Wireless sensor networks (WSN) and the Internet of Things are top strategic investment areas for industrial automation, according to a recently published study by ON World.
“Post U.S. election optimism, maturing standards combined with ubiquitous cloud platforms and open source initiatives continue to advance WSN innovations for the Internet of Things,” says Jeff Kreegar, ON World’s chief technologist. “This is reflected by the growing number of industrial wireless products and services using IP addressable and cloud-integrated network stacks including Bluetooth, WiFi, ISA100.11a as well Low Power Wide Area network technologies such as LoRa, SigFox, LTE-M1 and NB1.”
Based on input with nearly 200 industrial-automation professionals, completed in association with ISA, ON World’s recently completed study found that industrial WSN standards adoption continues to grow with even faster growth for some emerging WSN technologies. The IEEE 802.15.4 based wireless mesh standards are especially preferred by those targeting process automation with ISA100.11a adoption starting to bridge the gap with WirelessHART.
Some of the key findings include:
- ISA100.11a is preferred by 35% more respondents today compared with ON World’s previous survey in Q4 2014
- Bluetooth adoption in industrial automation increased by 130% over the past two years
- 2 in 3 indicate that investing in an IoT platform is “important” or “most important,” 30% more than in 2014
- Three quarters are aware of the term of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN)
- 2 in 5 currently offer or are developing LPWAN related products and services
WSN applications are planned by 4 in 5 within the next 18 months. The fastest growing application areas are asset-monitoring and equipment-health, as well as safety and environmental monitoring such as gas-detection.
In a growing challenge to the industrial-automation incumbents, hundreds of IoT platform providers have emerged over the past few years. While many of these are focused on data-connectivity and management, ON World has interviewed and surveyed dozens of IoT platforms and service providers that are disrupting the competition with lower cost end-to-end solutions that require minimal installation and maintenance.
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