Wireless technology for industrial sensor and control networks

Existing industrial control and monitoring systems have a significant portion of their costs in cable installation and the maintenance costs associated with moving and replacing cables during machinery maintenance and re-configuration. As the number of wireless and self-configuring devices increases, the wireless coverage footprint expands and removes the need for cable connectivity. Additionally, due to the mobile nature of the wireless devices, the network is also mobile because of its ad-hoc self-configuring ability. The emergence of wireless LANs provides mobility and flexible network deployment to applications and systems.