industrial bluetooth

Bluetooth and Industrial Networks

Industrial networks are based on plenty of devices. Generally these devices are common in an industrial network: data collection units, sensors, single loop controllers, programmable logic controllers, supervisory controls such as SCADA or data acquisition systems, and interfaces such as serial interface or modem connections. Well an ideal solution would be to implement whole the industrial computers and devices into a wireless network. But practically it is not as feasible as it sounds. The result is a hybrid network that is wired as well as wireless.

What Bluetooth offers?

Bluetooth offers connectivity for all the devices I mentioned above. But question is where to start? Well if you look at a bigger picture of an industrial network you'll see four major categories: Serial interfaces, Internet connectivity, sensors and actuators, and industrial access points to connect industrial devices. So the target is to replace these connections through bluetooth.

Serial Cable Replacement through Bluetooth Adapter

A bluetooth adapter is used to replace the serial cable. Bluetooth adapter is connected to the serial interface (RS 232, RS 422, or RS 485) of the industrial device. This adapter works like a serial port using RFCOMM protocol. RFCOMM protocol is based on serial port profile standardized to transfer data over air (wireless). In complex industrial networks industrial devices contain embedded TCP / IP protocols and web service support. Laptops, PDAs (personal digital assistants), or other such HMI (human machine interface) devices often require access to the industrial devices for web services. Besides RFCOMM protocol bluetooth adapter also allows connecting these complex industrial devices.

Bluetooth and Internet Connectivity

There are two options for bluetooth Internet connectivity. First is the same Bluetooth adapter. Other is the WAP (Wireless Access Point) over bluetooth. First step is to implement HMI (human machine interface). A mobile phone with integrated bluetooth and WAP interfaces can serve as a Human Machine Interface (HMI). But the implementation of WAP over bluetooth must be in accordance with WAP-over-Bluetooth specifications. First thing to follow in the specifications is the routing function. According routing function WAP pages add hyperlinks of the pages that are to be accessed on the WAN (Wide Area Network). Further these pages on the WAN can be accessed through GPRS, GMS, or UMTS technologies. Moreover for critical applications such as alarms the information on the WAP pages from the WAN must be updated. It is necessary for the HMI in a sense if an alarm is required to activate through HMI, It'll refer to the WAP page information from the WAN. Information may change due to the intruders. So when alarm information is not updated, and bluetooth implementation can offer no good for the system.