Wireless Communications in Industrial Automation: Directions: Industry Research

Wireless Communications in Industrial Automation: Directions

Published Date: September 2006

Published By: Practel, Inc.

Order Code: R606-44

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Description

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A wireless industrial automation communications segment, at the present time, presents a mixture of standardized and proprietary technologies whose goal is to make SCADA, buildings, oil and gas and other industry to work efficiently and provide high return on investment. The segment is characterized by:

Strict requirements on equipment environmental characteristics
Requirement to support specification in the condition of severe multi-fading
Requirement of a battery life for several years (per node)
Requirement to low latency
Tendency to increase data rate and transmission range
Requirement to support secure communications.

Currently, realizing that further advance is difficult without unified industry efforts, there are several standard organizations that contribute to the standardization process in this segment. The report concentrates on new wireless technologies, which have been standardized recently (or close to the standard finalizing). They are:

Ultra Wideband
ZigBee, and
802.11n

All these technologies support requirements outlined above. They are different by structure, organization and properties, but intend to work effectively in the wireless sensor mesh-topology structures, which industrial automation defined preferable for communications.

The report researches these technologies specifics and markets with applications for industrial automation communications. It shows that these forward-looking technologies, despite their differences, may win significant market share of the industrial wireless communications segment. It is premature to judge which of them is in a leading position: so far, only ZigBee showed commercial success in this segment. UWB allows extremely low consumption and high-security communications; 802.11n significantly increases distance and data rate.

The report goal is to show significance of these wireless technologies for industrial automation. It is authors’ opinion that they have abilities to win this segment.

Research Methodology

Considerable research was done using the Internet. Information from various Web sites was studied and analyzed. Evaluation of publicly available marketing and technical publications was conducted. Telephone conversations and interviews were held with industry analysts, technical experts and executives. In addition to these interviews and primary research, secondary sources were used to develop a more complete mosaic of the market landscape, including industry and trade publications, conferences and seminars.

The overriding objective throughout the work has been to provide valid and relevant information. This has led to a continual review and update of the information content.

Target Audience

This report is important to a wide population of researches, technical and sales staff involved in the developing of the IA communications services and products. It is recommended for manufacturers, service providers and vendors that are working with related technologies. The report also helps to understand issues associated with relationship between IA communications and other disciplines.

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