Apprion Ion Wireless video monitoring application

-- Control Engineering, 12/3/2007

Currently, wireless broadband is spreading rapidly across the plant floor for communication and automation. With the addition of an IP-based video monitoring application, the Apprion Ion System is said to provide plants with a secure, reliable, low-cost way to significantly increase automation and satisfy regulatory mandates. In separate, but related news, Apprion also announced new hazardous environment-rated versions of its Ionizer. Wireless broadband is currently spreading rapidly across the plant floor for communication and automation, and Apprion’s Ion System is said to provide an open, scalable, and extensible system for monitoring, managing, and securing wireless devices and applications from multiple vendors.

The Ion Wireless Video Monitoring Application, available first-quarter 2008, makes it easy for industrial plants to quickly and cost effectively add video monitoring of process equipment, plant operations and remote sites on the same wireless infrastructure as other applications, such as condition monitoring and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), Apprion says.
 
Apprion says its Class I, Division I rated industrial wireless network appliance is the first such solution rated for hazardous environments.

The Ion Wireless Video Monitoring Application allows all wireless devices and applications, including IP-based video, to be monitored and managed through one interface. Apprion today also announced new hazardous environment-rated versions of its Ionizer. The new versions, designed to survive in hazardous environments, include the Ionizer 2100, a Class I, Division 1 (non-mining) operation industrial appliance, and the Ionizer 2101, an ATEX Zone 1 Category 2 (non-mining) operation industrial appliance. These products are available now.

Two of the highest priority issues facing the process manufacturing industry are compliance with increasingly complex regulations and a lack of skilled workers. The new additions to the Ion System announced today help address both challenges. Stephen Lambright, CEO of Apprion, says, “By using the existing wireless infrastructure to support the needs of multiple departments, including product development, manufacturing, and operations, our vendor-agnostic system enables customers to increase productivity and improve plant communications and security while driving down total cost of ownership.”

Ion System Video Monitoring Application, Apprion says, will have
•  Integrated view and links to facility cameras;
•  Monitor the status and network activity of any IP-enabled camera;
•  Archiving and event analysis;
•  Video triggered alerts and alarms notify operators of specific plant events;
•  Remotely monitor and diagnose operations through the central Ionosphere console; and
•  Pan, tilt and zoom of camera remotely through Ionosphere console Apprion Ionizer.

Here's more information from Control Engineering about industrial Ethernet video.

—Edited by Mark T. Hoske, editor in chief
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