Expert Viewpoint: Is it time to go wireless?

Regardless of any technical requirements, the advantages of wireless solutions over traditional wiring are numerous and significant. A smart factory offers true flexibility, where automated guided vehicles (AGVs) can drive wherever they are needed and robots can work together to optimize production. This flexibility and automation would not be possible without wireless solutions.

Wireless solutions allow users to remotely access and manage or monitor equipment. Personnel no longer need to climb long ladders, go deep into mines, or enter other unpleasant or potentially dangerous environments to inspect equipment.

If the device is connected to a wide area network, then you don’t even need to be near the device, which reduces costs and the inconvenience of traveling.

Wireless solutions are also cheaper to install and easier to expand or modify. Maintenance costs are also reduced because there is no need to manually connect to the equipment and connectors are less likely to be damaged from constant use. Replacing worn or damaged cables is no longer a problem.

So why hasn’t the industry moved to wireless solutions yet? The two most common reasons are, first, fear – fear of change. The second reason has to do with technology.

Some worry that wireless technology isn’t good enough, that latency is too high, bandwidth is too low, or that the connection is unstable or insecure.

The prevailing mentality in the industry is “if it works, don’t break it”. This is understandable, as caution is fundamental in industrial applications and we want to ensure safety and prevent downtime. But the transition from wired to wireless is not complicated, wireless solutions are already in use. It is not a step into the unknown.

Wireless Issues

Concerns about wireless and cellular standards not meeting requirements become less significant with each advancement in wireless technology. The key is to determine the application requirements and then look at the options, including wireless and cellular standards. If stability is key, data volumes are low, and an internet connection is not required, then Bluetooth is a good choice.

If you need internet connectivity but with low bandwidth, low cost, and low power, then cellular connectivity using the Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standard is a good option. If you want low latency, high bandwidth, and high security, then newer wireless solutions may meet your needs, and this is where wireless solutions will be a key driver in the coming years. The advancements of 5G over 4G and Wi-Fi 6 over Wi-Fi 4 and 5 are enabling more industrial applications to cut the cables and install wireless solutions because wireless technology can meet more technical requirements. This means that more industrial applications can take advantage of the benefits of wireless solutions we outlined above, such as automation, flexibility, and remote management.

Comparing 5G and 4G

5G is not just an incremental improvement over 4G LTE, but a major evolution, offering dramatic improvements such as 50x faster speeds, 10x lower latency, and 1,000x more capacity

In industrial applications, this opens up many possibilities. For example, Volkswagen has created its own 5G network, where the increased speed and capacity and reduced latency allow robots to perform complex tasks that would be impossible on 4G networks.

However, the adoption of 5G does not mean that 4G LTE has no place in industrial applications. LPWAN standards can provide wireless connectivity for large IoT applications that need to send low-cost, low-energy, and small amounts of data over long distances. 5G can be used for critical IoT applications that require reliability, low latency, and high availability.

Compare Wi-Fi 6 vs Wi-Fi 5 vs Wi-Fi 4

Wi-Fi technology is improving, with each generation delivering higher speeds, greater capacity, better efficiency, wider coverage, lower power consumption, smarter management, and the ability to serve more devices simultaneously.

The fastest adoption of Wi-Fi 6 technology is likely to be in the public Wi-Fi and home markets, where, as with Wi-Fi 6, more devices can now be connected simultaneously and still have a stable and fast connection. Applications using virtual or augmented reality, such as digital twins for remote monitoring, will benefit from the higher throughput and lower latency provided. Smart management techniques such as the Target Wake Time (TWT) feature will reduce energy consumption as devices are only active when they need to send or receive data, a key advantage for any battery-powered device.

Both 5G and Wi-Fi 6 offer significant improvements over their predecessors, and therefore both offer opportunities for industrial applications. Whether you should choose 5G or Wi-Fi 6 will depend on the use case.

Typically, Wi-Fi 6 provides internet connectivity indoors or in designated high-density outdoor areas such as stadiums, while 5G provides internet connectivity to all other outdoor areas, including vehicles or people on the move.

Based on this, a typical industrial use case for 5G would be remote tracking of vehicles on the move. While a typical Wi-Fi 6 industrial example would be providing internet connectivity for capillary networks or any other indoor application that falls under the umbrella of massive IoT. But as always, it is important to understand more details and examine your requirements before deciding on the best solution.

Wi-Fi 6 is cheaper to install and scale, so if your intended application is indoors or in a high-density outdoor area and Wi-Fi 6 meets the requirements, choose Wi-Fi 6. But if your requirements are higher and fall into the critical IoT category, cellular is a better choice even if your installation is indoors. For example, low latency is critical for critical IoT applications, and although both Wi-Fi 6 and 5G have improved latency, 5G supports lower levels. Wi-Fi 6 supports latency as low as 20 milliseconds, but 5G supports latency as low as 1 millisecond, making it a viable choice for all but the most demanding critical IoT applications.