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Wireless Sensors Systems

deetergroup

Hello Everyone,

 

Its nice to be here.

 

Right, I have a question, and I would love to know your thoughts on it.

 

Wireless sensors systems, do you believe that companies are avoiding them because wireless has the label of being "unreliable" with all the general problems that people seem to have with laptops and mobile phone not always have a perfect signal?

 

Or do you think the problem is more security related, the fact that they would worry they are sending important information via the airwaves?

 

Lets face if, if you have a factory complex that covers a few square miles are you really going to want to play with structured cabling and, if you have industrial equipment, the worry of someone cutting a line between buildings? Lets face it, this sort of thing has happened and will continue to happen, and we would all dearly love to go wireless completely, think about it, just pick up your device and bingo you have what you want, or you can do what you want, all because it is there.

 

So, tell me, what do you think?

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  • Hi William,


    Welcome to element14.

     

    I had a look at your blog. It looks a nice business

     

    I don't believe companies are avoiding wireless sensors. I know the main MCU manufacturers spend a lot of time and money promoting ultra-low-power controllers specifically for the remote sensor market. Many also offer custom 802.15 solutions. So I'd say the market is definitely there. My question would be, how much of the pain of wireless design do these solutions take away. Being pre-qualified for many of the EMC type testing etc is obviously an advantage, but how much work is left?

     

    Is this where your main business comes from, or do people want complete bespoke solutions?

     

    Of course data security is paramount, but breaches can happen with wired netwaors also http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/10/31/hacker_jailed_for_revenge_sewage/

     

    Ally

  • in reply to awinning

    Hello Ally,

     

    We do have a Wireless Sensor system, it works perfectly, it just seems that it is an impossible market to crack, companies just don't seem to be interested, yet the savings in structured cabling is huge.

     

    Even offering custom designs doesn't seem to be enough.

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  • in reply to deetergroup

    in industrial environment you often need high reliability. If a high volume production line is dependent on sensor data it must be reliable. And wireless sensors in this area is simply impossible. There are always some issues.

    A structured wiring system is simple and low-tech. If someone cuts the cable you just get anyone with a basic qualification and can fix the problem in no time. If a wireless sensor stops working you need a professional with high-tech equipment to analyse. And that's time consuming. Most industrial production lines doesn't like to be stopped for hours. So the savings on cabling can be huge, but it still nothing compared to unplaned downtime.

     

    And also immunity to industrial environment noises is a big issue. It's fairly easy to disrupt wireless communication accidentally with some device which does not comply with EMI standards (fairly common). So you find yourself in a situation that you place a new device on the production line and all the sensors stops communicating.

     

    For me wireless is simply not an option for a mission critical sensor.