These days to figure out the benefits of wireless industrial controls, many industrial and manufacturing operations understand them quite closely. These wireless systems offer a lot of advantages, thus making your systems communicate better with each other and with your team, but they will need an on-time investment and capital to use.
The more you become aware of the basics of shifting towards wireless industrial control, the easier it will become for you to find out whether it is the right choice for your company.

Wireless Industrial Control and the Internet of Things
In the technology sector, the term IoT or Internet of Things is used a lot, so this might not be the first time you will hear it. Isn’t it? Luckily, it is not that difficult to describe. IoT is considered both a concept and a real-world network improving rapidly.

The concept is that there are a lot of things that transfer and receive data from each other that are connected over the internet. In order to manage the temperature of your home, your mobile can connect to the latest thermostats. There can be communication with the local weather network to determine the outside air temperature by the thermostat. Internet capabilities are growing in many things, and the market is crucial at this point. Any things that communicate in this manner incorporate embedded systems- the user cannot see these systems as they are hidden. The customer just has to press a few buttons to alter the temperature, but there is a lot more happening behind the scenes. The HVAC system is the one with which the thermostat communicates, and the thermometer informs about the ambient air temperature. There are a number of factors with which it adjusts with regularity, most of which the user doesn’t have any idea about. 

There are a lot of IoT categories, such as:

CONSUMER IOT
There are a number of devices that come under this which are used by users that can communicate wirelessly, such as

• Appliances
• Smartphones
• HVAC systems

MACHINE-TO-MACHINE IOT

The devices that connect over cellular methods come under this; it is an umbrella term for industrial applications.

INDUSTRIAL IOT
It consists of the things connected to industrial automation. They can vary from consumer devices due to the use of older operational technology stacks. Air gapping is used to provide security by these older stacks. This means that the networks are not connected to the internet.

Local V/s Cloud Based
If anyone is developing fan control units, then they can take benefit of web-enabled controllers. This means a worker can check on alarms and issues just by logging in from his or her home. He/She will not require to drive back home to set the temperature thresholds; he/she can easily do that remotely. 

In a cloud-based system, these features are fully realized.

It should be noted that there are certain users, especially in the gas industry find it best to ko keep their controllers on a local network. So because of security issues, these users keep their network off the internet.

The most significant disadvantage of using a local network in comparison to a cloud-based network is that your local system may not allow you to easily and quickly access the problems from your home.

Adopting a wireless industrial control
The majority of customers are not aware of the fact that for more than 30 years, the industrial sector has been a significant market for wireless technology. But how wireless has been implemented in industrial applications is quite different because of the lack of internet connectivity and interconnectivity between the systems currently in use. Like if we take the example of a chemical plant, which may have a wireless tank to monitor the system, but it is quite a possibility that it may not be connected to the remaining wireless systems in the plant.

So if you are thinking about connecting all your existing processes under one industrial control into a closed loop, then you should take into consideration the following things:

• Worth spending that large amount?

Do you have a solid reason to choose an industrial wireless remote control? It can appear quite fascinating to have access to such new technology, but the amount spent should not make you suffer losses as, after all, you started your business to earn profits in the first place. Isn’t it?

• Cybersecurity

Are you worried about internet thieves? You will have to keep on downloading software updates at times if you are web-enabled, as you might notice that every next month hackers will figure out new ways to jeopardize your business. SSL communication, AS encryption files running on a Linux operating system, are being used by the electronics creators. In order to stay away from new Linux security holes, you will have to stay updated with all the frequent updates taking place.

• Is it a good fit?

The use of IoT underground is seriously very hard. The mining industry usually uses custom radios in place of IoTs. The location of your workers plays a major role when choosing wireless industrial controls.

• Wired or fully wireless

What is your choice? Do you want to utilize the available wired networks or go fully wireless? Converting and integrating old networks is an option, but going fully wireless will be cheaper.

Future Possibilities

The possibilities of the industrial IoT hold a lot of excitement among businesses, managers, and control system integrators. In the coming future, probably all your competitors will have wireless capabilities, so you will be left with no option but to adopt it as well. 

The only thing to ensure is that you are very well aware of its advantages and disadvantages for your own business; only then will you be able to choose going wireless with full belief and confidence.