Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks Today Demand for wireless sensor networking is ramping up in the industrial sector, largely due to anticipation for the increased reliability and scalability of mesh networking. With thousands of nodes per network to be commonplace within five years, ON World projects that there could be 168 million nodes deployed in 2010 for industrial applications for an end user market worth $5.9 billion at this time. High return on investment, low replacement costs and ever-increasing pressure to cut costs, industrial companies have the most to gain from wireless sensor network technologies. Now that concerns over reliability, security and robustness are being solved with the latest hardware and software advances, ON World predicts that nearly all major process automation OEMs will offer wireless sensor network solutions by the end of 2005. With very little upfront and maintenance costs, industrial companies have much to benefit from adopting wireless sensor networking with little downside. Initially, wireless sensor networks will be targeted at monitoring applications displacing wired systems such as DeviceNet, Modbus, Fieldbus, Profibus, etc. Far from frivolous, these applications provide companies with a competitive advantage by saving millions of dollars per year in maximized equipment lifetimes, process optimization and prevention of unplanned downtimes. ON World estimates that many industrial companies can save up to ten times the initial investment per year, with very little downside. At first companies in certain industries such as power generation, chemical and petrochemicals will have the most incentive to adopt wireless sensor network technologies. Within five years, companies will adopt wireless sensor network technology in order to stay competitive. Mesh Wireless Sensor Networking Wireless adoption has been slow so far in the fault-intolerant world of industrial automation largely due to concerns about reliability. Existing wireless solutions have not always been reliable or robust enough especially in harsh industrial environments. Although end-users are still wary of wireless technologies, knowledge of mesh networking and the new ZigBee standard is growing. With multiple large scale mesh deployments expected by the end of 2005, within five years wireless sensor networking will become widespread in millions of factories, refineries and manufacturing plants worldwide. The major advantages of mesh wireless sensor networking include the following: • Lower Costs – At least 50% less for wiring not to mention reduced costs associated with installing, maintaining, troubleshooting and upgrading. For factories with 100,000 of square feet the potential savings are enormous. • Improved Installation –networking in hazardous areas while reducing labor/configuration costs and complexity. • Maintenance – reduced time and labor cost involved in inspecting, testing, troubleshooting, repairing and replacing wires requires time, labor and materials. • Reduced Connector Failure – Most network failures occur at the connectors; wireless communications can eliminate this problem. • Improved Flexibility – Reconfigurable networks makes re-wiring easy even in areas or equipment that would not normally be networked. Relatively high profit margins and strong return on investments, makes the industrial sector a good target for Innovative startups such as Crossbow Technology, Dust Networks, Eka Systems, Ember Corporation, Sensicast and Millennial Net. These startups will be instrumental in making this happen over the next few years with more newcomers such as Atalum likely to join in. Meanwhile, competition for component suppliers such as ATMEL, Chipcon, Motorola, Nordic Semiconductor and ZMD and licensors such as AirBee Wireless, CompXS, Figure 8 Wireless, Helicomm and JENNIC will be intense with the usual mergers and acquisitions expected. Leading the early adopters are OEMs such as ALSTOM, Eaton, RAE Systems and Tyco Thermal Controls with ABB, General Electric, Honeywell, Invensys, Mitsubishi, OMRON, Rockwell, Samsung and Siemens sure to follow.