Technical Notes

Unhook the Wires - Wireless Efficiency Drives Converts
By Jack Moore, August 2003

A study dating back to 1997 from the (U.S.) President’s Advisors on Science and Technology found that industrial workplaces could achieve an easy 10% increase in production efficiency simply by using wireless sensors. Wireless sensors allow for a streamlining of a factory’s operations and, thus, lower operating costs resulting from the ability to move devices around the industrial setting.

Dr. Peter Fuhr, ISA Member and presenter at the Wireless Industrial Communications Technical Conference, 7-8 October 2003, believes in the efficiency of wireless. That’s mainly because wireless technology users continue to report the cost savings resulting from going to wireless. Wireless is a solution to a myriad of problems that wire-based networks present. Being that wired systems often fail at the connector, maintenance is an expensive proposition.

The data communications in a wired system—where batches of
information are sent between two devices—becomes too cumbersome because it requires the transfer of too many bits of information at once.

But one of the most compelling pieces of evidence driving factories to install wireless solutions is the anecdotal information Fuhr has learned through the years.

"People say ‘we know there are wires up there, but don’t touch them because we’re afraid something will fail,’ or ‘it’s working and we don’t know how to go back and maintain it.’" This kind of talk is converting the plant managers who say they aren’t going to adopt a technology such as wireless until they’re certain it can deliver a real value to their operation.

A year-old study from Forrester Research)in Cambridge, Mass., indicates that more are being convinced. The study found that 15% of industrial companies now have wireless networks. That’s more than doubled from a year earlier when only 6% of industrial companies utilized wireless.

Helping to promote the adoption of wireless in factories is the Wireless Industrial Networking Alliance (WINA). "WINA is trying to identify, characterize, recommend, and certify appropriate wireless technologies," says Fuhr. "Members range from all sorts of large and small end user companies to providers—both large and small."

Fuhr finds that a common problem associated with wireless sensors is the lack of standards. There are organizations that come up with specific operation specifications for different sensors or different types of radio performance for different types of bus structures.

"We are concerned about avoiding the bus wars that took place over the past decade," says Fuhr, WINA steering committee member and ISA Wireless presenter. "We do not want to replicate those problems.

A way to spread the word about wireless and act on WINA’s goals is through conferences. At ISA’s Wireless Industrial Communications Technical Conference, attendees thinking of adopting wireless in their plants will find it’s really focused for the peculiarities of an industrial system. "You may have machine tools, multiple floors, competing systems," Fuhr says. "The focus on this conference is right on the that specific setting. They will be able to talk to vendors, hear comparative unbiased discussions of competing wireless technologies." For more information on the conference, 7-8 October 2003 in Atlanta, Ga., visit www.isa.org/wireless.