In Part One of this series we explained how recent advances in technology and standards have revolutionized reliability for industrial wireless applications; they are no longer the Achilles heel of signal transmission. Specifically, Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) as defined by IEC 62439, is helping in this revolution as it greatly improves wireless network performance in three important areas.

Several months ago we asked whether you have moved wireless projects off the back burner yet. The reason we asked is because new advances in technology and standards mean it’s probably time to take a fresh look at industrial wireless. One of the most common concerns about wireless for wide-ranging mission critical applications has always been – and still is – reliability. Will it work in your noisy environment? Will it be robust enough to ensure your data makes it to its destination? Can it ever provide you the assurance you need that it is stable enough?

Have you ever left just one phone number you can be reached at with someone that will absolutely need to get ahold of you in an emergency? Probably not. When it is absolutely critical that a message reach you, you leave a second number as a back-up, just in case. Your industrial network is no different. To avoid the risk and expense of system outages and downtime, ensure your communications (and operations) keep flowing with a back-up or redundant network.

As your industrial Ethernet network develops into a communications infrastructure, monitoring and supervising it becomes more challenging. You can no longer get it done efficiently or accurately using "sneakernet" or with local workstations managing production cells. Good network management plays a key role in maintaining high system reliability. It also makes you a lot more productive when it's time to do network updates, changes and audits. Find out how one of the largest control networks ever built in the Middle East uses network management software to meet its availability and efficiency requirements.

One of the indicators that it's time to update your network design is when troubleshooting issues take too long and having a significant impact on production. That was one of the issues Johnson Controls' Automotive Experience Group was facing when it decided its "one size fits all" flat network infrastructure had to change.