CTS 221: Industrial Wi-Fi with Scott McNeil

From Clear To Send: Wireless Network Engineering Rowell Dionicio and François Vergès

In this episode, we are talking about Wi-Fi in the Industrial environment with Scott McNeil. Scott has great experience designing, deploying and troubleshooting Wi-Fi and these environments and share his experiences with us! We are also talking about how the Industrial 4.0 revolution will impact how we will be using Wi-Fi in an industrial environment. Enjoy!

You can go follow Scott on Twitter: https://twitter.com/americanmcneil

Agenda

* Industrial Wi-Fi vs. Enterprise Wi-Fi* Wireless becoming critical (Industrial 4.0)* What is similar* The need for wireless connectivity* Standards based wireless protocols (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Cellular)* Physics of wireless* What is different* Environmental aspect (temperatures, humidity, dust…)* Equipment (IP66, IP67)* Rules of engagements* Interferences* Important metrics* Retry rate* Packet loss* Latency* Roaming delay* Wi-Fi 6 test in an industrial environment conducted by the WBA* Site Surveys in an industrial environment* When to perform them* What type of site surveys to perform* Finding unknown devices* Innocent items like printers and cellular hotspots* Intentional devices installed by vendors* Identifying other sources of inferences* Spectrum Analysis* You never know what you might find in these environment* Industrial microwave dryer* Infrared adhesive curing equipment* Strong electromagnetic energy generated by machines

Example of interference measured by Scott in the field:

Example of interference: infrared curing machine

Example of interference: microwave dryer

Links & Resources

* Scott’s Blog on Industrial Wi-Fi: https://industrialwifishop.wordpress.com/* Scott’s article on spectrum analysis: https://industrialwifishop.wordpress.com/2020/01/07/industrial-airspace-101/* Scott’s article on Industrial 4.0: https://industrialwifishop.wordpress.com/2020/05/20/wireless-industry-4-0-now-with-the-minty-flavor-of-wifi-6/* WBA Industrial 4.0 Wi-Fi 6 Test: https://metrology.news/wifi-6-successfully-completes-first-phase-industry-4-0-trials/