Dear Subscriber and Friend:
Wireless is truly everywhere now. You know how I know that?
The other day our Internet was down and my wife urgently needed to book some travel. She took the laptop to the bookstore and did it wirelessly from there. But she could have just driven around the block in her Soccer-Mom minivan until she found a house with a wireless router and tapped in.
(It's easy to find the networks that are unsecured too, 'cuz they just say "netgear" or "linksys", and everybody on the planet can help themselves to "free" 1's and 0's. In fact there are 3 unsecured networks within range of my laptop as I type this from my couch…)
I haven't said anything you don't already know yet. But what is really exciting to you and me are industrial applications of wireless, which are legion. The cost savings are major, too. Consider this:
-In pipeline monitoring, wiring is about $10 per foot
-In a process plant, about $20 per foot
-In discrete manufacturing, $100 per foot
-In a nuke plant, $1000+ per foot
By now I've had a chance to work with a lot of customers directly on these projects. Here are some of the things we're seeing:
*Temperature monitoring of a commercial dairy: Cool cows are happy cows. And happy cows give more milk than cantankerous cows. A supervisory wireless monitoring system profiles temperatures and controls various cooling systems.
*Steel mill furnace - fault detection for a cooling jacket. The hot corrosive environment chews up cables, and the RF interference in a steel mill is merciless. But we got a pilot system up and running. Early results are promising.
*Nuclear plant - temperature monitoring of 2500hp pump motors. If a motor has to be replaced, the plant's output has to be dropped 20% - that costs $400K in lost power sales. Motor failure can be predicted in advance if you have the temp data though, and a battery powered wireless monitoring system makes this work.
Wireless Mesh Networks for sensors and small devices:
http://bb-elec.com/product_multi_family.asp?MultiFamilyId=14
Wireless modems, 802.11 serial servers, accessories:
http://www.bb-elec.com/productcat.asp?TopLevelId=3
Our new catalog hits the streets July 12, and one of the highlights is a Modbus Serial to Ethernet converter.
http://www.bb-elec.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=275
If you're not receiving catalogs from us, sign up to get the next one here:
http://www.bb-elec.com/catalog_request.asp
Geeks Love Engine Data!
B&B Electronics has an interesting automotive diagnostics division that I'm not sure most of our subscribers even know about. It's called AutoTap and it connects your PC to your car engine to produce detailed engine diagnostics. It supports all vehicles made in the US since 1996, and helps you figure out what's behind that check engine light.
I've written a series of email tutorials about DIY automotive diagnostics. If you're like me and have a passion for electronics and engines you should sign up. Or, if you'd just like to understand how the electronics that control your engine really work, this is a great place to start. No charge!
http://www.autotap.com/mailing.html
If you want to jump in with both feet and channel your car engine's deepest thoughts, you can get AutoTap hardware and software here:
http://www.autotap.com/
As always we're here via email and telephone to help you solve those tricky communication problems. Call (815)433-5100 or email support@bb-elec.com.
Happy Wireless Connections-
Mike Fahrion
support@bb-elec.com
P.S. Thanks to you, aficionados of B&B Electronics, we're having a heck of a lot of success. Success means growth and growth means hiring. If you know any embedded software engineers that may be on the job market (and could put up with working with someone like me!) send them my way, or point them to
www.bb-elec.com/engineeringpassion
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