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Wireless Network for Manufacturing Offers the Reliability of Wired IO-Link

The use of wireless in manufacturing plants is still met with a good deal of skepticism today. Much of this doubt is based on experience with traditional wireless, which is simply not reliable because it’s neither fast enough nor scalable.

Based on linear servo track technology, the Orboter has movers called “Probots” on which actuators can be mounted.
Based on linear servo track technology, the Orboter has movers called “Probots” on which actuators can be mounted.

But now entering the industrial wireless field is an innovative company out of Israel called CoreTigo that could change a lot of this. At the center of its products is IO-Link Wireless—a wireless technology developed for factory automation applications. “We worked as part of the IO-Link consortium to create this deterministic, cable-grade wireless product that offers a level of reliability on par with the quality of wired IO-Link,” says Gabi Daniely, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at CoreTigo.Based on linear servo track technology, the Orboter has movers called “Probots” on which actuators can be mounted.Based on linear servo track technology, the Orboter has movers called “Probots” on which actuators can be mounted.

IO-Link Wireless reportedly provides a deterministic latency of up to 5msec with a high reliability (1 e-9 Packet Error Rate) that is similar to IO-Link Wired, a million times better than other wireless protocols such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee. This level of reliability enables IO-Link Wireless to claim that it is perfectly suitable for industrial automation both for motion control and monitoring. CoreTigo notes that IO-Link Wireless is designed as a deterministic protocol. It is based on time and frequency slots and guarantees that each data packet will be delivered within a bounded delay.

Among the packaging machinery OEMs who like what they see in this wireless communications protocol is Germany’s Protion. Its first offering is the Orboter, a transport track system that incorporates independent movers capable of moving around a track. A power rail designed by Protion is what moves the movers around the track. But the movers are not “smart” in terms of communication because the power rail can’t communicate with the movers beyond motion control. So until now, the movers have only been capable of traveling from point A to point B around their track. And they do this very well. But the idea of including any kind of actuating device like a gripper or a vacuum suction cup has been ruled out because there has been no way to communicate with or control such devices.

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