Control Engineering industrial wireless coverage

Wireless resources: Years of wireless industrial technology, tutorials, and case history articles from Control Engineering are gathered in one place for easy reference. Bookmark this page! Updated April 16, 2013, with more articles.

By Mark T. Hoske April 16, 2013

Updated April 16, 2013 – Control Engineering has written and published many articles and tutorials about industrial wireless technologies, trends, and applications, along with wireless products and news. A sampling follows of various industrial wireless articles from Control Engineering, 2007 to present.*

Additional links to industrial wireless articles follow.

Wireless technology tips from Control Engineering wireless webcast

Wireless technology tips and answers follow, resulting from feedback and questions submitted during a Control Engineering wireless webcast.

Getting a grip on handheld HART communication and calibration devices

If you see your handheld communicator as just for commissioning new devices, you’re missing much of the value of these versatile tools. Here’s how to get more from your handheld.

Electric utility stretches sensor coverage

Multi-drop WirelessHART supports new temperature points to improve efficiency.

WirelessHART extends your reach: The easy way to add new instrumentation

A look at the benefits and considerations of deploying WirelessHART device networks. Minimize growing pains when installing new field sensors and actuators.

Biomass power plant deploys wireless instrumentation for predictive maintenance

Enomondo S.r.l. uses new field instruments to extend its visibility into a new boiler and complex fuel pre-treatment operation.

Commercial tablets get industrial enclosures

Making tablets rugged: Industrial-grade environmental protection can help ruggedize and protect Apple iPad, Google Android, and other tablet computers.

Embedded systems in a connected world

Engineering and IT Insight: Embedded systems are often mechanically connected to other systems, and planning for network connectivity will allow them to also be electronically connected. See 8 requirements to add for embedded system design (including wireless).

Research: Wireless use in industry

What wireless technologies are being used for industrial applications? IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, and wireless are widely used. More information is being gathered.

Webcast covers industrial wireless applications, technologies

Experts discussing an overview of industrial wireless technologies, the need for a long-term strategy, and best practices for wireless system design in harsh real-world settings, with application examples presented by system integrators.

Is HF or UHF industrial RFID better?

Identify the right RFID technology: Knowing the difference between HF and UHF is important for industrial applications.

Industrial wireless: Bluetooth can be robust, easy to use

Technology Update: Bluetooth offers optimal features to satisfy industrial requirements of robustness, reliability, and seamless, coexistent operation with Wireless LAN networks. In addition to low power consumption, Bluetooth allows for multiple wireless links, offers fast connections, and has easier configuration and setup than many other wireless technologies.

Machine Safety: Can hand held devices play a role?

Wireless hand held devices (smart phones, tablets, pads, etc.), common in daily life, are emerging on the shop floor. Can they improve machine safety?

Converging automation standards

Competing standards and protocols [including wireless] often cover the same ground but are not compatible, to the dismay of end users. Sometimes they can be brought together to benefit vendors and users.

Infinite wireless

Control Engineering International: Remote control, wireless instrumentation, wireless retrofits, and wireless power transmission technologies will increase the value of industrial wireless applications.

Industrial RFID trends

Factory automation RFID technology trends differ from those of logistics or commercial RFID systems. Factory floor RFID components are more industrial and hardened for less downtime, with faster data acquisition.

Combining wireless, photoelectric sensing technologies

Technology Update: Wireless and photoelectric sensing technologies have merged to create sensors without wires.

Global cellular M2M connections growing to more than 325 million by 2016

Mobile operators are intently focused on developing and expanding their activities in the cellular M2M market as a key growth opportunity in the face of increasing saturation and maturity of the core mobile voice/data services market.

Headset computer, RFID system, rugged tablet computer

Motorola Solutions products, including a headset computer, radio frequency identification system (RFID), and rugged tablet computers, were among plant-floor and automation productivity tools at Rockwell Automation’s Automation Fair 2012 in Philadelphia, Pa.

10 Control Engineering 2013 Engineers’ Choice Award finalists use wireless technologies

Review these products in the list of finalists for 2013.

Updated November 2012

Will wireless instrumentation drive wider sensor deployments?

Can the convenience and low-cost of wireless instrumentation unleash a flood of pent-up demand for gathering more data? Video: Emerson’s Bob Karschnia provides some market statistics.

RTU use expands, must make full use of advantages

Control Engineering International: Use of remote terminal units began in the U.S. oil and gas industry in 1980s and has expanded to electricity, environmental protection, heating networks, water conservancy, and long-distance pipelines. It expanded into transportation, metallurgy, petro chemistry, logistics, and agriculture. Control Engineering China asks a Chinese expert about RTU trends.

Making fieldbus projects as painless as possible

Designing and implementing a successful—and painless—fieldbus project requires mapping out network requirements as well as understanding the plant’s information, diagnostic, and maintenance needs. [Wireless technologies can help.]

Industrial wireless market booming, but still underutilized

Frost & Sullivan Research sees market doubling, but end users still don’t see it as a critical improvement.

Wireless instrumentation deployments growing quickly

HART Communication Foundation reports that WirelessHART-installed networks exceed 8,000 at major manufacturing sites worldwide.

Process Instrumentation: Has wireless instrumentation delivered?

Five years ago as wireless process instrumentation broke onto the scene in a big way, the promise of major deployments seemed just around the corner. Has that dream been realized?

Ask Control Engineering: Where is all the wireless process instrumentation?

In researching an article on wireless developments for our October issue, I had occasion to review the offerings available under the WirelessHART and ISA100.11a protocols, and the lists of devices available under both were pretty short. While there have been commitments from various vendors to work with one or the other of these protocols, the number of actual “native” wireless devices available for either can be counted on one’s fingers.

Ask Control Engineering: How do I know if a wireless app is secure?

After reading the Dark Side of Mobility, I’m concerned about downloading a mobile app that I was thinking about. How can I tell if it is secure or not?

Cellular communications for industrial automation

Technology update: Cellular communications can help industrial automation, infrastructure, and systems management applications. As buildings and infrastructure applications add automation, they may use industrial wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) communications for remote, cost-effective monitoring and control of telemetry systems, sensors, cameras, industrial equipment, and other systems.

Wearable technology innovation to drive market growth

A major challenge for suppliers is to establish and expand the number of compelling use-cases for wearable devices.

How AT+T’s 2G shutdown will impact M2M

Even casual industry observers are aware that the telecom giant finds itself facing a spectrum crunch.

5 best ways to extend Ethernet

For many applications of TCP/IP networking, the 100-meter range limit of copper Ethernet cable becomes a problem. With conversion and extension, networks can cover distances that are measured in kilometers. Technologies include radio and cellular wireless.

The dark side of mobility

Sure, the idea of “iPhone as HMI” is convenient, but it opens a whole new range of cyber vulnerabilities. Is the functionality worth the risk? Many users are already deploying the technology without sufficient safeguards. See related video.

Automatic guided vehicles

Industry sales projections for 2012 remain strong, bolstered by key selling points such as flexibility, versatility, and evolutionary advances in controls.

Wireless instrumentation: Do we need to be concerned about the protocol?

It’s difficult to say what convergence of competing protocols will mean for wireless instrumentation users. Is there a value in waiting? Will changes in technology make it a moot point? Video: One vendor’s view suggests it’s more about the infrastructure.

Webcast on Industrial Wireless: Where and When

CFE Media – Control Engineering webcast: Where and when does it make sense, economically and operationally, to use industrial wireless for your next industrial communication application? Industrial wireless technologies continue to advance, whether you’re applying one wireless transmitter or considering a plant-wide implementation. Gain practical insights and advice from three system integrators to enhance results with your next implementation.

Low energy Bluetooth wireless protocol

Bluetooth low energy technology isn’t just another Bluetooth revision—it’s a whole new technology that can benefit industrial communications.

Outstanding industrial wireless

From sensor networks to long-haul wireless, industrial wireless technologies bring outstanding savings to industrial automation and process control applications. (June 2012 cover story)

Wireless monitoring, asset protection

PEMEX Tula Refinery increased efficiency with wireless connectivity by protecting critical assets related to cooling towers with process sensor and vibration monitoring, data collection, and analysis. Wirelessly transmitted information will help predictive maintenance; 20 hours per week of manual data collection can be used more productively.

Implementing wireless solutions for industrial communication applications

Wireless technology has limitations, but like any technology, it is very powerful when properly applied. Consider these factors before implementing wireless devices, including power, response time, and range, among others.

Sensor-actuator wireless industrial network technologies

When deciding among wireless industrial networking technologies, remember that there are different kinds of wireless. For industrial applications, there are at least four, and two are compared in the radar graphic shown.

Plant integration of wireless steam traps

Case study notes show how multiple vendors’ technologies enable successful wireless monitoring of steam traps.

Industrial wireless for automobile manufacturing

Why and how are automobile manufacturing plants moving to wireless network technologies? reasons include less cable failure, easier diagnostics and reconfiguration, and faster return on investment.

Harvested energy powers industrial automation sensor networks

Ultra-low-power radio frequency transceivers enable a new class of short-range industrial automation sensor networks powered by harvested energy.

Wireless technologies for industrial automation

Wireless networks for industrial automation enhance the ability to gather time-critical information, Digest it, and react, key to continuously adapting to change with increasing reliability and profitability. No one type of wireless technology resolves all challenges.

Industrial wireless or wired networks?

Tips and Tricks: have obstacles, mobile applications, or a large region? Wireless may be the best choice.

Tips and Tricks: 6 overlooked places to use industrial wireless

How Wi-Fi industrial wireless communications can save time, trouble, and money: Flexible work cells, mobile connections, and network enabling legacy devices are three overlooked areas to apply industrial wireless technologies. Three more are…

Borrowing from consumer electronics

Industrial users enjoy look-and-feel practices from consumer electronics, but device designers also benefit from processors and components borrowed from smartphones that add increased functionality and energy efficiency.

Wireless LAN for industrial applications – Back to Basics: What are the differences between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wireless LAN in industrial applications?

Apps for Engineers – Product Exclusive: CFE Media’s Apps For Engineers Software Is An “App Of Apps,” Providing An Interactive Directory Of Approximately 60 Mobile Engineering-Related Software Applications Useful For Control Engineering, Plant Engineering, And Consulting-Specifying Engineer Areas Of Coverage.

Are there too many industrial networks? Short article and video discussion.

Automation to go – Think Again: I’ll Take My Automation To Go, Please, And Throw In A Big Helping Of Continuous Improvement, Productivity, Quality, And Optimization, With A Side Of Safety And Industrial Energy Management, Thanks.

3-mile WiFi connection enables mobile HMI access – Wireless Local Area Network Easily Cover 3.1-Mile Span For A California Water System, Saving More Than $15,000 Compared To A Wired Solution.

Industrial mobility: Information where needed – Industrial-Strength Mobility Is Happening With The Manufacturing And IT Workforce Today. Embrace It, Guide It, Make It Secure, Or It May Dictate How Your Business Will Change, Suggested Experts At A Recent Industry Conference.

Tips And Tricks: 9 Tips For A Smarter Wireless Industrial Workforce – Nine Tips Help Enable An Industrial Wireless Mobile Workforce, Including Standards, Self-Healing Technologies, And The Right Blend Of Hardware And Software.

Mobile Industrial Worker – Technologies Have Enabled Industrial Workers To Get Mobile, And There’s No Going Back.

WiFi Technology For Industrial Environments – Set Up A Wireless Infrastructure To Support A Wireless Mobile Workforce. Here’s Advice On Industrial Environments, Challenges Include Environment, Signal Integrity, And Protocol Selection.

Whose IPhone Goes Into The Plant? – When Companies Add Communication Via Wireless Devices, Who’s Device Is It? Is That My IPad, Or The Company’s?

Wireless Apps, Cloud Services Transform Decision Making, Data Management For Packaging Lines – Dairy Products Producer Balances Quality And Consistency During Facility Expansion, Incorporating And Monitoring New Product Filling And Packaging Lines And Associated Equipment

Integration Platform Designed To Unite Disparate Systems – Fieldbus Foundation Unveils Foundation For Remote Operations Management, Which Aims At Transforming The Industrial Remote Operations Market. Video: Larry O’Brien Explains The Underlying Technical Concepts.  [Foundation for ROM is important because it is the first example integrating ISA 100.11a, WirelessHART, wired HART, and wired H1 protocols into one standard environment.]

Pushing IT Infrastructure Into The Cloud Helps Stone Manufacturer Focus On Core Business – Increasingly, Cloud Technology Is Being Embraced By Companies As A Way To Do More With Less. For Example, A Fast-Growing Stone Manufacturing Company Recently Pushed Its Entire Infrastructure Out To The Cloud.

Security Considerations For Wireless Implementation – Whether Specifying A New Wireless Installation, Expanding An Existing Implementation, Or Evaluating Wireless Protocols, The Security Issues Are Similar. Understanding Them Can Improve The Security And Signal Quality.

Industrial Wireless: Field Device Mesh Network 101 – With Wireless Transmitters, There Are No Wires To Troubleshoot. If Designed Properly, The Data Goes From The Transducer To The Control Via Multiple Wireless Paths. Here’s How Wireless Communication Is Handled Between Wireless Field Devices And The Host Application.

Automation Helps Transportation, Says IEEE Vehicle Electronics Expert – Control Engineering China Interviews Lingxi Li, Assistant Professor At The Department Of Electronic And Computer Engineering, Indiana University-Purdue University, Also Chairman Of IEEE Vehicular Electronics And Safety Conferences. Sensing, Wireless, And Other Control Technologies Are Improving Transportation.

IEEE 802.22(WRAN) Expected To Help Internet Of Things, Smart Grid In China – IEEE Recently Published The WRAN 802.22 Standard (Wireless Regional Area Networks), Which Could Have Deep Impact Within China, Especially With Internet Of Things (IOT) And Smart Grid.

Selecting Device-Level Communication Protocols – How Do Instrumentation Manufacturers Decide Which Communication Options To Offer With Each Type Of Device?

Engineers’ Choice 2012 product categories and finalists related to wireless: Network integration – Wireless IO; Network integration – Wireless products; and Software – Mobile apps for controls, automation, instrumentation

Paper Mill In Sweden Uses Wireless Instruments To Fulfill Environmental Requirements – Rosemount Conductivity Transmitters Help Korsnäs Gävle Prevent Discharging Pollutants Into Local Waterways.

Wireless IO Advantages: More Data, Less Work – New I/O Products Provide More Measurement And Control For Processes, Optimization, And Asset Condition Monitoring With Less Effort, Wirelessly.

Transducer Block Specification Issued – The Specification By Fieldbus Foundation Is Designed For Wired HART And WirelessHART Devices Along With Updates To The WIO System Architecture And Data Structures

Low-Energy Wireless SCADA Used For Water Application – Water And Wastewater Utility In Bogotá, Colombia, Used An Extremely Low-Power-Consumption SCADA System With A Data Logging Support Feature, Allowing The Use Of Time Stamps.

Wireless Sensor Networks To Grow To $2 Billion By 2021 – IDTechEx’s Research Indicates That The Market For Wireless Sensor Networks Will Grow From $.45 Billion To About $2 Billion In The Next 10 Years. Current And Emerging Applications Include …

An iPhone as your Next HMI? – Consumer-grade smartphones and tablet computers are fast becoming commonplace extensions of industrial networks, permitting process monitoring and, even (gasp!) process control.

Communicating Diagnostic Data in a Legacy Environment – A wireless add-on device captured diagnostic information that helped solve an intermittent flowmeter problem.

What is a digital certificate? – These are supposed to protect us, but they were an element of the Stuxnet attack. Vulnerabilities include local wireless communications.

M2M in manufacturing eases legacy network connections – Machine-to-machine technologies are moving into new markets and making machine processes and network connections more efficient. Low-powered wireless systems enable connections to machines and devices that were not easily monitored with previous technologies.

Energy harvesting: challenges for wireless monitoring applications – Energy harvesters deserve the attention they’re receiving, the advent of what can be made possible through the use of ambient energy to power devices has intrigued a wide variety of technologists, developers and adopters.

Machine Safety and Wireless Devices – Conventional machine safety has been challenged for the last 10 years with new technology and standards. Safety automation has led the new technology pack while NFPA 79 took the lead on the standards side. Both combined in 2002 to introduce safety PLCs, safety fieldbus, and e-stops on a safety rated bus. The latest challenge to conventional safety is wireless (aka cableless).

– Cover Story – Wireless Applications: Less Cost, More Productivity, Compliance – What does industrial wireless do for you? There’s up to 90% installed cost savings. Look for productivity, security, and regulatory compliance advantages.

– Wireless application: Toyota plant monitors detention ponds wirelessly – Wireless monitoring of detention pond levels helps Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky comply with requirements of the Water Quality Act of 1987.

– Wireless Application: Western Refining cuts wiring costs, improves performance – After a site survey, a wireless system is being integrated with existing power and network infrastructure. Up to 90% of the installed cost of conventional measurement technology can be for cable, conduit, and related construction. Wireless also optimizes plant productivity and reliability, and improves safety and security.

– Industrial Wireless Webcast at www.controleng.com/webcasts

– Technology Update: Low-power designs for automation – Microchip Technology provides microcontrollers with low-power capabilities, Powercast harvests energy to power wireless sensors, and STMicroelectronics demonstrates a chip for a smart power design to reduce electronic components’ energy consumption.

– Wireless instrumentation monitors water usage at pharmaceutical plant – GlaxoSmithKline uses Rosemount wireless pressure and flow transmitters; provides network for future expansion.

– First multi-protocol wireless router – Libelium Meshlium Xtreme multi-protocol router supports five wireless standards – WiFi, ZigBee, GPRS, Bluetooth and GPS – as well as wireline Ethernet, to help connect wireless sensor networks to the Internet. Libelium said it is the first multi-protocol wireless router to bridge ZigBee and the Internet.

– Cloud Instrumentation: Data without infrastructure – Will instrumentation and other devices in your plant be communicating via the cloud rather than your own networks? While it may not happen tomorrow, the technology is advancing and may be closer than you think. What is this cloud, and what can it do for you?

– 9 tips for better industrial SCADA communications – Tips & Tricks: Wireless technologies can improve supervisory control and data acquisition applications. Match technologies to your needs, reduce costs, consider a hybrid approach, and heed six more pieces of advice. See graphic, table.

– Technology Update: Why WirelessHART? With other industrial wireless communications options available, process industry engineers may ask, ‘What is WirelessHART, and what is it good for?’

– Machine Safety blog: Wireless Control and Wireless Safety! Dec. 22, 2010 – Safe wireless (also known as safe cableless) is often applied to a machine using a “zone” concept to reduce the wireless communication distance. As wireless machine communications increase, application questions include…

– Ask Control Engineering blog: Creating your own cellular network, Dec. 17, 2010, While it is relatively simple for you to set up many types of wireless networks such as Wi-fi, ISA100.11a, WirelessHART, and many other proprietary systems, cellular is probably not one you will do on your own. It is possible…

– Inside Machines: Wireless Ethernet, PLCs add productivity to Blue Bell Creameries, Dec. 13, 2010, Upgrade with Siemens Scalance WLAN and Simatic PLCs adds productivity and eases training on aging automated storage and retrieval system for Blue Bell Creameries, a Texas-based ice cream maker.

– Connections without Wires Webcast: How wireless technology creates new paths to productivity, Dec. 6, 2010 – Industrial wireless technology is already settling in as a proven networking technique for device-level and data backhaul applications. Learn which wireless protocols to use in what applications, considering reliability and security. Now available for on-demand viewing.

– Ask Control Engineering blog: Bluetooth for industrial applications, Dec. 3, 2010, How many different devices can use Bluetooth without interfering with each other?

– Wireless instrumentation helps boost production, cut costs at Argentine natural gas producer, Dec. 1, 2010 – Tecpetrol uses data from Rosemount wireless transmitters. Results in production increase of $4 million while reducing maintenance costs by 62% and supervisory control costs by 35%.

– Inside Machines: Crane Moves with IEEE 802.11n wireless, Dec. 23, 2010 – With the range of motion of industrial gantry cranes (in some cases over a kilometer), wireless Ethernet allows connectivity with moving equipment, avoiding the safety hazards and risk of moving wires or fibers.

– Wireless helps plains exploration and production, 2 month ROI, Nov. 8, 2010 – Plains Exploration and Production (PXP) Company automated its steam injection metering and data acquisition systems with a large network of WirelessHART transmitters and industrial broadband radios for a 10-times increase in transmitter accuracy and return on investment in 2 months.

– Ask Control Engineering blog: Cellular communication for remote I/O, Nov. 5, 2010. Dear Control Engineering: I was looking at the announcement about using cellular service for industrial devices. Is this really practical? Wouldn’t it be hugely expensive?

– How to choose wireless technology for industrial applications, Oct. 27, 2010 – Wireless technologies are being adopted for simple monitoring, control to supervisory control and data acquisition. Wireless provides reliable data communications in interference-heavy environments. Information follows to help choose the best wireless technology for an industrial application.

– Wireless instrumentation helps pipeline operator with diagnostics, Oct. 10, 2010, Atlas Pipeline – Westex improves production efficiency at gas processing facility, joining old equipment to new control room.

– Murphy’s 7 laws of industrial wireless communications – Applying wireless technologies for industrial communications doesn’t have to be as tough as Murphy’s Law (if anything can go wrong, it will), if you remember these Murphy’s 7 laws of industrial wireless communications. Wireless troubleshooting tips follow, including the number-one cause of wireless woes.

– Wireless technology moves into broader process control applications, Sept. 29, 2010 – As technology evolves, users are now moving beyond mainstream monitoring applications to wireless measurements for control in harsh and remote environments.

– The Case for Wireless Standards Convergence, Aug. 25 – Should end users care if wireless standards for field devices come together? One user offers his thoughts.

– Ask Control Engineering: Apple’s problems and wireless instrumentation, July 16, 2010 – Should I be concerned about similar reception difficulties with wireless instrumentation devices after the Apple iPhone 4 challenges?

– Pillar to Post: Evolving Wireless Technology, July 9, 2010.

– ISA100.11a compliance group releases conformance test kits, July 8, 2010 – ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute delivers package to verify wireless device interoperability and stack conformance.

– IEC approves WirelessHART as first international wireless standard for process automation, April 7, 2010 – Final IEC vote confirms broad global acceptance of WirelessHART by end users and suppliers, says HART Communication Foundation.

– News and comment: Can WirelessHART and ISA100 converge? March 31, 2010 – Emerson Process Management offers its thoughts on how the two main competing wireless instrumentation protocols can come together.

– More on wireless interoperability, March 2, 2010.

– Wireless sensor networks, the next 10 years – Feb., 24, 2010 – Wireless sensor networks (WSNs), self-organizing, self-healing networks of small “nodes,” have huge potential across industrial, military, and other many other sectors, according to IDTechEx.

– Pillar to Post blog: Wireless interoperability? What is that? Feb. 18, 2010

Wago 750-644 Bluetooth RF-Transceiver module was introduced for cost-effective I/O-based communications, company says.

Control Engineering Engineers’ Choice awards – Wireless technologies – Feb. 1, 2010 – Wireless technologies were well represented among the products receiving awards, under the Network Integration category (wireless I/O systems, wireless I/O controllers, and wireless products – general) also under Process Control (wireless position monitor and wireless radar guage).

Yardmaster can view and access same information as trainmaster and pin-puller.

– Wireless at the Hump Yard , a railroad application – Jan. 1, 2010 – Norfolk Southern Railway automates manual processes with RFID scanners and HMI software processed through eight PCs.

– RFID tag test results: Very fast ROI for some applications – Dec. 31, 2009 – RFID tests prove tangible return on investment for airline baggage tracking; Odin tests show radio frequency identification accuracy at 99.9% and less than 90% for barcode.

– Wireless: No doubts about IEEE 802.11n advantages, say Rockwell Automation, Cisco – Dec. 23, 2009 – IEEE 802.11n wireless protocol offers industrial automation networking applications better performance for control, said Rockwell Automation and Cisco at Automation Fair. Protocol performance is shown.

The wireless measurement technology deployed at the site is a networked infomechanical system (NIMS) based on NI’s LabView software and CompactRio hardware.

– Wireless Monitoring of Rainforest Carbon Flux – Dec. 1, 2009 – High-flying wireless sensors using robotic control allow researchers to take measurements three dimensionally to quantify complex carbon exchanges.

– How to stretch wireless I/O throughout manufacturing – Dec. 1, 2009 – Adoption of flexible wireless I/O designs represents one of the simplest and most straightforward ways to stretch a wireless infrastructure investment. Wireless I/O technologies are affordable, secure, and can be implemented without disrupting existing operational processes.

– Wireless Technology as a Work in Progress – Nov. 1, 2009 – Strategy and tactics: Process industry users, vendors discuss obstacles to implementation, appropriate applications, and standards for plant-level wireless.

– Transparent Wireless at Cano Petroleum – Nov. 1, 2009 – Cockrell Ranch Waterflood oil recovery project uses a wireless SCADA system to gather, assemble, transmit information from the wells to produce detailed production models and maximize output.

– Plant Deployment Demonstrates Wireless Standard – Nov. 1, 2009 – Installation in a brownfield chemical plant shows interoperability within ISA100.11a and practicality for instrumentation improvements in long-established operations.

– Wireless Enables Huntsman Project Zero – Nov. 1, 2009 – One of the largest and most ambitious industrial wireless application networks to date helps chemical manufacturer Huntsman strive for zero product defects, zero safety incidents and injuries, zero environmental releases, and zero unscheduled downtime.

– Wireless networks: Adding cellular technology to the industrial toolbox – Nov. 30, 2009 – Can cellular networks provide a practical alternative for industrial use? While it may not be your primary wireless technology, in certain applications, cellular is practical and economical.

– ISA 100.11a wireless demonstration project in operation – Oct. 7, 2009 – Wireless system installed at Arkema chemical plant seeks to prove device and infrastructure interoperability using equipment from multiple vendors operating under same standard.

– Think Again: Wireless prosperity – July, 1, 2009 – Recent Motorola survey cites movement in wireless investments.

– Wireless Standards – July, 1, 2009 – ISA100 Wireless Systems for Automation aims to unify industrial wireless technology. Here’s how 600 members from 200 companies work together to meet that goal.

– How to Improve ROI with RFID – April 1, 2009 – Determine if radio frequency identification (RFID) on the manufacturing production line can improve your return on investment (ROI).

– The Transparency of Wireless – April 1, 2009 – Cover story: Wireless networking and device manufacturers have gone to great lengths to create products that are secure, easy to work with, and operationally indistinguishable from wired equivalents.

– Wireless on the Factory Floor – March 1, 2009 – Is the plant floor ready for wireless network communications? Yes, and here’s advice, so you are not up in the air about wireless technologies.

– Industrial Wireless Implementation Guide – Aug. 1, 2008 – So you’ve dabbled in wireless or thought it might save time, effort, or dollars. This primer helps with technology selection; subsequent articles in this supplement reveal trends, user views on wireless, and implementation advice.

– – Aug. 1, 2007 – (under supplements, lower right, five more articles, covering: How to optimize wireless infrastructure for application needs, Machine builders: Driven by consumer standards, 3 Approaches to Process Plant Wireless, WiFi on the plant floor, and Wireless Keeps Machines Coordinated.)

Other resources

Webcast library includes a wireless and other industrial networking topics.

Control Engineering Automation Integrator Guide: Find experts with wireless experience in the Automation Integrator Guide.

Also see the Industrial Network Product channel, which includes wireless news and products .

* If you see articles that we’ve published since then (or back to 1997) that you’d like linked here, let me know with a comment below. I’ll continue to update the page.

Also please comment on any that you find particularly useful, or leave some of your own advice, if you’d like, in the article, or below. Thank you.

– Compiled by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, CFE Media, Control Engineering, www.controleng.com.

Control Engineering webcasts include more on wireless and Ethernet.

https://www.controleng.com/media-library/webcasts.html


Author Bio: Mark Hoske has been Control Engineering editor/content manager since 1994 and in a leadership role since 1999, covering all major areas: control systems, networking and information systems, control equipment and energy, and system integration, everything that comprises or facilitates the control loop. He has been writing about technology since 1987, writing professionally since 1982, and has a Bachelor of Science in Journalism degree from UW-Madison.