The SA Instrumentation and Control team has spent the last 12 months learning and researching all we could about wireless sensor adoption in a factory automation context. It was about this time last year that it became obvious that industrial wireless was shaking off the uncertainties that had plagued it for the last decade and taking its place as a viable alternative to traditional copper based communication technologies. This was supported, amongst others, by an announcement from Emerson Process Management that it had recently clocked 1 billion hours of operation across 10 000 installed systems based on its Smart Wireless technology.
At the process instrumentation level this 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. Most 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 WLAN facility or backbone. And most importantly, they can now do this using only a fraction of the power that was previously required.
Technews Industry Guide – Wireless
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?
These are some of the reasons behind our decision to introduce what we believe will be the first industry guide of its kind in the South African market. 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 resource will provide 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. There will be a selection of ‘Buyers’ Guide’ dot-tables to showcase the 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 will also be included under proprietary solutions. Finally, there will be a featured product section to allow the vendors to display their latest industrial wireless technology offerings.
The Technews Industry Guide (TIG) – Wireless will be posted free of charge with the July issue of SAI&C magazine. To this end, we recently sent out a call for content on subjects like the following:
* Mesh network design using WirelessHART or ISA 100.11 devices.
* Plant-wide industrial wireless network backhaul design.
* Other technologies including Zigbee, Bluetooth and proprietary systems.
* Latency, jitter and control issues over industrial wireless.
* Industry success stories (all industries).
* Safety related concerns.
* Power: supply, consumption and energy harvesting.
We restricted the distribution of the call to a targeted group, so if we have missed anybody please feel free to contact me directly [email protected]. For information on marketing opportunities in TIG – Wireless, please contact Jane or Tina.
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. If you feel you have a solution to offer, I encourage you to join us and participate in what ARC Advisory Group VP, Chantal Polsonetti, described as: “One of the most closely watched segments in process automation today.”
Steven Meyer
Editor: SA Instrumentation & Control
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