eremu industrialetan, eta tesi honen helburua gai honetan sakontzea da. Helburu hau propagazioari buruzko informazioa beharrezkoa delako jarri da, honek zehaztuko duelako ea benetan frekuentzia banda berri hau erabili ahalko den aplikazio industrialetan. Lortu diren ekarpenei dagokienez, lehenengo eta behin 60 GHz inguruko seinale elektromagnetikoen propagazioa neurtzeko gailu bat garatu zen. Honen ondoren, bi neurketa-kanpaina burutu ziren, non seinaleen propagazioa bi tailer desberdinetan eta altzairugintzarako labe batean aztertu zen eta honekin erlazionatutako metrikak eskuratu ziren. Hurrengo urratsa aztertu zen propagazioa errepresentatzeko modelo estokastiko bat sortzea izan zen, honen bitartez jasotako informazioa simulazio tresnetan erabili ahal delako. Bukatzeko, 60 GHz tan dabilen protokolo komertzial batek sare industrial bat kudeatzeko duen ahalmena aztertu zen, non teknologia honen bideragarritasuna eta protokoloari egin litzaizkiokeen hobekuntzak aztertu ziren. Ikerketa honen emaitzei dagokionez, testeatu den estandarrak eskakizun zorrotzak dituzten aplikazio industrialekin lan egiteko potentziala azaldu du, nahiz eta honi aldaketa batzuk egitea ezinbestekoa den erabilera kasu zorrotzenekin ibili ahal izateko.