Chemical Engineering December 2011 - 40

Feature Report
FIGURE 3.
A centralized
dashboard provides
a view of
multiple wireless
locations and
applications and
enterprise-wide
events and exceptions
FIGURE
4. To be useful in both turnarounds
and operations, an industrial
wireless gateway should have an open
protocol and be " device neutral " so that
it can leverage multiple types of devices
- handhelds, wireless instrumentation,
video, communications and more
4. Centralized platform. Your wireless
vendor should have deep experience
with tying wireless data to middleware,
enterprise-class
software,
application or tablet software, either
by providing its own or with integrating
into existing information systems.
Ideally, a middleware solution will
process data from multiple wireless
locations and applications and then
transmit it to a centralized software
system that has a dashboard view of
enterprise-wide events and exceptions.
Also, the software should take
full advantage of the realtime nature
of wireless data by providing automated
alerts when corrective actions
need to be made as they happen.
5.
6. Device neutral. There is no single
wireless device or even protocol that's
monolithic - in other words, one size
does not fit all. Applications, physical
environments and objectives all
vary with each customer, and all these
factors influence what type of device
and protocol is best suited for the job.
Should an installation be based on
WiFi (802.11), WIMAX, 2.4 GHz, 900
MHz, active or passive RFID (radio
frequency identification) or are there
even some legacy, proprietary technology
concerns to consider? Do transmissions
need to be long-range or shorterrange?
For these and many other
complex reasons,
it's important to
Comprehensive applications.
Advances in wireless technologies,
sensors and associated software mean
that new functions and applications
are being developed all the time. Are
you looking for a single, one-off wireless
project, or do you want to take
into account a network-wide system
that can encompass multiple applications?
You should consider and ask
about new wireless applications such
as the following:
* Video surveillance for safety, security
*
Asset tracking and management
* Condition monitoring (temperature,
humidity, vibration, voltage, tank
levels and status, pressure and flow
and so on)
* Communications: Two-way radios,
cell phones, PA (public address) systems
and PBX (business telephone)
systems and alarms
* Access control and workforce mobility
choose
a vendor that isn't tied to just
one type of technology or protocol. The
vendor must have an open platform
that is " tag agnostic " and can leverage
multiple types of devices to suit the
specific needs of each application.
7. Professional services (scalability
and extensibility). Does the vendor
have the capability and experience
to elegantly scale a wireless system
beyond the initial project scope and
develop a solution that's extensible to
accommodate a widening array of applications
and functions? Without a
scalable and extensible wireless strategy,
most industrial enterprises will
find it difficult, or even impossible, to
deploy, manage and maintain more
than one or two wireless applications.
There is a wide range of challenges
that arise in developing a comprehensive
wireless strategy. Various technologies
are physically overlapping
as well as sharing an infrastructure
that supports multiple applications.
The sheer magnitude and complexity
40 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM DECEMBER 2011
of industrial plants and the density of
devices to be deployed create wireless
protocol coexistence and radio interference
problems. In addition, application
bandwidth, data, and security
demands require active design and
management while ensuring there is
residual available bandwidth for future
needs. A suitable vendor can respond
to these types of questions:
* Does the solution call for data transmissions
to be short-range, line-ofsite
or do they need to be long-range
and omnidirectional?
* Will large objects and metal surroundings
propagate or bend radio
waves in the wrong direction or will
there be interference from multiple
wireless systems?
* Can bandwidth and data processing
capabilities accommodate future
network-wide growth?
* What is the system architecture for
adding future expansions or extending
future enhancements.
All these considerations - and many
more - must be taken into account
when mapping out and implementing
a wireless network and applications.
Professional services should be able to
address how best to take care of the
immediate project as well as have the
vision to see how it can be leveraged
for future growth and value.
8. Device management and provisioning.
In addition to providing a
" bird's eye view " of operations, wireless
applications should have a comprehensive
way to detect, manage and
" heal " wireless devices within a project,
plant or network. There should be
an automated solution that enables
administrators to set and enforce
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