HONEYWELL Process Solutions has introduced the latest version of its OneWireless industrial mesh network solution for manufacturing facilities. OneWireless R120 features the process industry’s first redundant wireless system gateway (WSG), a critical prerequisite for wireless process control.
The new OneWireless R120 manages data between wireless field instrumentation and the plant’s process control network (PCN). It serves as a backup gateway to ensure that data is always delivered even if the main gateway malfunctions or fails. Paired with existing OneWireless redundancy features, this approach creates the first industrial wireless system with complete hardware and radio-frequency redundancy from the field instrument to the PCN connection. Additionally, unique failure recovery features help prevent data loss and the network can recover in less than two seconds from any field hardware failure.
Jeff Becker, global wireless business director, Honeywell Process Solutions says that many plants today are only using wireless for non-critical applications, but that will undoubtedly change in the future as the trust in and adoption of wireless technology grows. Plants will control critical processes over wireless networks, which must be as reliable as wired networks. OneWireless is ready for these new demands with built-in features that enhance data availability and system reliability.
OneWireless can accommodate multiple communication protocols and thousands of field devices on a single network to help improve overall plant safety, reliability and efficiency. Each gateway can support up to 100 transmitters, and a single OneWireless server can support up to 40 gateways.
OneWireless R120 includes several other enhancements that improve the network scalability and reliability such as adaptive transmit power control for XYR 6000 field instruments. This feature saves battery power and minimises radio interference by enabling field devices to use the least power possible to transmit signals to OneWireless multinodes, or access points.
New OneWireless products now ship with OneWireless R120 software or firmware. Any existing OneWireless devices installed at user sites can be easily upgraded by an over the air software update to support the new functionality while supporting current investments.