Balloting of IEEE 3388 Standard for the Performance Assessment of Industrial Wireless Systems

The IEEE draft standard, P3388, titled “Standard for the Performance Assessment of Industrial Wireless Systems,” has been submitted for IEEE Standards Association balloting. Under the leadership of NIST’s Rick Candell, the P3388 working group addresses several performance measurement objectives. This standard establishes a functional model for radio frequency (RF) industrial wireless performance degradation factors (referred to as “aggressors”). Additionally, it provides a reference test architecture for evaluating the performance of industrial wireless systems. Transparency is a key focus, with a well-defined assessment process for test planning, evaluation, and reporting. Furthermore, the standard includes instructions for establishing profiles to tailor the assessment process for specific industries, applications, and scenarios.  The 3388 standard encompasses all wireless networks used in industrial settings, where reliability and latency may significantly impact operational functionality and safety. The standard addresses performance degradation factors arising from both physical and electromagnetic forms of wireless signal degradation. This milestone marks a major step in making wireless technology a reliable mode of communications in industrial environments.