Driving data node to node - Wireless sensors gain ground in industrial settings

摘要

A networking technology that ties sensor devices together, machine to machine, and aggregates data typically generated from sensors is finding a home in industrial automation space, Its role? Predictive maintenance, process monitoring, and process control; in fact, sensor networking enables the whole trend toward predictive maintenance rather than preventive maintenance, said Burlington, Mass.-based Millennial Net's vice president of marketing, Mark Pacelle. "Predictive maintenance involves the monitoring of process conditions," and sensors that measure vibration, temperature, humidity, or acidity are attached to these machines to continuously monitor things like bearing temperature. "When the temperature goes out of an acceptable range, it triggers an alarm, When it goes through a wireless sensor network, it travels back to a control point. Likewise, if you don't want to send an alarm, it'll send a continuous hourly reading of that bearing and the application end of the network," Pacelle said, "And the network would keep a continuous log."