Industry Partnerships
Sensors and Automation Vision
Industrial Wireless Technology for the 21st Century (December 2002)
This document presents a unified vision for wireless technology (PDF 1.3 MB) Download Adobe Reader.
The Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) works in partnership with industry through its Industries of the Future process. The resulting public-private partnerships focus the combined strengths of business and government on solutions to complex problems. In the first step of this process, an industry defines its vision and long-term goals. Next, industry develops a technology roadmap with specific research and development (R&D) pathways for achieving these goals. ITP then overlays the priorities of the roadmaps with other analytical studies to identify the best opportunities for energy savings. Finally, ITP and industry share the costs of R&D projects that can significantly improve energy efficiency.
Sensors and Automation (S&A) encompasses crosscutting technologies with applications across almost all industry. Beyond sensors and automation, these technologies include information processing, next generation controls, robotics, and affordable industrial wireless technologies.
One of the key R&D focus areas within S&A is industrial wireless technology. In July 2002, over 30 individuals representing the industrial wireless community attended the DOE-sponsored Industrial Wireless Workshop to articulate their long-term goals. The participants cooperatively developed a unified vision for the future for this rapidly evolving technology (documented in Industrial Wireless Technology for the 21st Century (PDF 1.3 MB)) Download Adobe Reader. This vision defines specific goals and challenges, provides context for non-experts, and maps out the key hurdles to fully exploiting wireless capabilities in industrial environments. It has been valuable in designing collaborative efforts for the development of industrial wireless sensor systems and may prove useful in other application areas, such as auto assembly, building management, transportation systems, and power generation.
ITP has also worked extensively with the industrial wireless community to establish the development of the Wireless Industrial Networking Alliance (WINA). WINA is a coalition of end-user companies, technology suppliers, system integrators, and others interested in the advancement of wireless solutions for industry. Key aims of the group include:
- Helping customers understand wireless applications
- Improving user confidence and access to solutions
- Enlarging the entire industrial wireless market
- Focusing on the end user