Why Your Factory Needs Wireless Automation

How to Upgrade Your Facility

Manufacturing plants can be hard to navigate and nearly impossible to troubleshoot. A failed cable can bring the whole operation down. What is the best way for an entire factory and all of the industrial computers, HMI panels, and robots within from all being taken down by one bad or broken cable in a nest of thousands?

It’s simple: wireless automation.

What is Wireless Automation?

Wireless industrial automation is the removal of cables from the manufacturing process by using wireless industrial tablets, WiFi-enabled industrial HMI panels, and “Internet of Things” devices to create a network of machines that work together without wires connecting them.

“Internet of Things” devices are digital sensors (such as temperature sensors, vibration sensors, or weight sensors) that can connect to a “wireless sensor network,” most commonly referred to as a WSN, which then monitors and analyzes data from these sensors. They can also then feed that information to any industrial computer or HMI panel on the lot.

The Struggles of Wired Networks

Machines in factories often move quite a bit. As cables move, they can snag, break, fray, and even become detached from the machine or power source they are plugged into. Wired machines, in turn, have limited mobility and can easily reach “the end of their leash.”

Until recently, full wireless automation was impossible due to latency or lag, and the only way for computers to communicate reliably was through physical data connections (wires). However, modern WiFi is fast, secure, and designed with IoT use in mind.

Safety and Cleanliness

Wireless networks can increase the safety of any operation. The petroleum industry has used wireless sensors to detect, control, and contain dangerous leaks and flare-ups with great success.

Moving machines that get choked by cables are challenging to repair and hazardous to operate. Further, wireless networks avoid the environmental damage caused by humidity, metal shavings, and other particulates that can destroy the cables in a wired network.

In the Field

It’s often impossible to lay all of the cable needed for massive outdoor operations, like those related to oil and agriculture. Machines often must rely on batteries or nearby gas generators for power. In such situations, a wireless solution is often the only solution.

Even in areas without WiFi access, an industrial box computer can be equipped with a 5G modem to connect to the internet via the cell network. Wireless sensors on an oil derrick or in the soil can relay data to an industrial panel PC or tablet used to control the generators that power the entire operation.

Tips for Deploying Wireless Industrial Automation

The first step to deploying a wireless network is to invest in solid network architecture.

A Powerful WiFi Network

If upgrading to a wireless network, be sure to invest in heavy-duty, large bandwidth WiFi routers since the heat, temperature fluctuations, and electromagnetic radiation found in factories can interfere with WiFi signals. Additionally, industrial wireless networks must be fast, robust, and secure to handle vast amounts of data from HMIs, tablets, sensors, robots, and other IoT devices.

Industrial Panel PCs and Rugged Tablets for Control

Rugged tablets make excellent wireless industrial control pannels or “mobile operator terminals.” Their portability means a user can move from station to station and bring the control panel with them.

An industrial PC is customizable with wireless capabilities, so if portability is not necessary for your operation, an industrial HMI is your best option.

Making Logistics Easier with RFID

RFID technology will improve any wireless automation network. A rugged tablet with an RFID scanner can speed up inventory management and asset tracking, enhance security, facilitate digital lockout/tagout procedures for machines under repair, and scan wireless sensors themselves for maintenance.

The HiFi WiFi Future

The smart manufacturing revolution has only been possible with wireless networks. Imagine a clean factory floor, where every unit is controlled from a rugged industrial tablet, a phone, or even from the other side of the country.

To learn more about the future of wireless industrial automation and the best kind of gear you’ll need to implement it, contact Cybernet today.