Going wireless on the production floor
Technology is an important driver in the field of industrial manufacturing. Engineers are always looking for new ways to optimise performance and increase output on the production floor. The maturation of wireless networks with broadband capacity presents an opportunity in this field. Fieldbus is a particularly attractive option. Fieldbus is a digital, two-way communication link between intelligent measurement and control devices. It is highly applicable to high speed factory automation applications. A project was funded by the IST Programme to address the full scope of the fieldbus opportunity, from hardware to software, from the manufacturers to the end users. End users were the starting point of the project. Eighteen core requirements were identified following the administration of questionnaires and a selection of interviews. The production floor environment is not particularly conducive to radio wave propagation. Hence, an investigation of the propagation characteristics was performed in order to overcome interference and other such phenomenon. Market research also revealed which of several competing radio technologies were most likely to be successful. Based on this preliminary information, development work was undertaken to produce a fieldbus solution optimised for the industrial environment. Three different boards were created based on a layered system architecture. Additional control interfaces allow for increased flexibility for data transfer. The new prototype has been validated through a number of different tests. These results have implication for meeting the needs of production control engineers. The system can provide information in real time to mobile workers moving about the production floor. It supports both simple text messages and heavy multimedia content. The possibilities are plentiful and must be fully explored.
