New Entrants, Technologies, and Partnerships Helping Boost Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Condition Monitoring Market

The monitoring of vast and varied industrial assets across the factory floor, warehouses, or logistics operations is becoming increasingly vital in ensuring and increasing a facility’s efficiency, reliability, safety, and productivity. Traditionally, this process has been completed manually, with maintenance staff collecting data via portable data collectors/Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) for subsequent analysis. However, in an increasingly competitive landscape, factory owners must turn to new technologies to accelerate this development and continue to increase performance, and the focus is increasingly shifting toward monitoring assets that have previously never been monitored in order to drive new efficiencies. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi sensors that monitor a number of variables, including temperature, vibration, pressure, flow, and sound, in addition to others, can be deployed where wired connectivity solutions are too costly, time consuming, complicated, or hazardous to be deployed. They can allow for a whole new range and scale of previously unconnected and unmonitored devices to share information and enable predictive and preventative maintenance to ensure smoother operations, increase performance, comply to regulations, and reduce the risk of costly downtime. A number of new condition monitoring solutions and startups have emerged over the past 12 months, and momentum toward more standardized Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies for condition monitoring applications—brought on by the desire for simple connectivity to a smartphone or tablet HMI, or for easily connectivity to an Internet of Things (IoT) gateway or existing Wi-Fi/Bluetooth networking infrastructure—appears to be growing.

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi condition-monitoring solutions are growing as manufacturers begin to realize the importance of the increased visibility of equipment. Many of these solutions are initially targeting vibration monitoring applications for industrial motors in order to reduce the risk of downtime, though there are considerable opportunities in other areas such as logistics and cold chain monitoring. Key vendors include:

ABB: ABB currently offers a Smart Sensor portfolio for motors, which has recently been extended to pumps and mounted bearings as well. The low-voltage motor solution can be attached directly to the motor’s frame and collects vibration, temperature, and sound data in a matter of minutes. These data are then transmitted to ABB’s Ability Cloud via a smartphone or gateway and subsequently analyzed, allowing operators to read the data via an app or web browser to optimize performance and enable predictive maintenance. Using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) allows the solution to be battery-powered, requires no wiring, and can easily be monitored via a smartphone or Bluetooth-enabled gateway solution.

Bosch: As part of Bosch’s Connected Devices and Solutions group the company offers its Connected Industrial Sensor Solution (CISS), a robust device that incorporates multiple sensors including temperature, humidity, pressure, acceleration, vibration, magnetic field, light, and noise for industrial equipment monitoring. The solution predominantly targets condition monitoring and retrofit applications and uses BLE connectivity for wireless transmission. The proliferation of such devices with multiple sensors could help grow the market and allow for greater flexibility and customization.

Sensor-Works: Sensor-Works designs and manufacturers wireless sensors for industrial applications. The company’s main product offering is its BLE-based BluVib wireless condition monitoring sensor. The sensor communicates with a BluGate gateway or mobile device that supports Bluetooth technology in order to share data. The solution can provide vibration, bearing condition, and temperature values, while the data are subsequently analyzed as part of its BluTrend software package capable of providing trending, alert/alarm indication, and further analysis of machine states and conditions.

Siemens: Siemens’ SIMATICS IQ is a Wi-Fi-based condition monitoring solution that collects temperature and vibration data from motors and transmits these data via the existing Wireless Local Area Network (WALN) infrastructure to Siemens’ MindSphere platform. This information is then analyzed in the platform for preventative maintenance measures and to ensure optimal performance over time.  

Petasense: Petasense is an Industrial IoT (IIoT) startup that provides a wireless sensor, cloud software, and machine analytics solution for predictive maintenance applications. Some existing clients include JLL, C&W Services, Silicon Valley Power, and Stanford University. Its vibration mote is a compact sensor that leverages both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, which can be simply mounted to a wide range of industrial assets, including motors, pumps, compressors, gearboxes, fans, and more. The solution is battery-powered with a claimed lifespan of up to two years with typical usage.

WMAC: WMAC is an IIoT solution provider that offers a number of wireless vibration, noise, and temperature sensors for machine condition monitoring and predictive maintenance applications. With a magnetic mount option, the company claims a five-minute installation time while offering easy connectivity to a preexisting Wi-Fi network via 802.11n. Sensors are anticipated to have a battery life of between three and five years depending on usage.

Icon Research: Icon Research provides condition monitoring solutions for rotating machinery. Its WiVib Q series portfolio consists of miniaturized and ruggedized sensor devices that are capable of measuring vibration, temperature, and bearing condition and transmitting data wirelessly over 802.11n Wi-Fi. The company claims that its sensor devices can last up to five years. Its hardware portfolio is also supported by a range of software applications for configuration, alarming, and analytics.

Increasingly, condition monitoring will apply to moving assets as Real-Time Location System (RTLS) solutions incorporate additional sensor functionalities, allowing real-time visibility of the conditions of a wide range of moving and non-moving industrial equipment and assets. For example, Bluvision’s BEEK industrial beacon is equipped with accelerometer and temperature sensors and the ability to transmit data every second for up to five years. These can easily be fixed to motors, bearings, conveyor belts, gear boxes, water pumps, or other industrial equipment and transmit data back to a BLE/Wi-Fi BluFi-enabled gateway device to be sent to the Bluzone Cloud. The solution is very scalable and affordable; each BluFi gateway can manage hundreds of beacons at once and is extremely easy to commission. In 2017, Confidex introduced its Viking beacon family of products as part of its industrial wireless offering. Based on Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52 BLE chipset, the beacon solution targets industrial asset tracking and indoor and outdoor location and provides sensor telemetry functionality. The solution can transmit location data and monitor various conditions of industrial assets using the built-in temperature sensor or other optional sensors, including acceleration and magnetic. The beacon devices are also capable of leveraging Wirepas’ decentralized mesh networking solution to enhance the scalability of deployments.

The simplicity with which these devices can connect can enable almost instantaneous results, providing near immediate Return on Investment (ROI) on assets that were previously unmonitored without the risk of any costly downtime or needing to dedicate more time or resources to setting up a different infrastructure. ABB, for example, claims that its Smart Sensor for low- voltage motors has the potential to reduce unplanned downtime by up to 70%, extend motor lifetime by up to 30%, and improve energy efficiency by up to 10%. However, we are still very much in the early stages of adoption for wireless condition monitoring solutions, and there are a number of things that vendors can do to help build out the market.

Promote Quick ROI: Many early industrial condition monitoring deployments are likely to have small numbers of equipment as a Proof of Concept (PoC). However, many adopters are discovering the value of such solutions and generating an almost immediate ROI due to the discovery of failures. For example, ABB has deployed its Ability Smart Sensor in some of leading agribusiness Olam International’s factories. At the time of installation, one sensor detected higher than normal vibrations and the company was able to carry out a smooth, planned replacement of the faulty motor, avoiding a costly shutdown. The savings from preventing this motor failure were enough to recover Olam’s investment in equipping smart sensors on this and several other motors at its factories. Olam has expanded its deployment of sensors as a result, and the ease of Bluetooth technology can enable it to deploy this more widely.  

Transition to Remote and Real-Time Data Collection: Many initial PoCs often feature wireless manual data collection, which is achieved by having an engineer walk around and connect a sensor node wirelessly via tablet or industrial HMI using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. However, in the longer term, it makes sense to have this collection automated and done remotely in real time. There are benefits for Wi-Fi devices that can connect easily to the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. However, increasingly, industrial Wi-Fi networking vendors are adding more IIoT connectivity technologies like Bluetooth, 802.15.4, WirelessHART, and ISA100.11a, among others, into their Access Points (APs) to better support these IIoT sensor devices.

Improve Scalability: In addition, the introduction of Bluetooth mesh also has the potential to increase the scalability of these solutions. One current barrier with BLE is range limitations. If the motors being monitored span great distances, there will need to be either need to be a greater number of gateway devices installed or more timely manual reading will be required. Mesh networks can relay this information between different end nodes back to a central gateway, providing a much more scalable solution. In addition to BLE mesh, companies like Wirepas have developed a decentralized wireless mesh communication protocol that can be used to connect a wide range of devices together regardless of application, radio hardware, or frequency band. The decentralized aspect of the mesh network means that all devices can make decisions at a local level, removing the need for centralized management and ensuring that the network always operates in the most effective manner regardless of size.

Transition from 802.11n to 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6): Chipset providers should also develop more IoT-centric Wi-Fi 6 IoT chipsets to help increase the viability of Wi-Fi for IIoT applications, leveraging Target Wake Time (TWT), Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), smaller channel sizes, and coexistence improvements to open new opportunities. More education and awareness around Wi-Fi 6 for IoT applications also need to be developed. Industrial client vendors leveraging 802.11n should migrate to 802.11ax due to the numerous benefits the technology can provide. Intellectual Property (IP) providers like CEVA are already promoting the low-power features of 802.11ax through its RivieraWaves RX-AX Low Power platform, a 20 MHz solution for small, low-power IoT devices, medical equipment, and wearables, as a replacement to 802.11n.

Improve Power Consumption: A key challenge for these devices is power consumption, with a longer battery life more desirable in order to reduce the cost of replacement. BLE has an advantage here, though many 802.11n vendors are continuing to drive down power consumption and Wi-Fi 6 should bring additional benefits thanks to TWT. However, some Bluetooth chipset vendors, such as Atmosic, are developing ultra-low power solutions to help reduce the need for batteries within IoT environments. In September 2019, Atmosic partnered with MATRIX Industries to combine Atmosic’s low-power connectivity with MATRIX’s thermoelectric technology to develop IIoT energy harvesting devices. Atmosic has also announced a strategic partnership with location solution provider Kontakt.io in which Kontakt.io will build beacons and tags using Atmosic’s System-on-Chip (SoC) to help reduce maintenance costs for location devices across a number of environments. Power consumption is likely to be a key differentiator going forward, as the reduced maintenance costs over time through battery placement can lead to stronger ROI.

Build Ecosystem Partnerships: In June 2019, ABB and Aruba announced that they would be furthering an existing partnership by integrating ABB’s Ability Smart Sensor technology with Aruba’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled APs. The idea is to provide a high-performance and scalable wireless connectivity solution for larger industrial customers that reflects ABB’s core market and helps bridge the gap between Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) departments through an integrated solution. The announcement also noted that this partnership could eventually transcend beyond condition monitoring applications to enable Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) or location-based services to provide additional value to end customers. The solution can be leveraged within hazardous industrial environments.