When the Industry Goes Wireless: Drivers, Requirements, Technology and Future Trends
Simon Carlsen, Stig Peterse · InTech eBooks · 2010
Factory Automation 78revenue.Secondly, if new technology has the potential to benefit other important aspects such as health, safety or the environment (HSE), they would also be considered interesting for the industry.Potential areas in which wireless technology can be beneficial to the industry can be divided into three distinct applications; mobile ICT (information and communication technology), wireless instrumentation, and asset and personnel tracking. Mobile ICTThe development and rapid deployment of systems adhering to the IEEE Std 802.11 for wireless local area networks (WLANs) have enabled Internet access to mobile devices such as laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and high-end mobile phones, from nearly anywhere at any time.WLAN access points are deployed in office buildings, public spaces, airports, cafeterias and in private homes, providing either free or purchasable Internet access to everybody in the vicinity.While wireless access in the home, office or public spaces mainly has focused on internet access and access to enterprise systems on the office network, the focus is somewhat different for industrial applications.Some relevant application areas involving the use of mobile ICT in the industry includes: Simplification of work processes Simplify or automate routine test procedures 'Bringing the control room to the field' Online field access to status, maintenance logs etc for instruments and components as a part of fault diagnostics procedures Inspection and maintenance tasks by means of WLAN enabled mobile cameras, where the field operator communicates in real-time over video and audio with remote expert centres Commonly, mobile ICT applications in the industry are associated with local on-site WLAN networks, which to date has more or less followed the same implementation strategy as for WLANs' in office environments.The benefits for deploying local network infrastructure are many.For example, it ensures sufficient bandwidth for demanding applications, and the security and data integrity aspects are locally controlled.In some industries, however, the costs for deploying local infrastructure for enabling wireless coverage in the process areas can be significant.This is particular relevant in industries which comprise explosive atmospheres, such as Oil & Gas and mining.In such areas, very strict restrictions apply regarding requirements for all electrical apparatus intended for use inside specific zones.In Europe, the ATEX directive (European Parliament and the Council, 1994) contains the governing rules, regulations and requirements for the use of electrical equipment in hazardous environments.Other countries have similar directives, for example in North America and Canada the North American Hazardous Locations Installation Codes (National Electric Code for the US and the Canadian Electrical Code for Canada) define rules and regulations on equipment and area classifications requirements for hazardous locations.Network equipment planned for use in such areas must be certified to conform to these regulations.In practise, this involves either regular equipment built into specially designed enclosures, or it demands for complete redesigns of the equipment itself.The certification is a comprehensive process that can only be carried out by selected certification agencies.This leads to significant increases in equipment cost.As an example, a WLAN access point manufactured for corporate use has a cost of approximately 800 -1,000 USD in its ordinary version.The ATEX-certified version (the How to referenceIn order to correctly reference this scholarly work, feel free to copy and paste the following: Simon Carlsen and Stig Petersen (2010).