Wireless: Kepware can make up for less-than-stellar connection

Kepware protocols communicate over many infrastructures, wireless being one of them. Wireless communication is helped with a quality communications product.

Kepware protocols communicate over many infrastructures, wireless being one of them. Good wireless communication is helped with the development of a quality communications product, says Roy Kok, vice president of sales and marketing for Kepware. When a wireless connection is less than 100% (common in wireless) the communications product needs to perform well, Kok says.

KepServer advantages with less-than-perfect wireless conditions include:

-Device Auto-Demotion will drop a defective device out of the normal communications so as not to hamper communications with working devices. This is especially useful in wireless as bandwidth is at a premium.
-Drivers will batch data requests from multiple clients as effectively as possible so as to reduce communications bandwidth to a device. Intelligently "packing" communications reduces transmission costs when paying for connectivity by the byte.
– Modpac Plus Wireless Modem: A simple, cost effective way of implementing remote data collection can be achieved by using three readily available commercial products; Kepware’s KEPServerEX, a Panel-Tec Wireless Modem, and a Toshiba PLC. Kepware explains more about Modpac and provides a diagram .

See also in Control Engineering , System Integration: Wireless Standards .

– Mark T. Hoske, editor in chief, Control Engineering , www.controleng.com

Written by

Mark T. Hoske

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.