Can DCS and wireless LAN coexist?
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The information transmission of DCS is highly sensitive to interference, such as mobile phone signals. But will the wireless LAN affect him? The coverage area of a wireless LAN is nearly 600 meters; it may interfere with the signal transmission of DCS. Of course, the computers in the control room and workshops are all connected to switches via wired connections. I plan to use a wireless LAN for the office building next to it; could someone give me some advice? Also, does the walkie-talkie have an impact on DCS as well? Or which part of the DCS system is most afraid of these things approaching. This post was last edited by mywlyx on 2009-4-10 14:34]
The wireless network has no impact on DCS. The DCS we use is wired, while the computer networks for scheduling and similar tasks are wireless; they are all located together in the office building, and operations proceed normally. Walkie-talkies are also used frequently, and I haven’t noticed any negative effects. We are using Xinhua’s XDPS-400.
In fact, one of my projects has 2 stations (1 control station and 1 data collection station), and it uses a wireless local area network, Wi-Fi. I have also seen AB Logix 5000 systems and HW’s PKS C200 systems in some oil fields, which use wireless technology as well; in some cases, WiMAX is even employed. Wi-Fi is a standard low-power network, without the use of gain antennas. The transmission power specified by IEEE802.11 shall not exceed 100 milliwatts; in practice, it is usually around 60–70 milliwatts. It should be noted that the transmission power of mobile phones ranges from about 200 milliwatts to 1 watt, while that of handheld radios can reach as high as 5 watts. Meanwhile, the main frequency band for Wi-Fi is 2.4G. I don’t think Wi-Fi will cause any interference with DCS. The frequency band of WiMAX is from 2G to 11G. The most important thing is to avoid the frequency range from 2G to 6G, which falls within the Wifi spectrum. There is also no conflict with DCS. WiMAX does not have very strict power consumption limits, but it is generally below 1 watt. By the way, it’s worth mentioning that the wireless technology that Honeywell has been actively promoting in coal mine environments is also used in conjunction with PKS; if there are conflicts or interference with DCS, what’s the point of using this technology, huh?
Wireless local area networks have no significant impact on DCS, while mobile phone signals and walkie-talkie signals only interfere with the operator station’s display, causing issues such as flickering
Wireless networks should have little impact on the DCS system. However, using walkie-talkies on-site can sometimes cause interference with analog signals.
Although there is a requirement for signal shielding during the design process – that is, all control rooms and operation rooms need to have shielding networks in place to block low-power signals such as those from mobile phones; however, higher-power signals such as those from walkie-talkies can be used, probably due to factors related to frequency bands……
There is a lot of interference during radio communication; placing it next to the control station can cause the USB mouse to stop working. When using the radio to check the control cabinet, communication can result in signal distortion at that moment, so this is something that needs to be taken into account. The wireless network frequency band falls within the 2.4GHz range, where electromagnetic interference is relatively low.