ISSN:2249-5789

Dr.P Velmani et al , International Journal of Computer Science & Communication Networks,Vol 4(2),41-45

Survey on Applications and Challenges of Wireless Sensor Network in Industries

Dr.P.Velmani,

Assistant Professor in Computer Science,

The M.D.T.Hindu College,
Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu.
E.mail:vel_comp@yahoo.com

Abstract

Recent advancement in wireless communications and
electronics has enabled the development of Wireless
Sensor Network (WSN). These networks promise to
revolutionize sensing in a wide range of application
domains. One of them is industrial automation, which
is necessary for competing globally. Industrial
automation from component assemblies to data
integrated manufacturing execution systems are
available to achieve greater precision, improves quality
and enhances control over the whole process. Another
one is industrial and environmental safety. The aim of
this paper is to analyze the possibilities of applying
WSN technology in industrial platforms from the use of
simple detector; complex analyzers to latest MEMS
(Micro Electro Mechanical System) based system,
machine vision system with their advantages and
implementation challenges.
resources, and take positive action towards preventing
any forms of pollution to the environment.
In this paper, WSN application in industrial area is
viewed in two directions namely, intelligent industrial
management and secure industrial management.
2. Industrial Sensor and Sensor Network
A sensor should be selected depending on the
application in mind. Sensors are of two types. Some
sensors simply detect the presence of a stimulus (Fig
1). These are called detectors. A sound sensor that
detects the presence of a sound. Other sensors can
actually discern relative values of a stimulus. These are
called analyzers that can do qualitative and quantitative
analysis of measuring element. A sound sensor that
detects the number of decibels in a sound.

1. Introduction

Although computer-based instrumentation has

existed for a long time, the density of instrumentation
made possible by a shift to mass-produced intelligent
sensors. WSN gives a new kind of scope that can be
applied to a wide range of uses. In industrial processes
such as assembly, manufacturing, instrumentation,
packaging and communications, data is continuously
being monitored through sensors, digitized, analyzed,
collected and stored.
Despite the impoverishment, pollution, health and
environmental problems created, the government Figure 1. Examples of Stimulus
(people) believes that industrialization at any cost is the
way for advancement and it is impossible to avoid Both are important to the society such as analysis of
industrialization. But the environmental assessment industrial samples (steel, mining ores, plastics),
concerned with identifying, predicting and evaluating pharmacological samples (drugs and medicines), food
pollution both beneficial to people and development of samples (agriculture) and environmental samples
a country is necessary. To make the world a better (quality of air, water, soil and biological materials)
place to live, there is a need to wise in managing our The WSN has enabled new classes of applications
that benefit an industrial sector and industrial

41

Dr.P Velmani et al , International Journal of Computer Science & Communication Networks,Vol 4(2),41-45
automation. The implementation of these applications
in industrial automation sector is increasing the graph
of productivity in marketplaces [1]. According to
survey result, the leading application for industrial
networks (both wired and wireless) is Supervisory
Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA).
The major classifications of WSN in industrial
automation are found in the literature are [2]
Rare event detection- Sensors are used to
detect rare, random and ephemeral events such
as fault detection, notification system and
alarm warnings due to uncertainty in machines
and in plants [3].
Periodic data collection - Data collection
from unreachable terrain and then transmit the
information to the sink is a fundamental task
in periodic sensor networks. [4]
Real-time data Detection, acquisition -
Leakage detection and location is one of the
paramount concerns of pipeline operators all
over the world. A timely evaluation and
response to a leakage, allows proper
management of the consequences and an
effective risk minimization [5]. Other real-
time applications are monitoring hazardous
chemical levels and fire detection.
System Control and monitoring - Several
industrial organizations, such as WINA and
ZigBee , have been advocating the application
of wireless technologies in industrial control.
Weaving machinery monitoring and control
system displays real time state of weaving
machines status and gives information about
the number of picks and warp, weft and
mechanical halts and stops of weaving
machine [6].
Industrial mobile robots - Sensors will flow
through pipelines, emitting data on leakages
and bursts. Faults can be remotely monitored.
Intra pipe inspection (inside the pipe) and
between pipes, already applied to nuclear
power plants using a MEMS based mini robot
[7].
3. Applications of WSN in industries
Industrial automation system can be defined as the
use of computers and sensors to control machines and
processes. There is the obvious benefit of automation; it
dares to work where humans do not, such as oil
refineries, manufacturing certain hazardous chemicals,
welding nuclear reactors etc. Autonomous machine
controlled through WSN are more effective in such
areas than a scared human worker. WSN application in
industrial area is viewed in two directions namely,
ISSN:2249-5789
intelligent industrial management and secure industrial
management.
3.1. Intelligent industrial management
The application of WSN satisfies the business
objectives to enable a broad spectrum industry to
significantly increase productivity, quality, safety while
reducing cost and time to market for new products.
This will be accomplished by the improved control of
industrial operations via the introduction of industrial
control systems. Significant developments are taking
place in industries with the upgrading technology and
the incorporation of information technology.
Some of the modern applications in industries are
Machine vision system application of
computer vision to factory automation. Just as
human inspectors working on assembly lines
visually inspect parts to judge the quality of
workmanship. Machine vision systems use
digital cameras and image processing software
to perform similar inspections. Manufacturers
favor machine vision systems for visual
inspections that require high-speed, high-
magnification, 24-hour operation, and
repeatability of measurements. This may be
installed at the end of production lines, to
inspect for flawed products [8,9, 10]
Automated assembly Automated assembly
of devices using robots - commands for
aligning the parts were automatically
calculated based on the sensor data and
executed. [11]
Intelligent system Real-time process
diagnostics and abnormal condition
management [12]
Smart transmitters In refineries, chemical
plants, paper mills and power generating
plants to measure and report fluid flows,
temperatures, pressures tank
levels and valve positions at specific points in
the process to the host computer [13]
Managing inventory control - Monitoring
the inventory product conditions and
environment [14]
Vibration analysis- industrial wireless sensor
network (IWSN) for industrial machine
condition monitoring and fault diagnosis. For
example induction motor may be monitored
due to its wide use in industrial processes.
Motor stator current and vibration signals are
measured for further processing and analysis.
Mainly used to detect the faulty parts, which
need repair or changing by analyzing their
vibration signature [15].
Process monitoring- in process monitoring
and control, process data such as pressure,
42

Dr.P Velmani et al , International Journal of Computer Science & Communication Networks,Vol 4(2),41-45
humidity, temperature, flow, level, viscosity,
density and vibration intensity measurements
can be collected through sensing units and
transferred wirelessly to a control system for
operation and management [16].
Building automation - Building automation
systems (BAS) are typically used to monitor
and control heating, ventila-tion, and air
conditioning (HVAC) systems. Some
applications are, Building access controls ,
HVAC controls , Lighting controllers,
Thermostat , Lifts / Elevators / Escalators ,
Remote alarm triggering , Water Management,
Electrical blinds [17].
Industrial process automation-
Water/Wastewater Monitoring, Landfill
Ground Well Level Monitoring and Pump
Counter, Flare Stack Monitoring, Water
Tower Level Monitoring, Vehicle Detection,
Electric utility automation, Monitoring device
parameters, Automatic meter reading,
Machine Health Monitoring or Condition
based maintenance, Intelligent control system,
Intelligent integrated management system and
many more. Inaccessible locations, rotating
machinery, hazardous or restricted areas, can
now be reached with wireless sensors [18]
3.2. Recent trends in industrial automation
As the reasons to automate increase day by day and
as companies begin to realize this need, opportunities
for technology solution provides in this space are also
increasing proportionately [19]. With the increasing
need for quality and flexibility, the following new
trends are introduced in industries.
3.2.1. MEMS based sensors and actuators. The
widespread use of MEMS technology has increasingly
optimized the performance, size, and cost of sensing
systems. "Key innovations in MEMS-based sensors and
actuators are taking place in many associated industrial
applications such as Heating, Ventilation, and Air-
Conditioning (HVAC) applications, industrial safety,
processing, and control, networked health monitoring
of devices. The research and development focus is also
shifting toward a large array or a network of MEMS
sensors rather than just single MEMS devices. MEMS
Technology Can Enable Industrial Automation Achieve
Higher Standards [20].
3.2.2. Chemical sensors. Chemical sensors
(detectors/transducers) covers a wide category of
devices used to monitor, measure, test, analyze data as
generated due to changes in a measured norm. Some
system-connected detectors also alert a monitoring
service that can dispatch emergency services if
ISSN:2249-5789
necessary. Varieties of chemical sensors such as , Opto-
Chemical, Biomimetic, Electrochemical,
Semiconductor and their applications are endless [21].
3.2.3. Ultrasonic sensors. Ultrasound ID (USID) is a
real-time locating system technology used to
automatically track and identify the location of objects
in real-time using simple, inexpensive nodes attached
to or embedded into objects and devices that
transmit an ultrasound signal to communicate location
to microphone sensors. Ultrasonic sensors are used to
detect the existence of objects (digital) and distance
(analog) in factory automation and processing.
Applications include positioning systems, asset
tracking, workflow and locating personnel in mines
[22].
3.2.4. Electronic sensing. The expression "electronic
sensing" refers to the capability of reproducing human
senses using sensor arrays and pattern recognition
systems. Since 1982, research has been conducted to
develop technologies, commonly referred to as
electronic noses that could detect and recognize odors
and flavors. Till now online communication involved
only two of our senses. Sense of sight, Sense of
hearing. A new technology targets on sense of smell.
Digital Scent Technology intends to change the
interactive entertainment experience. it is possible to
sense, transmit and receive smell through internet.
Electronic Tongue is specially designed for taste
analysis in R and D, formulation, food product
Development, and food process improvement
applications. It has got several applications in various
industrial areas: The pharmaceutical industry, food and
beverage sector, etc. It can be used to: identify toxic
substances. Search for drugs, explosive. Searching for
chemical/biological weapon, Detect trace amounts of
organic substances [23, 24].
3.3. Secure industrial management
In addition to the process automation other area of
using WSN in industry is secure industry and
environment management. Security and safety
compliance vary from industry to industry. Fire alarm,
Smoke detection, leak detection , Protect sensitive or
restricted areas, Protect valuable assets, Detect
unauthorized vehicles, Suspicious individual detection
are some common applications, nowadays, in buildings,
industries and in most countries it is imposed by
relevant laws [5, 8, 25].
One important application of WSN is monitoring
indoor and outdoor air pollution through industrial
sources. The environmental assessment concerned with
identifying, predicting and evaluating pollution both
beneficial to people and development of a country is
necessary. The first step is to do continuous air
43

Dr.P Velmani et al , International Journal of Computer Science & Communication Networks,Vol 4(2),41-45
pollution monitoring round the clock and online
reporting [26]. The latest technology is Electronic
Tongue to monitor agriculture and industrial pollution
of air and water. Industrialization is for growth of the
people, at the same time that must assure the secure
lifetime of the people. Therefore there is a need to
increase implementation of WSN in this direction also.
4. WSN Challenges in industrial
environment
Even though there are so many advantages in using
WSN in industries, there was a serious debate over
whether or not WSNs and wireless communication in
general were a technology suitable for industrial
applications. To create robust network architecture, it is
crucial to know the differences among all the wireless
standards.
From industrial point of view, ISA SP100
workgroup introduces the following six classes (Class 5
Class 0) for wireless communications based on
analysis of industrial, inter-device wireless
communication applications [27].
Class 5
*items related to monitoring without immediate
operational consequences.
*without strong timeliness requirements
*reliability requirements may vary
Class 4
*monitoring with short-term operational
consequences
* high-limit and low-limit alarms and other
information
* require further checking or involvement of a
maintenance technician. Timeliness of information
in this class is typically low (slow)
Class 3
* open loop control applications, in which an
operator, rather than a controller, closes the loop
between input and output.
* The time horizon for this class is in a human scale,
measured in seconds and minutes.
*an operator could take a unit offline, if required.
Class 2
*consists of closed loop supervisory control, and
applications usually have long time constants
* with the time scale measured in seconds to
minutes
Class 1
*closed loop regulatory control, includes motor and
axis control as well as primary flow and pressure
control.
* The timeliness of information in this class is often
critical.
Class 0
*emergency actions related to safety, which are
always critical to both personnel and the plant.
ISSN:2249-5789
*Most safety functions are, and will be, carried out
by dedicated wired networks in order to limit both
failure modes and vulnerability to external events
or attacks. Examples in this category are safety
interlock, emergency shutdown, and fire control.
There are number of challenges in migrating from a
wired to WSN implementation [28].
* Coverage area of the network may suffer in the
industrial environment due to various interferences.
* The reliability and the signal strength may get
affected due to the reflection from the walls,
interference from other devices or machines and
interference from the environment itself.
* Time delay through the network from sensor to
monitoring site.
* Balance between battery life and data update rates.
* Power management and harvesting technologies
* Wireless network advances like ISA 100 and
wirelessHART make WSN a more viable possibility in
traditional manufacturing environments, but the
challenge of latency remains.
* WSN protocol requirements, network architecture
that is suitable topology
*Suitable wireless standards, bandwidth, dropped
packets rate, throughput tradeoffs
* Special computers called PLCs are used to
automatically interpret the data collected from sensors
and events on a continuous basis and use this output to
trigger certain actuators and events.
* Co-ordination between several technologies ranging
from information systems to computer controlled
machinery.
* As wireless is the best way for disparate, dispersed
automation, wireless networks should be capable of
integrating with standard plant and office networks [29]
* With so many network and volume of
communication, security is a critical aspect.
* Longevity lifetime of a sensor and sensor network
* Standard in data access specification
* Data access specification in Multi model arrays of
sensors to capture a complex scene.
*Method to convert raw data from sensor to useful
information and data redundancy
* Instead of passing large volume of data from WSN to
destination, other option is better data aggregation
*QOS requirements
5. Conclusion
The industrial wireless business and use of WSN
continues to grow fast every year. At the same time
challenges are also there and depend on application and
industrial environment. There is a need to concentrate
on areas where the challenges and apply WSN to get
44
 ISSN:2249-5789
Dr.P Velmani et al , International Journal of Computer Science & Communication Networks,Vol 4(2),41-45

information and run processes more effectively and Network Protocols and Algorithms, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.46-61.
improve safety and production. [17] Feng Shu , Malka N. Halgamuge and Wei Chen,
Building Automation Systems Using Wireless Sensor
Networks: Radio Characteristics and Energy Efficient
References Communication Protocols, EJSE Special Issue: Sensor
Network on Building Monitoring: from theory to real
[1] X.Shen,., et al., "Wireless sensor networks for industrial application, 2009 , pp.66-73.
applications in Intelligent Control and Automation, WCICA. [18] www.intechopen.com/...automation/wireless-sensor-
Fifth World Congress , 2004, pp: 3636-3640. networks-in-industrial- automation
[2] sourcetech411.com/2013/.../wireless-sensor-networks-for- [19]Janani Gopalakrishnan Vikram, Towards An Automated
industrial- automation/ Shop-Floor, Information Technology, November, 2008,
[3] A. Wood, G. Virone, T. Doan, Q. Cao, L. Selavo, Y. Wu, pp.79-84.
L. Fang, Z. He, S. Lin, and J. Stankovic, Alarm-net: [20] Frost & Sullivan research service, Impact Analysis of
Wireless sensor networks for assisted-living and residential MEMS Based Sensors and Actuators on Industrial
monitoring", Technical Report CS University of Virginia,, Automation, www.frost.com/prod/servlet/press-
2006. release.pag?docid=98985587
[4] D.Laiymani and A.Makhoul, Adaptive data collection [21] Joseph R. Stetter,*,z William R. Penrose,* and Sheng
approach for periodic sensor networks, wireless Yao, Chemical Sensors, Electrochemical Sensors, , The
communication and mobile computing international Electrochemical Society, www.transducertech.com
conference, Sardinia, July 2013, pp. 1448 1453. [22] www.arteos.com
[5]G.A.ArunKumar, K.Rajasekhar and B.V.V.Satyanarayana, [23]IIT project http://www.iit.edu/~jrsteach/enose.html
Implementation of Real time Detection of Gas leakage in [24] Teagasc (2012 ) http://www.teagasc.ie/agrifood/
Industries using ARM7 &ZigBee, International Journal of [25] Th, Arampatzis et al, A survey of applications of
Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT), Vol. 1 Issue 7, wireless sensors and wireless sensor networks, Proceedings
September 2012, pp.1-4. of the 13th Mediterranean conference on control and
[6] Kamran Khakpour, Industrial Control using Wireless automation, June 2005, pp.719-724.
Sensor Networks, IEEE Xplore , 2009. [26] Central pollution control board website
[7] Ivan Stoianov, Lama Nachman, Sam Madden, and Timur http://www.cpcb.nic.in
Tokmouline. PIPENET: a wireless sensor network for [27] Marko Paavola and Kauko Leivisk , Wireless Sensor
pipeline monitoring, IPSN 07: Proceedings of the 6th Networks in Industrial Automation, book edited by Javier
international conference on Information processing in sensor Silvestre-Blanes, ISBN 978-953-307-024-7, Published:
networks, New York, NY, USA, 2007, pp. 264273. March 1, 2010 under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license
[8] E.G.M. Petrakis, Machine Vision Introduction, [28] www.designworldonline.com/are-wireless-sensor-
http://www.intelligence.tuc/~petrakis, networks-really-ready-for- industry
http://courses.ece.tuc.gr Chania 2010, [29] (www.jimpinto.com)
[9]H.Golnabi , and A.Asadpour, Design and application of
industrial machine vision systems, Robotics and Computer-
Integrated Manufacturing, 23 (2007), pp.630637.
[10] Y.Cheng and M.Jafari , Vision-based online process
control in manufacturing applications, Trans. on Automation
science and engineering, 5(2008)1, pp 140-153.
[11] Technical Report, How to reduce process control costs
by managing sensors and transducers more effectively,
Connecting industry - automation magazine, 16 April 2013.
[12] Dr. Sergey and Y. Yurish, Digital and Intelligent
Sensors andSensor Systems: Practical Design,
www.iaria.org/conferences2012/ProgramSENSORCOMM12.
html, August 18, 2012, Rome, Italy
[13] Technical information, Honeywell, ST 3000 Smart
Transmitter Series 100 High Temperature Models
Specifications, 34-ST-03-70, July 2010, pp:1-24.
[14] Th. Arampatzis, J. Lygeros, and S. Manesis, Survey of
Applications of Wireless Sensors and Wireless Sensor
Networks, Proceedings of the 13th Mediterranean
Conference on Control and Automation Limassol, Cyprus,
June 27-29, 2005 , pp.719-724.
[15] Y. Chalapathi Rao, Dr.Ch.Santhi Rani, and P.
Lavanya, Monitoring and Protection of Oil and Gas
Condition in Industrial Using Wireless Sensor Networks,
International Journal of Electronics Communication and
Computer Technology, Volume 2 Issue 5 (September 2012),
pp.213-218.
[16] Gang Zhao and CA, Davis, Wireless Sensor Networks
for Industrial Process Monitoring and Control: A Survey,

45