Wireless – Boosting Trend in Automation

Wireless communication in automation is of increasing interest world-wide. Depending on the application, appropriate technologies are ready to go.
Applications can be classified in Remote, Near-Plant and In-Plant. Adequate communication technologies are e.g. GPRS, EDGE or HSDPA for Remote, Industrial Wireless LAN (IWLAN) for Near-Plant and again IWLAN and WirelessHART for In-Plant.
In all categories Siemens (Germany) offers proven products. In the category Remote SINAUT for telecontrol applications is one of the outstanding product families. In Near-Plant IWLAN with beam radio antennas is used.
Also country specific frequency bandwidths with proprietary protocols are often used. In the following the focus lies on In-Plant applications: IWLAN is set and used in factory and process industry since a couple of years with increasing acceptance. It is based on international standards.
With SCALANCE W Siemens offers a complete portfolio for IWLAN. The SCALANCE W product family includes access point and clients, special accessories and shows diverse features to make it fit for industries. These are e.g. reliability, determinism, robustness, security and safety. This product family is suitable for installation in zone 2.
With the new outdoor access point W786-RR (Rapid Roaming) in conjunction with mobile panel 277 F IWLAN wireless safety is possible, which means: emergency stop via wireless is supported.