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How Wireless Meshing Could Save Energy

Posted by timothy on from the 23-percent-is-a-bunch dept.

An anonymous reader writes "EE Times reports that the future of industrial automation lies in wireless mesh sensor networks. From the article: 'It is the holy grail of the factory floor: hundreds of sensors wirelessly connected, monitoring motors for problems and drastically reducing energy consumption -- all with the precision and rhythm of a philharmonic orchestra.' (Other articles here(1), here(2), and here(3).)"

4 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Saving energy... by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Interesting
    All I need is some sort of antenna system, tuned to the wavelength of these networks and I could capture the power and run my house off it! :-)

    My dad told me stories of Back In The Day(tm) when AM radio stations would broadcast at 300,000 watts, or more, and streetlights would be lit by the radiant energy. Can't imagine that did people much good living near the antennas...

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. I, for one... by ChaosWing · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...welcome our new job-stealing wireless mechanical overlords.

    Seriously, though, this would make my job a whole lot easier...monitoring the operation of a pair of 8MW generators (or a host of other equipment) from a single location vice constantly hopping around from point-to-point looking at every little gage and meter gets real old, real fast.

  3. Intrinsically Safe by billdar · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Two years ago when I was an ASIC engineer, I would have thought this was a good solution. Having since switched to industrial control systems, I have to say no way.

    Safty and reliability are absolutes in industrial control.

    A machine like a bottler goes down at pepsi, and they are losing $250k/min when that machine isn't running. Or a pharmacutical company drops a batch worth $3 million. And now that I've climbed in or on huge presses, mixing tanks, 6ft. fans, high preasure steam, and poison vapors... I wouldn't trust thier function to a wireless web.

    I can see where this would be great for remote/hazardess sensors and transmittion, but not anytime soon for control. Hell, we still extensivly use rs232 over ethernet.

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    I am billdar, and I approve this message.
  4. Re:Interference? by IvyKing · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The folks working on this are very aware of the problems with interference - DOE has been working on factory floor networking for several years (Wayne Manges from ORNL). In addition to interference, you have to contend with Dopler shift and fading as a result of objects moving aroound the floor (variable multipath). For those with radio experience (e.g hams) signal propagation starts to look more like HF (shortwave) than microwave.

    but retrofitting is going to be a big flop

    Actually the whole point of this work is to retrofit the factory floors (or other places using large motors). According to Wayne Manges, you're looking at $20 to $50 per foot to install wiring, so a $200 wireless sensor would be cost effective compared to running wire. The system could pay for itself by flagging one motor that is having problems before it fails - DOE's hope is that you can also tell tha the motor is chewing up electricity at an excessive rate.