WirelessIntroduction

WirelessIntroduction

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HCF_LIT-131
Rev. 1.0
Date of Publication: March1,2010
Contributors: Gerrit Lohmann Pepperl+Fuchs GmbH
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Introduction
Wireless communication is emerging from the office world to the industrial
world. Since industrial communication underlies stronger conditions than
office communication, some know-how is important for users who apply
wireless communication in industrial environments.
This document will introduce to
RF and radio basic terminology
Boundary Conditions for RF in industrial environment
Modern Radio technology and standards
Media Access and Networking
Conditions for using wireless technologies in industrial applications


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RadioFrequency
Theradiowavesarepartoftheelectromagneticspectrum,coveringseveralotherpartsofradiationlike
light,gammaraysetc.
Therefore,thepropagationofradiowavescangenerallybecomparedwiththepropagationoflight.Light
movesstraightthroughspaceandcan
Penetratematerial(glass)
Bedamped(eitherthroughmateriallikefogorbysimplybydistance)
Bereflected(onmirrors)
Beabsorbed

Radiowavesalsocanpenetratematerial,bereflectedorabsorbed.
Duetotheotherfrequency(radiowavesareofmuchlowerfrequencyoflight),thepenetration
ofmaterialisbetter.Radiowavescanevenpenetratewallsifnottoomassive
Radiowavesaredampedbythematerialandbydistance
Radiowaveswillbeabsorbedbymassivematerialanddonotpenetratethemanymore
theyarereflectedonthegroundorobstacles

Generally,inanopenspace,thepropagationgoesundisturbedstraightinalldirectionsandisonly
dampedbydistance.

ThedampingisdescribedindB

RadioTechnology
Toenablethereceiverandsenderoftheinformationtocommunicate,bothhavetoagreeonwhat
frequencytheysend.Thisfrequencywillbeinoneofthebandsreservedforradiocommunications.The
bandsareregulatedbyofficialagenciesandtheusageofthesebandsisthereforerestricted.Inmost
bands,alicensemustbeobtainedtoallowusageofit.Theregulationsaredifferentfromcountryto
country.

Theoretical free space propagation

-110,0
-105,0
-100,0
-95,0
-90,0
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-70,0
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Di stance [m]
P
a
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L
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[
d
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900MHz
2.4GHz
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TheexceptionsforlicensedusageareISMbands(Industrial,scientific,medical).Inthesebandsanyoneis
allowedtosendandreceive,followingsomerestrictionlikesendingpower.Theonlyworldwideusable
bandforISMis2.4GHz

Now,inthisbandsinglechannelsareestablished.Thiscaneitherbeasinglefrequency(like2.45GHz)ora
frequencyrange,e.g.2.407to2.447GHz.Thisisadifferenceof40MHz.Thisrangeiscalledbandwidth.
Ashigherthebandwidth,asmoredatacanbetransmitted.
Usingthehigherbandwidth,onespeaksalsoofspectrumusage.Spectrumusagecaneitherbein
sequencelikeFHSS,orsimultaneouslyas.
FSSSusesasinglefrequencyatatimeandanotherfrequencyduringthefollowingtransmission.So,the
wholespectrumisused,butnotforonetransmissionbutforconsecutive.Sincethesequenceofthe
singlechannelsisunknown,itishardtotapthesetransmissionsandduetotheshortpeaksof
transmissions,thedisturbanceofotherradiosystemsisreduced.

DSSSincontraryusestheentirefrequencyspectrumduringonetransmission.Therefore,thesending
powercanbereduced,thesignalishiddeninthebackgroundnoiseandcannotbetappednorjammed
noritisjammingotherradiotransmissions
Channel
0
2
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0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Ti me [ms]
C
h
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ThesendingpowerisonerestrictionintheISMbandof2.4GHz.Itisonlyallowedtosendwithanoutput
powerof10mW,insomecountriesorregionsitisallowedtosendwith100mW.Asmoresendingpower
isallowed,aslongerthepossiblerangeis.
ThesendingpowerissometimesalsodescribesasdBinrelationtoEIRP.EIRPmeans@.Anisotropic
radiatorradiatesequallyinalldirections(likethesun).Butrealworldantennasradiateinadifferent
pattern,e.g.adonutlikeshape.Sothepowerisnotwastedtothetopandbottombutmoreinthe
horizontalsurface.Sothe10mWarenotdistributedequally,butorfocusedwhichincreasesthesending
powerofe.g.2dB(inrelationtothe10mW)
Anotherfactorfortherangeisthereceiversensitivity.Evenifthesendingpowerisrestricted,the
sensitivityisnot.Soasbetterthereceivingsensitivityis,aslongertherangewhichcanbeobtained.
BounderyConditionsforRFinindustrialcommunication
Thegeneralpropertiesofradiofrequencydoofcoursealsoapplyinindustrialenvironment.Threemain
effectshavetobetakenintoaccountinindustrialenvironments
Interference
Movingequipmentandpeople
Multipathfading

Interferencehappenswhereverawaveisreflectedorissuperimposedbyanotherwave.Thiscaneither
haveapositiveeffectoranegativeeffect:

DSSS
0
1
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6
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
frequency
a
m
p
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Message
Spread Message
Positivly reflected wave
-2
-1,5
-1
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1,5
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A
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Wave
Reflected Wave
Resulting Wave
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Thesecondeffectisthatindustrialenvironmentsarenotstaticbutdynamic.Vehicles,movingequipment
liketanks,peoplewalkingthroughwillchangetheenvironment.Therefore,thepropagationofradio
wavesisaltered.
Thethirdeffectismultipathfading.Duetoreflections,onewaveismovingondifferentpathsfromthe
sendertothereceiverandarrivestherethenlightlytimeshifted.Thiscandistortthewavesothereceiver
doesnotrecognizeitanymore.
Asresultofthosethreeeffectstwomainconsequencesmustbetakenintoaccountwhenapplying
wirelesscommunicationsinindustrialenvironments
Range
Reliability

Therangeisdecreasedcomparedtothetheoreticalfreespacepropagation.Apracticalexamplefor
industrialenvironmentisshownbelow:

Themovingequipmentandchangingenvironmentdecreasesthereliabilityoftheradiocommunication.
Aconnectionworkingatonetimedoesnotworkanotherbecauseatruckisstandingintheway.This
decreasesthereliability.
Negativly reflected wave
-2
-1,5
-1
-0,5
0
0,5
1
1,5
2
A
m
p
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Wave
Reflected Wave
Resulting Wave
Practical propagation
-130
-120
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0 50 100 150
Di stance [m]
P
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L
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[
d
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900MHz
2.4GHz
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ModernRadioTechnologyandStandards
Toenableradiocommunication,acommonstandardismandatory.Thestandardmakesdevicesof
differentvendorscompatibletoeachotherendenableeasytousetechnology.
Currently,inthe2.4GHzBandtherearethreemajorknownstandardsavailable.Theyhavebeendefined
byIEEEinthefamilyofcommunicationprotocolsandareworldwideusable.
IEEE802.11(WiFi)
IEEE802.15.1(Bluetooth)
IEEE802.15.4(ZigBee)

OneofthewidestusedisIEEE802.15.11,commonlyknownasWLANorWiFi(evenifthisisnot100%
correct).IEEE802.11providesalocalinfrastructureforfastwirelesstransmissionofrelativeamountof
dataoversomedistancelikeofficeareasoryourhomenetwork.
IEEE802.15.1isknownasBluetooth.Thisprovidesapersonalareanetworkforcablereplacementof
auxiliarydevicesandisabletotransmitsomelessdatathanWLANoveraverylimitedrange.Thisisalso
calledWPAN(WirelessPersonalAreaNetwork)
IEEE802.15.4isthebasisforNetworkslikeZigBee,whereverylimiteddataistransmittedoveramedium
distancethroughanetworkofknotssothecoveredareaisextended.
MediaAccessandNetworking
Allthestandardsdescribedabovehavetoaccessthesamespace:theair.Ifallparticipantsaccessthisat
the same time, collisions of communication will occur. Therefore, the media access must be handled.
Therearetwoprinciplesusedtocoordinatemediaaccess
TDMA(TimeDivisionMultipleAccess)
CSMA(CarrierSenseMultipleAccess)

WithTDMA,thedataaretransferredatagiventimeslot.Soalloftheparticipantsinanetworkknowthe
timeslotwhentosendandtoreceiveandavoidcollisionswiththis.
CSMAavoidscollisionswithrandomdelaytimesafterafreechannelisrecognized.Soifachannelis
recognizedtobefree,everyparticipantwaitsanotherrandomtimeanditisveryunlikelythatthenext
sendpackagescollide.
Theotherthingwhichisrelevantintermsofthestandardsdescribedaboveishowthenetworkis
organized.Therearethreebasiclayoutsofnetworks
Star
Mesh
StarMeshorHybrid
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Usingstartopology,eachwirelesssensorendpointsendsdatadirectlytothegateway.Fromtheredata
issentontoothersystems.Starnetworksofferthefastestdatagatheringspeed,butallparticipantsmust
beinthecommunicationrangeofthegateway.Thistopologysuitsinstallationsthatneedthelowest
powerconsumptionoverlimitedgeographicrange

Inmeshnetworks,eachwirelesssensoractsasarouter,sendingandreceivingdatafromothersensorsor
thegateway.Selfconfiguringnetworksautomaticallydeterminethebestpathfordatatotakefrom
sensortogateway.Dataisautomaticallysentaroundfailedsensorrouters.Thislayoutisgoodforwide
areanetworkswithhighredundancy,butenoughpowerforallparticipantsisavailabletoroutethe
messages.

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Starmeshnetworkscombinestarandmeshtopologiestogainthespeedofthestarnetworkwiththe
selfrepairingcapabilityofthemeshnetwork.Sensorsmaybeeitherendpointsorrouters,dependingon
wheretheyareusedinthesystem.

Conditionsforusingwirelesstechnologiesinindustrialapplications
Ifanofficeapplicationwirelesssystemloosesapackageonceinawhile,itisresendandthereforethe
lossisnotrecognizedbytheuser.Incontrarytothis,Industrialapplicationsrelyonsecuredata
transmission.Forsomeusecasescompromisescanbemade,e.g.toparameterizedevoicesorforasset
managementapplications.Butclosedcontrolloopsrelyonastrictdatatransmission.
ThereliabilityofadatatransmissionisdefinedinBitErrorRate,meanshowmanyBitsarenot
transmittedcorrectlyinanumberofBits.ThebettertheBER,thebetterthereliabilityofthedata
transmission.AwiredtransmissionusuallyhasaBER
Todepicttherelations,aProfibushasaBERof@.,awirelesssystemwithouterrorcorrection.@
SowithcorrectionalgorithmsabetterBERispossible,butthealgorithmneedstimetofindoutand
correctthefaultymessage.Ifthemessageistoodisrupted,themessagecannotbereconstructedanda
resendingmightbenecessary.Thisdelaysthedatatransmissionandaclosedloopcontrolcouldgetout
ofphase.
Todefinethesingleapplication,6applicationclasseshavebeendefined:

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SummaryandConclusion
Usingwirelesstechnologiesinindustrialapplicationissurelypossible,butsomerestrictionsmustbe
considered.
Radiotechnologyusesasharedmediumanddoesnotguaranteetransmissionreliabilityasawire
Radiowavesaredampedabsorbedandmirroredbyobstaclesandthereforenoteverywhereisa
connectionpossible
Licensefreebandshavejustlimitedrange,alsootherwirelesssystemsmightmakeuseofthe
bandandcausecoexistenceissues