Computers & Controls
Sean Ottewell reports on how new wireless solutions are helping process operating companies to increase gateway functionality, improve long- distance monitoring, and link in to ever more plant devices.
Sean Ottewell berichtet wie neue kabellose Lösungen in der Prozessindustrie dabei helfen, die Gateway- Funktionalität zu erhöhen, die Langstreckenüberwachung zu verbessern und Verbindungen zu immer mehr Anlagengeräten herzustellen.
Compte-rendu de Sean Ottewell sur la manière dont les nouvelles solutions sans fil aident les sociétés de transformation à améliorer les fonctionnalités de passerelle et le contrôle à longue distance et à prendre en compte toujours plus d’installations d’usine.
Powerful wireless solutions expand plant flexibility
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Fig. 1. The powerful, rugged industrial Ethernet radios provide long-range wireless connectivity.
ireless mesh solutions and their associated technologies provide reliable, secure and scalable communications links around the plant. The
latest developments include increased gateway functionality, industrial frequency hopping Ethernet radios, wireless links to fringe IP devices such as video surveillance cameras, and solutions for monitoring long-distance pipelines. For example, ProSoft Technology has
announced its new Smart Switch feature, supported in the RadioLinx industrial frequency hopping ethernet radios for the 2.4GHz and 900MHz spectrums. With Smart Switch technology, the Ethernet
radios are able to intelligently route packets over the network, managing the wireless network like a standard Ethernet switch, and creating true peer-to-peer wireless Ethernet communication. The powerful, rugged industrial
Ethernet radios provide long-range wireless connectivity (up to 30+ miles) with 1.1 Mbps data rates (Fig. 1). When coupled with the efficient Smart Switch feature, this solution provides industrial, process and Scada users with reliable ‘any-node-to-any- node’ communication with best-in-class performance, including faster scan times, faster upload/download , and faster PING times.
“Industries that rely on robust, long-range performance of frequency hopping wireless technologies now get the added benefit of true network connectivity,” stated Jim Ralston, strategic product analyst. “Smart Switch enables the Scada network to behave like a true Ethernet network, boosting system performance.” An additional feature of the industrial frequency
hopping Ethernet radios is a serial port that can be used to pull data from a serial device and send to a client via wireless Ethernet. Prosoft has also just launched ProSoft i-View, a
mobile phone application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch platforms. ProSoft i-View transforms these devices into mobile human machine interfaces to enables real-time remote process control for engineers, plant floor operators and maintenance technicians. With ProSoft i-View, control engineers can
remotely monitor and modify live data from programmable automation controllers (PAC) on an EtherNet/IP or Modbus TCP/IP network, including flow measurements, valve control, process data and status data. The app creates a secure cellular or 802.11 interface between the iPhone/ iPad/iPod touch devices and the control system. For 802.11 plant-floor network access, the WiFi function of the phone can be utilised in conjunction with ProSoft Technology 802.11 Industrial HotspotTM solutions. For applications with wide geographic disparity
such as pipeline and well-head monitoring, or where engineers require access from long distances, the ProSoft Technology Intelligent Cellular series can be utilised to broaden the range of access to virtually anywhere in the world. ProSoft i-View displays live process control
values in stylised lists and includes user-established variance allowances with real-time alarms, including local notifications. Controls and data displays are colour coded based on the value. Engineers are able to monitor these variables in real time and make adjustments on the fly from an iPhone device. Upon configuration, ProSoft i-View provides a
feature which requires the user to assign a matching security code as both a password for network access and as a security tag in the central processing unit (CPU) of the PAC. When ProSoft i-View launches, the security code must match that on the CPU in order to create a connection. ProSoft i-View also
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