Industrial wireless is being used to improve availability and reduce costs in a wide variety of applications. For example, a large coal preparation facility uses a tablet application for mobile ICS system monitoring and troubleshooting.

More and more today’s industrial technicians want to be able to monitor automation systems using mobile applications. But, when a large, noisy plant facility is involved, how is a network designed to deliver reliable wireless communications? Can today’s wireless technologies provide the performance needed?

As a network designer or engineer, you might avoid wireless solutions because you are worried that transmission interference will make network communications unreliable. Although you may have heard of recent technical improvements in industrial wireless technology, you may still be concerned about using it for mission-critical processes.

Everyone seems to have a “smart” device these days. And companies have been busy coming up with new ways to take advantage of the resulting networked information. In the factory setting, the trend of connecting more and more devices to the network is called the Industrial Internet of Things, or the IIoT.

As the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) rapidly drives up the number of connected devices in facilities, everything – from the plant floor, to oil rigs, to substations – is transforming. This transformation includes an increase in the use of industrial wireless for a number of applications.