Wireless standard proceeds with vim, vigor

InTech, Oct 2006

The market for wireless devices in manufacturing and automation is booming. The expectation is the technology will change new and existing plants and production for years to come.

It is in this atmosphere that the ISA-SP100 Wireless Systems for Automation committee met in Research Triangle Park, N.C., in September to hammer out an industry standard for the technology.

To be relevant, the committee must move quickly as the technology won't wait. It must synthesize from a number of existing, well thought out, viable wireless solutions a single agreed upon standard.

A flurry of RFPs (requests for proposal) and wireless case studies melted into panel discussions, technology consultations, and coalition building during the four-and-half day confab.

When the dust settled, the mood was positive because of the commonality of many of the proposals, which bodes well for the quick construction of a good and enduring standard.

There was some discussion as to the incorporation of ZigBee and the ISA standard. ZigBee is a published specification set of high-level communication protocols designed to use small, low power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for wireless personal area networks, and it appears strong in home and building control market.

It's not clear that ZigBee will work in the industrial environment. The ISA standard aims to fit into that industrial space, and there may be some coalescing of the two, but that remains to be seen.

The major concerns of the 60 delegates were the usual suspects in the wireless arena: impenetrable security, high reliability, and low, low power consumption.

Industrial automation expert Dick Caro said, "The big news of this meeting was the announcement at the end of the meeting that a long list of companies had agreed to cooperate."

That list included several major players, and totaled 16 members altogether.

The group meets again 16-17 October at ISA EXPO 2006 in Houston.