WirelessIntroduction

WirelessIntroduction HCF_LIT-131 Rev. 1.0 Date of Publication: March1,2010 Contributors: Gerrit Lohmann Pepperl+Fuchs GmbH Document Distribution / Maintenance Control / Document Approval To obtain information concerning document distribution control, maintenance control, and document approval please contact the HART Communication Foundation (HCF) at the address shown below. Copyright 2010 (2008) HART Communication Foundation This document contains copyrighted material and may not be reproduced in any fashion without the written permission of the HART Communication Foundation. Trademark Information HART is a registered trademark of the HART Communication Foundation, Austin, Texas, USA. Any use of the term HART hereafter in this document, or in any document referenced by this document, implies the registered trademark. WirelessHART is a trademark of the HART Communication Foundation. All other trademarks used in this or referenced documents are trademarks of their respective companies. For more information contact the HCF Staff at the address below.

Attention: Foundation Director HART Communication Foundation 9390 Research Boulevard, Suite I-350 Austin, TX 78759, USA Voice: (512) 794-0369 FAX: (512) 794-3904 http://www.hartcomm.org Intellectual Property Rights The HCF does not knowingly use or incorporate any information or data into the HART Protocol Standards which the HCF does not own or have lawful rights to use. Should the HCF receive any notification regarding the existence of any conflicting Private IPR, the HCF will review the disclosure and either (a) determine there is no conflict; (b) resolve the conflict with the IPR owner; or (c) modify the standard to remove the conflicting requirement. In no case does the HCF encourage implementers to infringe on any individual's or organization's IPR.

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WirelessIntroduction

Introduction Wireless communication is emerging from the office world to the industrial world. Since industrial communication underlies stronger conditions than office communication, some know-how is important for users who apply wireless communication in industrial environments. This document will introduce to RF and radio basic terminology Boundary Conditions for RF in industrial environment Modern Radio technology and standards Media Access and Networking Conditions for using wireless technologies in industrial applications

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RadioFrequency
Theradiowavesarepartoftheelectromagneticspectrum,coveringseveralotherpartsofradiationlike light,gammaraysetc. Therefore,thepropagationofradiowavescangenerallybecomparedwiththepropagationoflight.Light movesstraightthroughspaceandcan Penetratematerial(glass) Bedamped(eitherthroughmateriallikefogorbysimplybydistance) Bereflected(onmirrors) Beabsorbed Radiowavesalsocanpenetratematerial,bereflectedorabsorbed. Generally,inanopenspace,thepropagationgoesundisturbedstraightinalldirectionsandisonly dampedbydistance.
Theoretical free space propagation
-70,0 0 -75,0 -80,0 Path Loss [dB] -85,0 -90,0 -95,0 -100,0 -105,0 -110,0 Distance [m] 900MHz 2.4GHz 500 1000 1500 2000

Duetotheotherfrequency(radiowavesareofmuchlowerfrequencyoflight),thepenetration ofmaterialisbetter.Radiowavescanevenpenetratewallsifnottoomassive Radiowavesaredampedbythematerialandbydistance Radiowaveswillbeabsorbedbymassivematerialanddonotpenetratethemanymore theyarereflectedonthegroundorobstacles

ThedampingisdescribedindB RadioTechnology Toenablethereceiverandsenderoftheinformationtocommunicate,bothhavetoagreeonwhat frequencytheysend.Thisfrequencywillbeinoneofthebandsreservedforradiocommunications.The bandsareregulatedbyofficialagenciesandtheusageofthesebandsisthereforerestricted.Inmost bands,alicensemustbeobtainedtoallowusageofit.Theregulationsaredifferentfromcountryto country. Page4

WirelessIntroduction TheexceptionsforlicensedusageareISMbands(Industrial,scientific,medical).Inthesebandsanyoneis allowedtosendandreceive,followingsomerestrictionlikesendingpower.Theonlyworldwideusable bandforISMis2.4GHz

Now,inthisbandsinglechannelsareestablished.Thiscaneitherbeasinglefrequency(like2.45GHz)ora frequencyrange,e.g.2.407to2.447GHz.Thisisadifferenceof40MHz.Thisrangeiscalledbandwidth. Ashigherthebandwidth,asmoredatacanbetransmitted. Usingthehigherbandwidth,onespeaksalsoofspectrumusage.Spectrumusagecaneitherbein sequencelikeFHSS,orsimultaneouslyas. FSSSusesasinglefrequencyatatimeandanotherfrequencyduringthefollowingtransmission.So,the wholespectrumisused,butnotforonetransmissionbutforconsecutive.Sincethesequenceofthe singlechannelsisunknown,itishardtotapthesetransmissionsandduetotheshortpeaksof transmissions,thedisturbanceofotherradiosystemsisreduced.

Channel
12

10 8 Channel

6 4

Channel

2 0 0 20 40 60 Time [ms] 80 100 120

DSSSincontraryusestheentirefrequencyspectrumduringonetransmission.Therefore,thesending powercanbereduced,thesignalishiddeninthebackgroundnoiseandcannotbetappednorjammed noritisjammingotherradiotransmissions

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DSSS
6 5 4 amplitude 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 frequency Message Spread Message

ThesendingpowerisonerestrictionintheISMbandof2.4GHz.Itisonlyallowedtosendwithanoutput powerof10mW,insomecountriesorregionsitisallowedtosendwith100mW.Asmoresendingpower isallowed,aslongerthepossiblerangeis. ThesendingpowerissometimesalsodescribesasdBinrelationtoEIRP.EIRPmeans@.Anisotropic radiatorradiatesequallyinalldirections(likethesun).Butrealworldantennasradiateinadifferent pattern,e.g.adonutlikeshape.Sothepowerisnotwastedtothetopandbottombutmoreinthe horizontalsurface.Sothe10mWarenotdistributedequally,butorfocusedwhichincreasesthesending powerofe.g.2dB(inrelationtothe10mW) Anotherfactorfortherangeisthereceiversensitivity.Evenifthesendingpowerisrestricted,the sensitivityisnot.Soasbetterthereceivingsensitivityis,aslongertherangewhichcanbeobtained.

BounderyConditionsforRFinindustrialcommunication
Thegeneralpropertiesofradiofrequencydoofcoursealsoapplyinindustrialenvironment.Threemain effectshavetobetakenintoaccountinindustrialenvironments Interferencehappenswhereverawaveisreflectedorissuperimposedbyanotherwave.Thiscaneither haveapositiveeffectoranegativeeffect:
Positivly reflected wave
2 1,5 1 Amplitude 0,5 0 -0,5 -1 -1,5 -2 Wave Reflected Wave Resulting Wave

Interference Movingequipmentandpeople Multipathfading

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Negativly reflected wave
2 1,5 1 Amplitude 0,5 0 -0,5 -1 -1,5 -2 Wave Reflected Wave Resulting Wave

Thesecondeffectisthatindustrialenvironmentsarenotstaticbutdynamic.Vehicles,movingequipment liketanks,peoplewalkingthroughwillchangetheenvironment.Therefore,thepropagationofradio wavesisaltered. Thethirdeffectismultipathfading.Duetoreflections,onewaveismovingondifferentpathsfromthe sendertothereceiverandarrivestherethenlightlytimeshifted.Thiscandistortthewavesothereceiver doesnotrecognizeitanymore. Asresultofthosethreeeffectstwomainconsequencesmustbetakenintoaccountwhenapplying wirelesscommunicationsinindustrialenvironments Therangeisdecreasedcomparedtothetheoreticalfreespacepropagation.Apracticalexamplefor industrialenvironmentisshownbelow:
Practical propagation
-70 0 -80 50 100 150

Range Reliability

Path Loss [dB]

-90 900MHz 2.4GHz

-100 -110

-120

-130 Distance [m]

Themovingequipmentandchangingenvironmentdecreasesthereliabilityoftheradiocommunication. Aconnectionworkingatonetimedoesnotworkanotherbecauseatruckisstandingintheway.This decreasesthereliability. Page7

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ModernRadioTechnologyandStandards
Toenableradiocommunication,acommonstandardismandatory.Thestandardmakesdevicesof differentvendorscompatibletoeachotherendenableeasytousetechnology. Currently,inthe2.4GHzBandtherearethreemajorknownstandardsavailable.Theyhavebeendefined byIEEEinthefamilyofcommunicationprotocolsandareworldwideusable. OneofthewidestusedisIEEE802.15.11,commonlyknownasWLANorWiFi(evenifthisisnot100% correct).IEEE802.11providesalocalinfrastructureforfastwirelesstransmissionofrelativeamountof dataoversomedistancelikeofficeareasoryourhomenetwork. IEEE802.15.1isknownasBluetooth.Thisprovidesapersonalareanetworkforcablereplacementof auxiliarydevicesandisabletotransmitsomelessdatathanWLANoveraverylimitedrange.Thisisalso calledWPAN(WirelessPersonalAreaNetwork) IEEE802.15.4isthebasisforNetworkslikeZigBee,whereverylimiteddataistransmittedoveramedium distancethroughanetworkofknotssothecoveredareaisextended. IEEE802.11(WiFi) IEEE802.15.1(Bluetooth) IEEE802.15.4(ZigBee)

MediaAccessandNetworking
All the standards described above have to access the same space: the air. If all participants access this at the same time, collisions of communication will occur. Therefore, the media access must be handled. Therearetwoprinciplesusedtocoordinatemediaaccess WithTDMA,thedataaretransferredatagiventimeslot.Soalloftheparticipantsinanetworkknowthe timeslotwhentosendandtoreceiveandavoidcollisionswiththis. CSMAavoidscollisionswithrandomdelaytimesafterafreechannelisrecognized.Soifachannelis recognizedtobefree,everyparticipantwaitsanotherrandomtimeanditisveryunlikelythatthenext sendpackagescollide. Theotherthingwhichisrelevantintermsofthestandardsdescribedaboveishowthenetworkis organized.Therearethreebasiclayoutsofnetworks Star Mesh StarMeshorHybrid Page8 TDMA(TimeDivisionMultipleAccess) CSMA(CarrierSenseMultipleAccess)

WirelessIntroduction Usingstartopology,eachwirelesssensorendpointsendsdatadirectlytothegateway.Fromtheredata issentontoothersystems.Starnetworksofferthefastestdatagatheringspeed,butallparticipantsmust beinthecommunicationrangeofthegateway.Thistopologysuitsinstallationsthatneedthelowest powerconsumptionoverlimitedgeographicrange

Inmeshnetworks,eachwirelesssensoractsasarouter,sendingandreceivingdatafromothersensorsor thegateway.Selfconfiguringnetworksautomaticallydeterminethebestpathfordatatotakefrom sensortogateway.Dataisautomaticallysentaroundfailedsensorrouters.Thislayoutisgoodforwide areanetworkswithhighredundancy,butenoughpowerforallparticipantsisavailabletoroutethe messages.

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WirelessIntroduction Starmeshnetworkscombinestarandmeshtopologiestogainthespeedofthestarnetworkwiththe selfrepairingcapabilityofthemeshnetwork.Sensorsmaybeeitherendpointsorrouters,dependingon wheretheyareusedinthesystem.

Conditionsforusingwirelesstechnologiesinindustrialapplications
Ifanofficeapplicationwirelesssystemloosesapackageonceinawhile,itisresendandthereforethe lossisnotrecognizedbytheuser.Incontrarytothis,Industrialapplicationsrelyonsecuredata transmission.Forsomeusecasescompromisescanbemade,e.g.toparameterizedevoicesorforasset managementapplications.Butclosedcontrolloopsrelyonastrictdatatransmission. ThereliabilityofadatatransmissionisdefinedinBitErrorRate,meanshowmanyBitsarenot transmittedcorrectlyinanumberofBits.ThebettertheBER,thebetterthereliabilityofthedata transmission.AwiredtransmissionusuallyhasaBER Todepicttherelations,aProfibushasaBERof@.,awirelesssystemwithouterrorcorrection.@ SowithcorrectionalgorithmsabetterBERispossible,butthealgorithmneedstimetofindoutand correctthefaultymessage.Ifthemessageistoodisrupted,themessagecannotbereconstructedanda resendingmightbenecessary.Thisdelaysthedatatransmissionandaclosedloopcontrolcouldgetout ofphase. Todefinethesingleapplication,6applicationclasseshavebeendefined:

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SummaryandConclusion
Usingwirelesstechnologiesinindustrialapplicationissurelypossible,butsomerestrictionsmustbe considered. Radiotechnologyusesasharedmediumanddoesnotguaranteetransmissionreliabilityasawire Radiowavesaredampedabsorbedandmirroredbyobstaclesandthereforenoteverywhereisa connectionpossible Licensefreebandshavejustlimitedrange,alsootherwirelesssystemsmightmakeuseofthe bandandcausecoexistenceissues

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