Cheaper Watches

This article focuses on research that looks at wireless networks to lower the cost of monitoring plant machinery. General Electric (GE), through its Global Research arm in Niskayuna, N.Y., will investigate wireless motor monitoring; Eaton Corp. of Cleveland will examine wireless data acquisition from electrical distribution gear; and Minneapolis-based Honeywell Inc. will look at wireless process control. The projects, now completing their first phases, will produce demonstration systems when they wrap up two years from now. Distribution product maker Eaton estimates that 90 percent of the electrical switching equipment the company sells today can monitor the quality of the power running through it. The company further estimates that 90 percent of the buyers for that equipment do not wire it up to take advantage of the data's availability. Unlike the monitoring strategies of GE or Eaton, both of which would tolerate intermittent data and even interruptions without drastic consequences, real-time control for Honeywell means the wireless system needs to throw robustness and reliability into the bargain. The Honeywell business problem is one of building confidence that transmitting critical process data over short-range radio networks can happen without interference.