WirelessHART Gateway from Phoenix Contact

Monday, Aug 30, 2010

Phoenix Contact’s new WirelessHART® gateway features an integrated 802.11b/g WLAN transceiver. The rail-mount gateway can increase the reliability and flexibility of an existing HART network.

The 45 mm-wide RAD-WHG/WLAN-XD connects up to 250 WirelessHART field devices, converting HART data to Modbus TCP or HART UDP for easy integration into almost any host system. The integrated WLAN can serve as the backhaul connection, allowing the gateway to be installed in the field closer to the monitored devices. This allows the user to create a “clustered” network topology, effectively creating several smaller WirelessHART networks with a wireless connection to the host system.

To maintain a secure connection, the gateway uses the 802.11i (WPA2) standard with 128-bit AES encryption to protect the WLAN data. The WLAN transceiver can also be disabled, and the host connection made via the wired Ethernet port.

All programming and diagnostics can be accessed via an embedded web server. The RAD-WHG/WLAN-XD can also be programmed using a HART handheld programmer.

Approximately 30 million devices around the world use the Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (HART) protocol in process applications, but the vast majority of these devices and their data are stranded due to the high cost of cabling. HART7, the most recent revision of the HART standard, added a wireless option within the HART protocol, increasing the usability and extending the range of HART applications.

Source: Phoenix