BEI Sensors SwiftComm® Real-Time Wireless Encoder Interface - Manual (Page 2)

a secure robust Wireless interface With built-in reliability
needed for real-time industrial control
The BEI SwiftComm wireless industrial sensor interface ushers in a new era of
wireless industrial control. Now the machine designer is free to install sensor
equipment without the expense and constraints of a hard-wired system.
Encoder installations in difficult applications like cranes, rotating tables or
mobile applications, are greatly simplified.
The SwiftComm system includes the transmitter-receiver pair, which
communicates using a point-to-point frequency-hopping 2.4 GHz RF protocol.
Because of its flexible input/output electronics, it can interface with many
different industrial sensors and control systems. Simply connect the SwiftComm
transmitter to the sensor and the SwiftComm receiver to your control system and
apply power. That’s it! No complicated cabling required.
SwiftComm’s proprietary radio protocols include a broad security code range,
data encryption, handshaking, interference recovery, and error checking that together
provides a secure and robust wireless interface system. Ruggedness and flexibility are further enhanced with
SwiftComm’s NEMA 4 weatherproof enclosures, panel mounting options, antenna choices and wide-range DC power inputs. SwiftComm is
available with an incremental or SSI output, or with an optional explosion proof transmitter housing (pictured above).
applications
SwiftComm is suitable for use in a wide variety of industrial applications. However, certain conditions
allow the user to receive the most benefit from SwiftComm. In applications where long, expensive cable
lengths are needed, SwiftComm can provide a very cost effective alternative to hard wiring. If cabling
of any length is damaged often in a system and needs constant replacement, SwiftComm can be
a viable solution. SwiftComm is ideal for use in applications with a clear line-of-sight between
the transmitter and receiver. Although SwiftComm can work around some obstructions, the best
performance will be achieved where the radios have a clear line-of-sight. SwiftComm is a
very robust and reliable wireless interface system, and will work in many different kinds of
industrial applications. Here are just a few examples:
• crane & hoist
• drawbridge
• drawworks
• dam control
• irrigation
• mining
• Printing Press
• factory automation
a Wireless interface for real-time industrial control
Until now, the only option available to connect encoders to controllers or PLCs has been by hard wiring. This approach has served the system
designer well in many applications. However, there are times where the cabling to the sensor is expensive to install, cumbersome, or creates a
maintenance problem. This is most evident when the encoder needs to move over large distances or is mounted to a rotating or mobile device.
Motion control applications require position and speed feedback in real time and as a continuous stream of data. Until now, wireless systems
have been unable to work with these applications due to high latency and signal interference. With most typical wireless systems, if packet
information is lost, the protocol requests for the information to be resent. This approach however slows down the flow of information from
transmitter to receiver, and adds an indeterminate amount of time delay to when the information is received. Add to this an undefined amount
of time required to process packets over a network protocol, such as Zigbee or Bluetooth, the resultant latency would seriously degrade time
sensitive data. Another even bigger threat is random interference that can destroy whole packets of information. All these factors have made
wireless systems for control unsuccessful…until now.
SwiftComm was designed from the ground up specifically to meet the demands of industrial motion control applications. It provides an
extremely robust wireless signal in real time over a secure network. SwiftComm is also equipped with several fail-safes to deal with signal
interference.