NIST Publishes Guide on Moving Industrial IoT to Wireless

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published a new guide for companies looking to move their industrial Internet of Things (IoT) systems from wired to wireless.

NIST sees the future of the factory floor or warehouse as one constantly evolving to the demands of the consumer, and that requires machine flexibility.

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“Applying wireless technologies in new or existing industrial systems for monitoring and controlling equipment and processes eliminates costly cabling and enables configuration flexibility. In addition, using wireless technologies can improve plant-floor operating conditions, performance, and efficiency in emerging smart manufacturing practices,” said Richard Candell, principal author of the guide and electronics engineer at NIST.

The problem is a lot of companies still have machines that either aren’t connected to the Internet or connected via Ethernet, rooting them in place. The industry also has a view that wireless systems are often unreliable or unsecured, which the NIST guide attempts to refute by showing the best type of wireless system for each industry.

“Understanding the capabilities and applications of wireless technologies will allow users to realize the benefits of wireless, while avoiding the problems of misapplication in challenging industrial environments, in which many potential physical obstructions and sources of interference existed,” said Candell.

The guide is targetted at business leaders, factory managers and IT professionals looking to deploy industrial wireless systems in the near future. It is, compared to some industry guidelines, quite an easy guide to grasp, allowing less technical minds to figure the best solution for their company.

NIST has published the guide online, see here for the full document.