ABB predicts wireless to takeoff in mid-2009

London - The arrival of HART 7, the first open specification for a wireless instrument network, is enabling vendors to start to develop field instruments and other network components which can operate in a multivendor installation, according to Gareth Johnston, ABB wireless product manager. who expects to see wireless instruments from multiple vendors available on the market by mid-2009.

Release of the open specification has been the trigger for the development and conformance testing of software as well as the pilot testing of wireless instruments and network components, said Johnston. ABB, he added, expects that a wireless solution for factory automation will be different to that for process automation (HART 7).

The initial uptake of wireless instrumentation is likely to be for projects involving process monitoring and asset management, via a plug in wireless adaptor for existing installed instruments, Johnston believes. He pointed out that industrial wireless networks must be able to co-exist with other networks, adapt to changing plant infrastructure be secure yet simple to install.

Power is the other key requirement, commented Johnston: "Every time an instrument sends a signal, a degree of energy is taken from its power supply. If the power supply is a battery, then the battery life is related to the data refresh rate as transmitted wirelessly. For this reason some wireless instruments will be externally powered - they will not have a battery - this may not be such a huge problem as typically local power is available – but the wired signal back to the host may not be."