In this episode, we are talking about Wi-Fi in the Industrial environment with Scott McNeil. Scott has great experience designing, deploying and troubleshooting Wi-Fi and these environments and share his experiences with us! We are also talking about how the Industrial 4.0 revolution will impact how we will be using Wi-Fi in an industrial environment. Enjoy!
You can go follow Scott on Twitter: https://twitter.com/americanmcneil
Agenda
- Industrial Wi-Fi vs. Enterprise Wi-Fi
- Wireless becoming critical (Industrial 4.0)
- What is similar
- The need for wireless connectivity
- Standards based wireless protocols (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Cellular)
- Physics of wireless
- What is different
- Environmental aspect (temperatures, humidity, dust…)
- Equipment (IP66, IP67)
- Rules of engagements
- Interferences
- Important metrics
- Retry rate
- Packet loss
- Latency
- Roaming delay
- Wi-Fi 6 test in an industrial environment conducted by the WBA
- Site Surveys in an industrial environment
- When to perform them
- What type of site surveys to perform
- Finding unknown devices
- Innocent items like printers and cellular hotspots
- Intentional devices installed by vendors
- Identifying other sources of inferences
- Spectrum Analysis
- You never know what you might find in these environment
- Industrial microwave dryer
- Infrared adhesive curing equipment
- Strong electromagnetic energy generated by machines
- You never know what you might find in these environment
Example of interference measured by Scott in the field:
Links & Resources
- Scott’s Blog on Industrial Wi-Fi: https://industrialwifishop.wordpress.com/
- Scott’s article on spectrum analysis: https://industrialwifishop.wordpress.com/2020/01/07/industrial-airspace-101/
- Scott’s article on Industrial 4.0: https://industrialwifishop.wordpress.com/2020/05/20/wireless-industry-4-0-now-with-the-minty-flavor-of-wifi-6/
- WBA Industrial 4.0 Wi-Fi 6 Test: https://metrology.news/wifi-6-successfully-completes-first-phase-industry-4-0-trials/
