Manufacturing and industrial environments provide their own unique
challanges for wireless communications. Harsh conditions, both indoors and
out, create a daunting task for engineers work through. This is where we
come to discuss those challenges, share ideas and help one another out.
My name is Scott McNeil and welcome to the Industrial Wi-Fi Shop
Will the expanded spectrum (6GHz) find a home in the industrial universe?
While spectrum use is up in the air, I know the enhanced stability of the ax protocol is sure to make a difference
Phoenix Contact skipped Wi-Fi5 all together
Phoenix Contact WLAN 1020 and 1120 series
Prosoft also skipped Wi-Fi5
Just released the ELXM-SW6, a Wi-Fi6 wireless bridge
Looking to release full Wi-Fi6 AP by Q4 2024
Adding 6 GHz early 2025
Siemens is transitioning from Wi-Fi5 into Wi-Fi6
Siemens SCALANCE WAM763-1
Siemens SCALANCE WUM763-1
Aunex AMC2X8-A-SL-WK8
How will Wi-Fi6 affect radial coax? (“leaky coax”) Protocol level
Customers demanding WiFi6/newer features. Actually, pushing for WPA3
Trends:
Industrial IoT trends/predictions
Increasing importance on
Condition monitoring & predictive maintenance
Sensor advances and innovations
Digital Twins
Fog Computing
“This technology relocates intelligence to the edge of the network, where the machinery exists. This enables real-time control as well as enhanced security and greater manageability. It’s easy to see how fog computing in IIoT should become standard practice throughout the industry.”
Largest manufacturer of industrial wireless devices worldwide (in descending order)
Emerson (over 10% themselves)
Honeywell International (Honeywell & Siemens combined are another 10%)
Siemens (Honeywell & Siemens combined are another 10%)
ABB
GE
Eaton
Cisco
Yokogawa
Rockwell Automation
Advantech
Arris
Top industrial verticals for wireless (in descending order)
Chemical
Oil & Gas
Pulp & Paper
Electric Power
Water & Wastewater
Metallurgy & Mining
Food & Beverage
Pharma & Biotech
Then everyone else
Worldwide, Chemical, oil & gas and the Pulp & Paper industries are the three largest consumers of Industrial Wireless Devices which are responsible for about 38 percent of Industrial Wireless Device consumption.
Largest markets for industrial wireless devices (in descending order)
North America (S., Mexico & Canada)
Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Turkey)
Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam)
South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia)
Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)
Sources/Resources:
Precision Reports: 2024 Industrial Wireless Devices Market Trends Research Report to 2032
The Industrial Wi-Fi Shop Podcast – Ep. 6 Bluetooth!
May 16, 2024
The Basics
The IEEE standardized Bluetooth as 802.15.1 but no longer maintains the standard
Bluetooth is managed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group of which there are over 35,000 member companies
As of 2021 over 4 BILLION Bluetooth integrated chipsets are shipped annually
Geek Stuff
Frequencies used:
2.400 GHz through 2.4835 GHz
However, there are “guard” or buffer bands at the top and bottom of this range with the bottom being 2 MHz wide and the top being 3.5 MHz wide
Actual used frequency range is 2.402 GHz through 2.480 GHz
Channels:
Versions prior to 4.0, what is referred to as “Bluetooth Classic”
79 channels at 1 MHz wide
Versions 4.0 and up, better known as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
40 channels at 2 MHz wide
3 channels are referred to as primary advertisement channels which are channels 37, 38 & 39
37 = 2.402 GHz, 38 = 2.426 GHz, 39 = 2.480 GHz
That leaves 37 channels to use for data
Data rates:
Bluetooth Classic
Original Bluetooth using GSFK (Gaussian frequency-shift keying) modulation, said to be operating in basic rate (BR) up to 1Mbit per second
Later versions (2.0+) using DPSK (Differential phase-shift keying) modulation, described as Enhanced Data Rate or EDR
EDR2 – 2Mbit per second
EDR3 – 3Mbit per second
2019 Apple published an extension referred to as HDR using DQPSK (Differential quadrature phase-shift keying)
HDR4 – 4Mbit per second
HDR8 – 8Mbit per second
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
Bluetooth 4 – up to 1Mbit per second
Bluetooth 5 – up to 2Mbit per second
Range for the most part is based upon class, and class is based upon power levels. However, there is lots of conflicting data on this due to sales and media hype of various device manufacturers
Class 1 devices
Power ranges from 10 to 100 mW
Range considered up to approximately 100 meters
BD/EDR devices loosely called class 1.5 are technically considered class 1 with power ranging from 2.5 to 10 mW. Max theoretical range being approximately 50 meters
Class 2 devices
Power ranges from 1 to 2.5 mW
Range considered up to approximately 10 meters (or 33 feet)
BLE
BLE 4 – approximate max theoretical range – 100 meters
BLE 5 – approximate max theoretical range – 400 meters
***It is important to note that in all cases, no matter the class of the device, the environment plays an important role in real world range and data throughput***
Reliability
Adaptive Frequency Hopping
Adaptive frequency hopping helps ensure data successfully makes its way through the noise. Individual messages are broken into small data packets, which are sent over different channels in a pre-defined sequence, known only to the transmitting and receiving devices. As many as 1600 channel-switches can take place every second. Any data packets that don’t reach their destination correctly are re-sent, and if the problem was caused by the channel, this gets flagged up so it can be avoided in the future.
In noisy environments, or where data is transmitted over longer distances (more on this below), there’s a chance of bit errors slipping into messages. Bluetooth can detect these, and take action to avoid unreliable channels, if they’re the cause.
It can also use what’s called ‘forward error correction’ (FEC) to rectify errors once data arrives at the receiver.
What is FEC? – FEC is a digital signal processing method that reduces the bit error rate of communication by adding parity bits to the data at the transmitter side so that the receiver side then uses those parity bits to detect and correct errors that may have been introduced over the course of the transmission
Security
adaptive frequency hopping that we talked about earlier sees the transmitter send out data on a pseudo-random sequence of channels. Only the transmitter and the receiver know which channels these will be
Bluetooth 4.2 and up use pairing mechanisms. These mechanisms prevent data in transit from being vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks
Once connected/paired to target devices, BLE can then be put into a hidden/invisible mode that turns off local scanning for other BLE devices and makes the configured BLE device non-discoverable
No authentication, no encryption. Easy to use/set up, vulnerable to everything
Sec Lvl 2 – Unauthenticated pairing with encryption
No authentication but adds encryption – easy to use, data in transit is secured with 128-bit AES but pairing is vulnerable to everything
WiFi comparison – WPA2 with no management frame protection
Sec Lvl 3 – Authenticated pairing with encryption
Pairing is protected by using either out of band associations OR a passkey method then followed up with 128-bit AES encryption
Eliminated man in the middle type attacks
Sec Lvl 4 – “Authenticated LE Secure Connections Pairing with Encryption Using a 128-Bit Strength Encryption Key”
“Devices at this level implement pairing via the LE Secure Connections pairing method, superseding the legacy method. This pairing process incorporates the Numeric Comparison association model and requires a robust 128-bit strength encryption key.”
Functionality & use cases for industry and manufacturing
Serial ports are widely used in industrial applications.
Serial Port Profile (SPP) emulates a full serial interface, complete with hardware handshaking via Bluetooth.
serial cables can be replaced with a wireless Bluetooth link, with either multi-point or point-to-point operation
can be used in remote I/O applications in industry and manufacturing in a similar fashion as WirelessHART or ISA100 Wireless
its reliability makes it ideal for a variety of wireless sensor types from tank farm levels to preventive maintenance applications like vibration, temperature and moisture sensors
Smart building sensors (that’s right, more sensors…)
HVAC connections with central controller capturing all types of information
Temperature
Humidity
Air quality
Even occupancy sensing data
Wireless thermostats
Automated lighting controls
RTLS and other location tracking
Personnel tracking in hazardous locations
Industrial truck / fork truck tracking and association with “hit-not” devices for foot traffic
Robotics and industrial mobility
Automated Guided Vehicles (AVG’s)
Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR’s)
Collaborative Robots (cobots)
These machines require local connectivity for safe navigation within dynamic environments. Robot tasks or routes can be updated at any time with a direct Bluetooth connection between the machine and the user’s mobile device or industrial Human-Machine Interface (HMI)
The Industrial Wi-Fi Shop Podcast – Ep. 5 Wireless Design – Industrial vs. Enterprise Roundtable part 2
Apr 13, 2024
Wireless network design can be very challenging. However there are distinct differences in design depending on the environment. This is part two of a round table discussion of four wireless engineers, two who work primarily in the enterprise realm and two from the world of industry and manufacturing.
The discussion covers the differences and similarities across multiple topics, including:
Assessment tools
Environmental challenges
Location Access
Safety
Design
Reporting
Project adversities
We discuss many of our favorite tools, most of which are linked below:
The Industrial Wi-Fi Shop Podcast – Ep. 5 Wireless Design – Industrial vs. Enterprise Roundtable part 1
Mar 26, 2024
Wireless network design can be very challenging. However there are distinct differences in design depending on the environment. This is part one of a round table discussion of four wireless engineers, two who work primarily in the enterprise realm and two from the world of industry and manufacturing.
The discussion covers the differences and similarities across multiple topics, including:
Assessment tools
Environmental challenges
Location Access
Safety
Design
Reporting
Project adversities
We discuss many of our favorite tools, most of which are linked below:
The Industrial Wi-Fi Shop Podcast – Ep. 4 Industrial Wireless Protocols: WirelessHART and ISA100
Feb 26, 2024
WirelessHART and ISA100.11a are two wireless protocols designed specifically for industrial applications. Based on the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless standards and utilizing Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum, these protocols provide robust and reliable low data rate wireless communications for a variety of industrial sensors and sometimes even controls.
While I dont have captures of these two protocols specifically, I do have several examples of what Frequency Hoping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) and DSSS looks like in spectrum analysis. The images below are examples of FHSS and DSSS from several different device deployments. While these are FHSS and DSSS, they are running on top of proprietary protocols as opposed to IEEE 802.15.4.
FHSS wireless camera system
The image above is from a deployment of Lorex LW2232 wireless cameras utilizing FHSS across the 2.4GHz spectrum. The deployment consisted of twelve cameras and transceivers all transmitting at their full power capacity of 16dBm. As you can see, at these levels they were disrupting the coexisting Wi-Fi due to the high utilization.
DSSS Phoenix Contact RAD900 Wireless IO
This is a capture I took in my lab while testing several Phoenix Contact RAD900 Wireless IO devices. These run on a proprietary protocol on 900MHz, but still used DSSS for frequency transmission. You can see the communication is very organized and while there is a lot of data going back and forth, the actual bursts of communication are very small. This helps dramatically with contention for airtime.
DSSS Banner Engineering 900MHz sensors
This capture was from a network of Banner Engineering 900MHz sensors around a waste water treatment facility. Though there were over twenty devices in the network, you can see that there is plenty of airtime and no contention. Though Banner uses proprietary protocols, DSSS keeps the data flowing reliably and continuously.
If you would like to learn more about WirelessHART, check out these links:
The Industrial Wi-Fi Shop Podcast – Ep. 3 RF, Antennas & Microwave Burritos
Feb 08, 2024
Jim Palmer came into the shop to talk about Radio Frequency (RF), how antennas work and propagate RF energy. Jim packs quite a bit of knowledge into this conversation and I had to take notes!
The conversation gets fairly deep into Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power, or EIRP, which is the total radiated power from a transmitter antenna times the numerical directivity of the antenna in the direction of the receiver, or the power delivered to the antenna times the antenna numerical gain.
At one point in the discussion, we talk about the Tacoma Narrows bridge and how it collapsed due to a phenomena known as harmonics. Here is a link to a video of that event: https://youtu.be/j-zczJXSxnw?si=zCXid0Pr8ZJ97knu .
The Industrial Wi-Fi Shop Podcast – Ep. 2 Industrial Wireless Safety & Mobility
Jan 15, 2024
Episode 2 brings Jeremy Baker into the shop to talk with me about industrial wireless safety and mobility. From theme park rides to heavy industrial equipment, we cover a lot of material so be sure to pay attention.
The Industrial Wi-Fi Shop Podcast – Ep. 1 Industrial Wireless Assessments
Jan 04, 2024
In this first episode, I joined by Justin Shade from Phoenix Contact to discuss the importance of wireless assessments in industrial and manufacturing and how they should be an essential part of any new wireless projects.