Wireless I/O protocols

We have a project where the client would like to install some I/O and communicate to the PLC wirelessly. The PLC has drivers for a host of protocols, one of which is Modbus TCP. We'd look at I/O modules and controllers that also support this protocol such as Phoenix by way of example.

My question relates to the wireless side of things. Would I need to install radios capable of handling the Modbus protocol. or would a "standard" Ethernet radio be suitable?

Any advice is appreciated.

Dave

I've used the wireless I/O from these folks: http://www.elprotech.com/elpro/index.htm
They are based in Australia, so you may be able to get a local rep to give you a demo, I guess it depends on your location.
That's what sold me on this product, the local rep. came by and we were able to test everything before purchasing.
The system I purchased has a gateway connected to the plc, and then your field units send and recieve data from/to the gateway. I forget the exact specifications, but I believe one gateway can support 96 field units.

The wireless I/O units may not be what you're looking for, but they have broad range of products, and if you contact them, they can most likely answer all your questions.


Ken

Standard Ethernet radios are all you need.

Network Topothology

You can get various types of radios with various spesifications of protocols, i have succesfully used radios with profibus and ethernet interface with master PLC.

I would say it depends on the network topothology of the system you are installing it for. If your master network that is Ethernet or sub-networks of any protocol i would stick to the Ethernet interface, i find it easier depending of the type of radio you going for.

These radios are a breeze to use and very easy when faultfinding. The setup gets done from a webpage within the firmware.

Manufacturer : Proxim
Model : Tsunami MP11
web : http://www.proxim.com/products/wifi/lanbridges/

A pleasure to work with

Regards

I have used phoenix contact radio I/O with very good results. They have a full line of modular I/O cards. I even shot an analog signal through a generator that was running at 150 MW with no signal degradation.

RheinhardtP said:

i have succesfully used radios with profibus

Click to expand...

I would be interested in that.

I have used Profinet over radio links, but not Profibus.

Paul

I have also looked into elpro equipment and was very interested in their wireless Profibus. I shop tested it and it worked well. I have not had a project which uses this setup as of yet, but I do have some proposals which include it.

Elpro profibus

I used the Elpro range 2 years ago they have a ethernet radio as well. I prefer using the Ethernet, there was a trick to the configuration of the IO transfer via profibus and took a while to get the adress mapping right, the supplier never used this profibus configuration and it was a learning curve.

They require line of sight and if you have structural disturbce you can configure repeater stations.