Wireless communications in factory automation

That’s chief among findings of a study by analyst IMS Research, which assesses the EMEA market as accounting for 40% of the global total. Senior analyst, Mark Watson says: “Especially in the current economic climate, EMEA users, often with higher operating costs than those in Asia, may see the adoption of certain wireless products as a way to avoid the installation and maintenance costs of cable networks”. He adds that the most common products to be wireless-enabled so far are rugged mobile computers, sensors and remote I/O. The first are already established as wireless-enabled devices that give operators increased flexibility over mounted or tethered alternatives for data monitoring and acquisition. They also save expense for the end user (and machine builder) as they reduce the number of devices required. That said, IMS’ report finds the most widely used open wireless protocols used with mobile computers in EMEA are Bluetooth, WLAN and Cellular – with Bluetooth and WLAN together forecast to account for almost 90% of all wireless rugged mobile computers by 2013. Currently, however, IMS finds that the biggest obstacle to adopting wireless communications, for machine builders and end users alike, is reliability. The presence of heavy machinery that can interrupt wireless signals, together with the increasing importance of gathering dependable, detailed machine data, has convinced most, for now at least, that wired solutions remain best, says Watson. However, he says that more and more companies are experimenting with wireless products designed and ruggedised for use in factory environments. “They want to improve, having chosen the correct infrastructure and wireless technology, the performance and functionality of their industrial networks,” says Watson. And he adds that the falling cost of wireless-enabled products is a further incentive for companies to convert from wired networks, or to use both types of network alongside each other. “This is especially attractive in the current economic climate, since the initial outlay to install a wireless network is lower than that of a wired one,” he says. “For example, real money can be saved in an application such as a waste water treatment plant, where pumps can be located several hundred metres from the control room.” The adoption of a wireless network for applications such as condition monitoring also saves component costs, such as slip rings, which were previously required to monitor rotating components. With a wireless sensor, a user can now more closely monitor applications incorporating rotating parts, without incurring costs that would previously have been prohibitive.