Smart Condition Monitoring in an Industrial Automation - Wireless Performance Evaluation

Smart sensing, devices, and monitoring are essential to localized motor condition monitoring and service applications. A unique approach to the smart device is the use of low-cost wireless sensors for machine condition measurement. Smartphones may be used as the computational platform that acquires motor parameters from wireless sensors using a compatible local communication. Considering the widespread use of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) in smartphones, a BLE enabled sensor network was selected for this study. An experimental setup was created to emulate the industrial environment and evaluate the performance of the communication infrastructure for successful deployment of intelligent condition monitoring. The network performance measurements were carried out to assess the BLE performance with several AC and DC machines operated using different loads in a laboratory with many structural obstructions. Also, an optimal placement of a wireless gateway was explored.