Volker Jungnickel

Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute

Papers

Total Citations

101

H-Index

About

Volker Jungnickel is a leading figure in optical wireless communication (OWC), with a particular focus on deploying these systems in challenging industrial environments. His research centers on developing robust, high-speed, and low-latency wireless links using visible and infrared light, specifically tailored for the demanding conditions of manufacturing and robotics. A major contribution is his pioneering work on real-time OWC field trials, where he has demonstrated the feasibility of replacing traditional radio-frequency links with optical systems in dynamic, interference-heavy settings. His 2017 paper on "Optical Wireless MIMO Experiments in an Industrial Environment," with 86 citations, provides foundational channel measurements and transmission experiments for LED-based OWC in a robotic cell. This work is complemented by his 2018 field-trial of a real-time OWC system, which proved that spatial diversity schemes can maintain reliable, low-latency communication even with rapidly moving production robots. Through these achievements, Jungnickel has established OWC as a viable and powerful solution for the next generation of industrial wireless networks, directly addressing the need for high reliability and low latency in Industry 4.0 applications.