Exploring the Power and Potential of IO-Link Wireless Connectivity

That IO-Link technology has been making strides is not news to many. Its primary reason for success stems from the simple connectivity of complex sensors through a standardized sensor cable. For the past 12 years, IO-Link has been ultra-successful in simplifying the integration of numerous devices worldwide, as is evident in this chart published by the IO-Link consortium.

In this blog, I will explore the new benefits of IO-Link wireless, simplifying connectivity even further.

Why IO-Link wireless?

There are many benefits of IO-Link wireless connectivity, including the following examples:

• Many wireless systems exist in the field, but no standard implementation exists. Most industrial automation wireless systems are proprietary, limiting connectivity to devices from a single vendor. This restriction can hinder long-term maintenance and scalability, despite short-term benefits for specific applications.

• Automation is at an all-time high in terms of adoption across various industries, yet the challenges posed by cabling and connectivity remain significant, especially in harsh environments or sectors prone to contamination, like the food and packaging industry. Reducing cabling certainly goes a long way toward adopting automation in these areas.

• Some specific areas of automation pose significant problems for cables and connectivity solutions. For example:
  – In press and die automation, forgetting to disconnect the harness while pulling out a die from the press can lead to hours of lost productivity.
  – In recent years, Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) have been getting a lot of equipment on board, creating communication issues even though providing power is not a big deal.
  – Robotics automation, specifically end-of-arm tooling, presents connectivity problems, often causing disruptions as robots undergo.

In short, to boost productivity and address today’s communications challenges, our industry needs a standardized approach to wireless connectivity that also helps collect more data from devices. With IO-Link becoming the de facto standard for smart communications, adopting IO-Link wireless is an ideal solution.

What is IO-Link wireless, and is it reliable?

IO-Link wireless operates as the standard IO-Link communication but over a license-free 2.4GHz wireless band. Devices wirelessly pair with the gateway for communications on selected channels, ensuring the same level of reliability as wired IO-Link systems. Putting it in numbers, the bit error probability rate is 10-9.

While the power to the devices is provided locally, the communication between the gateway and the device is wireless.

In a wired system, the gateway (IO-Link master) can connect up to 8 IO-Link devices. In a wireless system, it can connect to even more devices. Based on the number of tracks available on the wireless gateway, the consortium specification offers connectivity of up to 40 IO-Link devices on a single network connection. Thus, a wireless IO-Link system can offer a very high density of I/O connections by drastically reducing the number of IP addresses or nodes on the field-bus network.

The next thing that comes to mind is distance—the range of the IO-Link wireless system. Based on the frequency band chosen, the IO-Link wireless gateway can connect to devices within a range of up to 20 meters. Regarding communication speed, the cycle time for communicating up to 1 data byte is approximately 5 milliseconds. This cycle time varies depending on the device and how many bytes of information it transfers in each cycle, known as process (cyclical) data.

How IO-Link wireless manages interference with other wireless systems

The IO-Link wireless specification offers black-listing and white-listing features for channels and frequencies, enabling improved wireless infrastructure planning to avoid interference with other wireless systems in the area. Multiple gateways can share the same wireless zone and connect to multiple devices. For instance, up to three IO-Link wireless gateways can share a zone and connect to 120 IO-Link devices in the area, with each master/gateway supporting five tracks and each track connecting to 8 IO-Link devices.

IO-Link wireless application examples

Machining and stamping: IO-Link wireless communication can boost productivity in machining and stamping applications, especially in scenarios where cable management poses challenges. It eliminates issues like disconnection and re-connection issues with harnesses and sensors when die systems are moved within machining or stamping centers.

Another area is validating the correct set of tools and dies before their insertion into the stamping press. This leads to time savings and increased productivity.

Robotics automation: With the ability to connect up to 40 devices, IO-Link wireless enables wireless communication with end-of-arm tooling and peripheral devices in robotics automation. This reduces costly cabling and downtime associated with it, making robots more agile in their operations.

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs): AGVs are becoming sweethearts of automation. They can perform certain operations on the parts while they are in transit between stations. This saves considerable time and enhances efficiency on the plant floor. IO-Link Wireless can help reduce the expense of adding controllers to the AGVs for part processing, all while maintaining the reliability of a wired system through wireless communication.

Click here for more advantages, application areas, individual components and various wireless solutions.