Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • Subscribe!
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings

Opto 22 Breaks New Ground in Wireless Networking

By Patrick Curran | April 14, 2009

Share



Temecula, CA – Opto 22 has developed a unique offering for the automation industry by providing both wireless and wired Ethernet networking options on its standard SNAP PAC programmable automation controllers (PACs) and I/O systems. Now using wireless for programmable automation controllers and I/O is as easy as it is for PCs and laptop computers, rather than the hodgepodge of proprietary and incompatible technologies typically found in the industrial automation industry today.

opto-wireless.jpg


Opto 22’s new wireless technology in the SNAP PAC devices is based upon the industry-standard IEEE-802.11 specification with support for a, b, and g networks operating in the license-free 5 GHz (802.11a) and 2.4 GHz (802.11b/g) frequency bands. In this way the controllers and I/O brains can be used in the most common wireless infrastructures deployed in the world today. Wireless access points, wireless routers, and wireless repeaters from nearly any vendor can co-exist with SNAP PAC wireless technology. The 5 GHz (802.11a) option is particularly significant—and unique in industrial I/O systems—because it allows users to deploy SNAP PAC wireless in a frequency other than the typically crowded 2.4 GHz band, where interference from other 2.4 GHz devices, such as microwave ovens, could reduce performance.


Security is provided via the latest and most secure transmission algorithms—including WPA (TKIP) and WPA2 (802.11i/AES)—to help build the robust and secure wireless communications system typically required for any wireless implementation today. In addition, SNAP PAC wireless supports either infrastructure mode, where communication among devices is routed through an access point, or ad hoc mode, where each device can detect and communicate with any other similarly configured network device within range.


These wireless capabilities provide numerous benefits to users, beginning with the significant savings achieved through the reduction in wiring and termination costs. Wireless networking also makes it possible to deploy I/O and controllers in remote areas, areas that are inaccessible, or areas where network wiring is difficult or impossible to install.


The wireless capabilities in Opto 22 SNAP PAC I/O and controllers are unique in the automation industry because most other industrial wireless networking solutions are completely separate from a vendor’s standard line of components. Users are often required to purchase different or additional components—such as special module carriers or custom wireless I/O modules, racks, and terminations—which in turn requires them to carry a separate inventory of spares and networking gear. In many cases, the full line of a vendor’s analog and digital I/O does not support wireless networking. As a result, customers are forced to choose wired or wireless up front, and thus specify and commit to a networking technology in the early stages of project design. Later, if wireless communication doesn’t meet needs or expectations—or vice-versa in the event they wish to wirelessly enable an existing application—they must procure, configure, and install different hardware.


In contrast, Opto 22’s SNAP PAC controllers and I/O brains give users both wired and wireless at any time. They can network their components via standard wired Ethernet, use 802.11a/b/g for wireless networking, or use a combination of both. More importantly, Opto 22’s full line of SNAP analog, digital, and serial I/O modules is fully supported in both wired and wireless mode—simplifying the specifying of I/O and significantly reducing spares. Also, all the standard industrial protocols currently supported by the existing Ethernet interface are fully supported over wireless as well, including OptoMMP, Modbus®/TCP, ODVA’s EtherNet/IP™, FTP, SNMP, SMTP, and more.


Finally, Opto 22’s wireless technology offers the faster 802.11a and 802.11g radio technologies (54 Mbps), which differs from competing vendors’ products that use 802.11b only (11 Mbps).


www.opto22.com/ad/wired_wireless_IO.aspx


————

Click here to download

————

::Design World::


Filed Under: Wireless, I/O modules, Networks • connectivity • fieldbuses, PLCs + PACs

 

Tell Us What You Think!

Related Articles Read More >

MTConnect Institute releases Version 2.0 of the MTConnect Standard
OPC UA
Everything is moving – OPC UA Companion Specification “Global Positioning”
Single common conformance test plan to be available for the IEC/IEEE 60802 TSN profile for industrial automation
Ethernet/IP Network specification complete for Ethernet-Apl physical layer for process automation

DESIGN GUIDE LIBRARY

“motion

Enews Sign Up

Motion Control Classroom

Design World Digital Edition

cover

Browse the most current issue of Design World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading design engineering magazine today.

EDABoard the Forum for Electronics

Top global problem solving EE forum covering Microcontrollers, DSP, Networking, Analog and Digital Design, RF, Power Electronics, PCB Routing and much more

EDABoard: Forum for electronics

Sponsored Content

  • Industrial disc pack couplings
  • Pushing performance: Adding functionality to terminal blocks
  • Get to Know Würth Industrial Division
  • Renishaw next-generation FORTiS™ enclosed linear encoders offer enhanced metrology and reliability for machine tools
  • WAGO’s smartDESIGNER Online Provides Seamless Progression for Projects
  • Epoxy Certified for UL 1203 Standard

Design World Podcasts

July 26, 2022
Tech Tuesdays: Sorbothane marks 40 years of shock and vibration innovation
See More >
Engineering Exchange

The Engineering Exchange is a global educational networking community for engineers.

Connect, share, and learn today »

Design World
  • Advertising
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Manage your Design World Subscription
  • Subscribe
  • Design World Digital Network
  • Engineering White Papers
  • LEAP AWARDS

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • Subscribe!
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings