Wireless data capture and display

I need some major help and let me say thanks in advance. This is an excellent forum.

I have a new piece of equipment coming in that uses a Siemens S7-318DP connected to a Windows 2000 PC with Profibus. This equipment will require a lift truck driver to retrieve a raw product from the warehouse and put into the feeder of the machine. I need a small wireless device that can be mounted on the lift truck that will receive data from the equipment to tell the lift driver what to get. Then when the lift driver places the product in the feeder he would acknowledge the product code and quantity back to the machine.

I don't know if wireless ethernet or IR is the way to go. Also any recommendations on the wireless device for the truck would be appreciated. I didn't know if a wireless PDA with a VB App would work or if that is too complicated. I picture something like a wireless barcode scanner with display and keypad, but I don't have any barcodes to scan.

Thanks again.

Glenn

This is something very similar that we do here at Thamesport apart from we tell cranes and internal road vehicles where to go to pick up containers. The basics of what we use is a terminal from LXE to display the required data. we use several S7 400's and 300's to control our equipement. We have an ethernet CP card connected to the PLC which sends the data out over a wireless lan to a PLC on the mobile equipment, the PLC then squirts this data out via an RS232 interface card into the LXE terminal, which displays the data for the operator to read.

Take a look at LXE website for more info on their products

I have been very brief here, if you would like more information on how our system works, then let me know.

Paul

Paul,

Thanks for the quick response. The LXE products look promising. I have a call into the US office. When there are so many ways to do it, confusion sets in. If you didn't already have a wireless access port, would you go RF or TCP/IP?
Thanks,

Glenn

glenncovington said:

If you didn't already have a wireless access port, would you go RF or TCP/IP?

Click to expand...

Glenn,

We did use RF communications for our crane messageing only, but we wanted to be able to do some sort of remote diagnostics on our cranes so we fitted a wireless LAN around the port with a number of access points put in at strategic locations. It was after this was commissioned and proved to work that we upgraded our message communications to also work over the LAN using TCP/IP. So my personal choice would be to use TCP/IP. The one problem we did have with our RF communications was CB radios used by lorry drivers, they used to sometimes bleed over and block our comms, we then had to go out with a scanner and find the culprit responsible and ask him to turn his CB off. This should not have been possible, but if a lorry driver was transmitting near our RF transmitters it sometimes happened.

Paul

Thanks again!

You may want to look at Omron's wireless Device Net, they list the range at 250 feet, but I just did a project in an automotive plant and was able to go 800 feet! You don't have to worry about interference either; it uses military technology so plant floor noise like radios and welder do not interfere. You can get information off of their web site.

Mike