By Nicholas Sheble
The lapel buttons that pronounce, “Ask me about ISA-SP100,” referring to the ISA wireless committee and standard, were pinned on people walking the EXPO floor here at the Reliant Center in Houston.
Wireless is everywhere. Peter Fuhr jokingly said, “100% of the display booths on the show floor have wireless phones.” That is a safe bet.
The technological aspects of wireless technology are largely solved. All that remains to satisfy the industrial automation market is a wireless standard that will enable interoperability of devices and such that emanate from different vendors.
Once the standard arrives, the rest is merely marketing. First, teach the users that wireless is safe, secure, reliable, and cost efficient. Second, teach them to buy it from my company. That is marketing.
We are a long way from this point. The vast majority of stakeholders and users have not gotten past step one and certainly are not on step two.
Fuhr’s forum on Wednesday, Security and Safe Operation of Wireless Devices in a Hazardous Environment, hosted a panel of users, vendors, and standards makers. The crux of the presentations and the Q&A is wireless works in hazardous environments, explosive environments, it is safe, it is secure, the technology is there, and it is cost efficient.
There is no standard yet, but plenty of products. Herman Storey of Shell Oil said, “One aspect of wireless that’s holding us back is that there is no wireless standard. Products are coming out without standards. That doesn’t work so well for end users.”
Continued Storey, “Why do we want wireless? Well, we have done a great job with many operations using wired technology. However, many times there are situations that just do not work with a wired setup. Remote locations are an example. They are difficult and sometimes impossible to wire. Mobile locations like railcars are a problem too. We have cars here and there on sidings, and we like to know levels and other information about those cars. In fact, there are certain upstream locations that you can’t wire because somebody will steal the wire.”
As to the concern of wireless in hazardous locations, the sentiment reflected this ideal. Installing wireless networks instead of cabled networks not only cuts cabling cost and enables temporary network connections while maintaining communication speed and security, but the cost/benefit of introducing wireless networks is even greater in hazardous and offshore environments, where cabling, throughputs, and manpower hours are more expensive.
As to security, security and standards expert Tom Phinney said, “The good news is we have the technology to make wireless transmissions secure. There is a bright future for this technology.”
The standard is key. The ISA-SP100 committee is addressing wireless manufacturing and control systems in the areas of: the environment in which the wireless technology works; the technology life cycle for wireless equipment and systems; and the application of Wireless technology.
The wireless environment includes the definition of wireless, radio frequencies (starting point), vibration, temperature, humidity, EMC, interoperability, coexistence with existing systems, and physical equipment location.
Global short-, medium-, and long-term technology needs come about on a non-exclusive technology basis with no bias towards or against a particular wireless technology. The standards themselves may influence the allocation and use of resources and spectrum.
Application of the technology will include: field sensors used for monitoring, control, alarm, and shutdown that can be vertically integrated from field to business systems; wireless technology whose uses include real-time field-to-business systems (e.g. wireless equipment interfacing work order systems, control LAN, business LAN, voice); across all industries—fluid processing, material processing, and discrete parts manufacturing environments.
For related information, go to www.isa.org/productivity.