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Home > life > Wireless Expert > Research Confirms Bluetooth Technology Thriving in Industrial Automation

Research Confirms Bluetooth Technology Thriving in Industrial Automation

2016/7/12 10:32:52     Source: www.bluetooth.com     Views:1486     Comments:0

Summary:industrial automation


Over the years and around the world, Bluetooth®technology became synonymous with consumer wireless technology. Now, very quietly, Bluetooth is one of the preferred technologies in the industrial automation space. According to a recent IMS report, this preference by industrial customers will grow even stronger over the next five years. Replacing bulky wires with a wireless technology is a trend occurring for some time now. Bluetooth is an industrial grade technology offering OEMs and industrial customers a low power, low cost, secure and reliable option even in chatty network environments thanks to its Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) feature.

IMS Research released a new report showing Bluetooth technology is catching up and expanding in this area as “more than half of all wireless-enabled industrial automation equipment shipped in 2012 used either Bluetooth or 802.11a/b/g/n wireless LAN (WLAN) technology.” According to the report, Bluetooth accounted for 22 percent of the market while WLAN is 31 percent. The company predicts these two technologies will continue to expand market share until at least 2017.

It is important in an industrial environment to keep things moving and data flowing. You need things to fit into tight spaces but able to receive service when needed. You need things to connect to each other and offer wireless coexistence without interference. You also need equipment to be faster and cheaper to keep costs low. As company’s upgrade to more modern solutions, Bluetooth is being regularly considered as a leading technology. And given its peaceful coexistence with WLAN because of AFH, it allows companies to have the best of both worlds.

In a recent article, “Using Bluetooth for Data Communication in Industrial Automation,” there was a great example showing the ability to control a valve with a built-in control system. Using a Bluetooth adapter, the status and variables of the valve is sent to a web server access point (AP). “Via the server, the valve can be monitored and updated. The user hooks into the AP and, using a built-in web interface in the AP, sees the list of all the connected Bluetooth devices. The user chooses the desired device establishing a data connection to the device with the AP acting as a router.” This is a great example of Bluetooth and WLAN working better together to meet the needs of industrial users.

It’s exciting to think how Bluetooth Smart technology further revolutionizes wireless in industrial applications. With its ultra-low power performance, you could have Bluetooth embedded industrial equipment powered by tiny coin cell batteries. Better yet, I don’t think we’re too far from seeing no batteries at all in some of these implementations as ambient lighting may be all that’s needed to power the ultra-efficient Bluetooth Smart sensors.

Industrial automation is ripe for the Bluetooth Smart revolution that’s propelling our industry forward and transforming entire verticals along the way. To learn how to build better with Bluetooth, check out the developer portal here.

(Credit: Suke Jawanda)


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