Elpro’s wireless gateway offers data transfer, protocol conversion

Brisbane, Australia - Elpro Technologies reports that its new Smart Wireless Gateway range overcomes the problems of extending a high-speed data bus. This gateway will connect at maximum data rate to the host field bus, such as 100Mps for Ethernet; 12 Mbps for Profibus DP; 1 Mbps for Modbus Plus; or 0.5 Mbps for DeviceNet. It also provides firewall isolation between the data bus and the outside world.

Elpro adds that Wireless Gateway uses a high-level, exception-reporting wireless protocol to maintain high speed and response. Peer-to-peer networking not only allows the data bus to be extended, but also to be converted. For example, Profibus-based LANs in different parts of the plant can be wirelessly connected, and also wirelessly interconnected to Ethernet, DeviceNet or Modbus Plus fieldbuses. This means the gateway has wireless data transfer and wireless protocol conversion in the one package. In addition, Smart Wireless Gateways are multi-facet devices because they wirelessly connect PLCs or smart instruments to DCS or SCADA systems.

Because only register values are transferred via an I/O memory interface, Smart Wireless Gateways provide a solid Layer-7 firewall to prevent data access to the host data bus. Up to 95 Smart Wireless Gateways can be interconnected in the one system, with each gateway connected to a separate data bus. The units use an internal FHSS wireless transceiver with security data encryption. Reliable operating distances are 20 miles line-of-sight or 3,000 feet in congested industrial environments. Mesh networking allows gateway units to also act as repeaters for other gateways to extend operating distance.

Control Engineering Daily News Desk
Jim Montague, news editor
jmontague@reedbusiness.com

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