To sustain business performance in today’s complex and competitive environment, continuous innovation is critical. And within the global process industries, this innovation increasingly relies on collaborative decision-making based on the very latest information—available at all levels of the enterprise, within and across organizational boundaries. In fact, companies will rely on better information integration to provide a critical productivity boost in view of today’s shortage of skilled workers.
Fortunately, the advent of wireless technology and standards for in-plant use has coincided with the development of complementary tools to ease integration tasks. Indeed, the seamless integration of wireless into current plant architectures holds the potential to improve productivity dramatically by providing ready access to better information.
Meanwhile, the integration of wireless networks into your current plant automation hierarchy may be simple—but in most cases it’s not yet entirely automatic. So then, a brief review of the current options for making your wired and wireless worlds work well together.
Through the Gateway
As with the transition between any two disparate networks, the integration of wireless into a host control or information system relies on a gateway to translate, for example, WirelessHART into Ethernet.
When adding a wireless network to an existing process unit, it’s typically the interface requirements of the host system that will dictate what type of gateway interface will be needed. With the connectivity options listed below, the gateway can be integrated with a wide range of host systems, including Emerson’s DeltaV and Ovation control systems, Emerson’s AMS Suite asset management application, as well as a wide range of programmable logic controllers, process historians and other legacy control systems.
Go Native
The best-case scenario for wireless integration is a host system such as Emerson’s DeltaV, Ovation or AMS Suite, the latest generations of which now include native support for wireless devices. Indeed, for users of these systems no integration per se is required—wired and wireless field devices appear transparently on the system without requiring special wireless or communication know-how.
In the latest iterations of DeltaV and Ovation, the Smart Wireless Gateway can even be “auto-sensed” and “autoconfigured” for quick and easy start-up and commissioning. Essentially, the gateway becomes just another control network node. In addition, HART alerts from WirelessHART devices pass directly through to the AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager, eliminating the need for an additional network.
Nu-West Industries’ phosphate-based fertilizer plant in Soda Springs, Idaho, U.S., is among those process manufacturers leveraging this native capability. Remote tank level measurements feed wirelessly through a Smart Wireless Gateway into the plant’s DeltaV automation system where Emerson’s AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager application recognizes readings that are out of norm, enabling operations to take action to control reactions in the tank.
Networks
