The SA Instrumentation and Control team has prepared something extra for you this month. It is becoming obvious that industrial wireless is shaking off the uncertainties that have plagued it for the last decade and is taking its place as a viable alternative to traditional copper based communication technologies. The Technews Industry Guide (TIG) – Wireless is the first in a series of industry references we have designed to complement the annual buyers’ guide publications and support the adoption of new technology in the local market.
Jim Pinto describes it as ‘The wireless revolution’ in the foreword that he graciously prepared for our new market offering. “The wireless revolution is allowing millions of previously unmonitored measurements to become connected to industrial networks. This has started to generate significant new markets in the industrial automation world, with growth and success beyond past automation paradigms.”
Modern wireless sensor networks are becoming a critical part of the plant optimisation process because they open up applications that simply were not practical before. Honeywell’s corrosion monitoring solution for transcontinental pipelines and Emerson Process Management’s plant-wide steam trap monitoring technology are prime examples. We have also heard presentations on the technology being used for monitoring on submerged arc furnaces where the electromagnetic conditions were just too severe for conventional wire-based solutions. Or how about if you could eliminate the need for slip rings on large rotating equipment?
At the process instrumentation level progress has been driven by rapid advances in the chipsets that support the ISA 100.11a and WirelessHART protocol standards, both of which are leading the evolution of industrial wireless networks. Notably, the sensor suppliers now have a technology platform that enables mesh-based inherently redundant device level solutions that are able to interface to a plant-wide Ethernet or WLAN facility. Most importantly, this can now be done do using only a fraction of the power that was previously required.
Our aim is to provide the process professional with a one-stop definitive resource that covers everything from the low power wireless mesh sensor networks based on the IEEE 802.15.4 (PAN) technology, running under a WirelessHart or ISA 100.11a protocol stack, through the higher power IEEE 802.11 (WLAN) family of standards used to establish the plant-wide backhaul networks that transfer data to and from the process control system.
The new resource provides editorial content covering trends in industrial wireless as well as application stories that illustrate innovative uses of the technology to solve industrial process control problems. The selection of ‘Buyers’ Guide’ dot-tables is a showcase for vendors of industrial wireless from transmitters through gateways, access points and backhaul networks, to proprietary solutions, power supplies, enclosures and antennas. Remote RTU and telemetry applications using GSM technology have also been included under proprietary solutions. Finally, there is a featured product section where many of the local vendors are displaying their latest industrial wireless technology offerings.
In order not to leave any loose ends lying around, contributing editor, Andrew Ashton, has compiled an article that tackles the thorny issue of convergence between the primary standards of WirelessHART and ISA 100.11a – in this case it is more the lack thereof. Our feeling at SA Instrumentation and Control is that while a dual standard might not be an ideal situation, there is no reason why it should delay end-user adoption of the versatile new solutions that wireless technology makes possible. Much like there is more than one fieldbus option available out there – in many cases transmitters are designed to interface with all of them anyway.
TIG – Wireless is an exciting new publication designed to help demystify and speed up the adoption of wireless technology in the local manufacturing industry. The standards are now approved and instruments that meet these standards are designed to be easy to implement, maintain and expand to changing needs. We hope you find this a useful technology reference to an area that ARC Advisory Group VP Chantal Polsonetti describes as, “One of the most closely watched segments in process automation today.”
Steven Meyer
Editor: SA Instrumentation & Control
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