Industrial Wireless: Top 7 Services

This post was first published on Smarterchains’ blog.

Although until recently the standard for connected plants was Industrial Ethernet networks, the Industrial Wireless is quickly becoming the norm as it enables Wi-Fi internet connectivity across the plant, supplementing the industrial ethernet by enabling mobility.

Key Features

Wireless Internet is deployed by installing Wi-Fi routers in various spots around the plant and provides:

• Connectedness in harsh or remote industrial environments
• Connectivity for mobile devices
• Multiple access points for sensors & devices
• Better system control

Who uses it

• IT department, that sets it up and is responsible for its operation
• Anyone with a mobile, connectable device

Key Benefits

Wireless Internet connectivity brings:

• Reduced unplanned downtime due to IT system failure
• Better cross-departmental communication
• Security against cyberattacks
• Less maintenance on network equipment
• Less cabling infrastructure required

Below you can find an indicative list of companies that disrupt the existing landscape in Industrial Wireless Networking.

Ingenu

Ingenue jas built the Machine Network specifically for supporting M2M/IoT applications and bring wireless connectivity to machines.

The Machine Network works like a cellular network made for machines. instead of signing up on a cellular network to use a smart phone, manufacturers can sign up RPMA enabled devices on the Machine Network to automate their business. With it, machines become smart and connected with no complex infrastructure to set up and no operations to manage. Finally, the Machine Network is professionally managed which means Ingenu does all the hard work.

Sigfox

Sigfox offers a software based communications solution, where all the network and computing complexity is managed in the Cloud, rather than on the devices, in order to drastically reduce energy consumption and costs of connected devices.

Sigfox features include:

Ultra Narrow Band radio modulation to achieve long distances while being very robust against the noise.

Lightweight protocol to handle small messages; less data to send means less energy consumption and longer battery life.

Star network architecture with which a device is not attached to a specific base station and the broadcasted message is received by any base station in the range.

Uplink connectivity and Downlink connectivity

Tempered Networks

By using identity based micro-segmentation, Tempered Networks delivers high availability, native security and remarkable simplicity. By using Simple, secure and segmented connectivity for vendor access and BACnet systems, Tempered Networks streamlines efficiencies and hides network attack surface

Benefits of this solution include:

• Heightened security via BACnet cloaking and ‘attack surface’ reduction
• Reduced operations cost via simplified contractor device identification and centralized orchestration
• Improved HVAC system SLAs through flexible, but secure, remote access
• Reduction in underlying network infrastructure cost and complexity

Cubic Telecom

Cubic powers M2M and connects the Internet of Things (IoT) with their Multi-IMSI single-SIM technology which drives connectivity, and affordable, flexible rates for data, voice, and SMS.

Each of Cubic’s proprietary SIMs is designed to meet application-specific requirements. Applications and technologies are embedded into devices at the manufacturing stage, enabling simple logistics and marketing for device manufacturers.

Other features include:

Cubic’s Core Network is built to manage a broad array of voice and data standards, including LTE, CDMA, UMTS, WiFi, SIP and more. Its components include data gateways, routers and servers, along with media gateways and controllers.

Cubic’s cloud-based Intelligent Platform is built upon their Core Network. The platform offers virtually unlimited features and capabilities, as well as enterprise-class security and scalability.

In order to connect the world, Cubic’s solution is Device Agnostic, which means it can talk and share data with billion machines around the world.

Meshify

Meshify, a new player in the field of Industrial Wireless, has built an Enterprise Solution, with the following benefits:

• Application provisioned on the manufacturers’ custom domain name
• It uses Model-based IoT infrastructure to model devices and their data
• Users can access its Complete Interface Control via an in-browser HTML & JavaScript Editor
• It includes an API for Data ingest and data export
• Custom role types and permissions for users enable secure access and control
• A custom business intelligence layer to share statistics across devices
• Multi-tiered tenant architecture that is extremely durable

EMnify

EMnify is a Connectivity Platform for the IoT that enables manufacturers to connect, control and manage their devices and services.

EMnify includes the following features and functionalities:

• It combines more than 540 providers into a single global, mobile network
• Its detailed and scalable device connectivity management gives control over the connectivity of IoT & M2M devices or services.
• Its RESTful API unifies IoT deployments across multiple mobile network operators and seamlessly integrates into business processes and applications.
• EMnify’s software-defined network (SDN) system architecture offers enhanced M2M security.

Echoring

EchoRing is a wireless technology designed for applications that require time-critical performance and robustness simultaneously. EchoRing enables a deterministic and low-latency wireless communication with a cable-like performance. Its software runs on standard hardware platforms and enables new product concepts.

EchoRing:

• is hardware agnostic
• uses dynamic cooperation safeguard performance levels
• offers a seamless roaming approach
• deals with interference intelligently and adapts its communication pattern dynamically
• utilizes Machine Learning to optimize the system performance at runtime
• is not limited to a fixed set of topologies but adjusts automatically to needs
• introduces additional encryption and authentication features along with standard security
• can either be realized as firmware or as a driver

We invite you to provide your feedback on Industrial Wireless solutions in the comments section below.

Is your favorite Industrial Wireless solution missing? Send it to us at info@smarterchains.com to add it to the above list.