We all know that one of the biggest challenges to connecting legacy or remote equipment to the network is the cost of running wires
If you have an indoor application, you have to run conduit and wires to the devices you want to monitor or measure. Outdoors, there are trenches to dig, cables to bury underground and the permits. What if the equipment you need to connect to is across a major street or parking lot? That would mean more costs and permits to tear up city streets. Many times it just isn’t feasible to run conduit between items like water pumps, generators or chillers and your control room.
There is the traditional method of installing a wireless Distributed I/O system using Ethernet radios. Depending on the application, this would work just fine. However, it can be a daunting process that involves costly downtime. With a Wireless I/O system from ProSoft Technology, the cost, hassle and expensive downtime of installing wire goes away.
What is the difference between Wireless I/O and Traditional Distributed I/O with an Ethernet Radio?
A traditional distributed I/O system using an Ethernet radio requires plant operators to support network communications and program a data communications network. Not so with ProSoft Technology´s Wireless I/O.
Wireless I/O is a simplified form of wireless communication designed to make reliable, secure connections between two locations. Unlike data radios, the Wireless I/O system requires no software to program or network protocol to configure. The Wireless I/O radios are sold in pairs, already programmed to connect to one another. The I/O signal sent between the radios is encrypted with 128-bit AES encryption to make sure only the paired radio on the other end can read the information. The digital I/O module has 4 digital inputs and 4 digital outputs, while the analog modules each have two inputs and two outputs. The system is bi-directional, so each radio can send inputs to and receive outputs from the other. Each radio pair can support 16 I/O module pairs, for 64 digital inputs and outputs or 32 analog inputs and outputs.
Because the system only needs to handle a small amount of data, the wireless I/O radios use a technique called ‘frequency hopping spread spectrum’ modulation. This method is ideal for reducing potential interference from other radio signals in the area and provides very reliable transmission of the I/O signals. The radios are available in either 2.4 GHz or 900 MHz versions. By default, the system transmits the status of its I/O once per second. A »Turbo Mode» option boosts the update rate to as fast as 10 times per second.
