Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Wireless sensor networks; Process control; Industrial electronics

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are varying in kinds and can be used for many purposes. It can be extensively used in monitoring, reporting, and decision routines. Therefore, WSNs are very important to integrate with manufacturing since they can help not only in monitoring and decision making but also they can increase productivity and decrease the wiring costs. However, WSNs are facing some challenges in manufacturing as they need to resist the interferences that could be generated by the electrical and mechanical fields created during the manufacturing processes. Some of these interferences could be due to the high temperatures, blocks of metallic equipment, or even rotation of machines inside the work shop floor.

In this study, a WSN network was tested in a large manufacturing company in the USA Midwest to measure the received signal strength indication (RSSI) and compared to a neutral environment. The neutral environment was selected inside a building having almost the same area as of the manufacturing area. The data were generated using the software provided by the wireless sensors kit.

The RSSI is expected to decrease over distance and is expected to be less in a manufacturing environment than in neutral environment which is considered to be free of harsh interferences. The results of both the manufacturing environment and the neutral environment were collected and converted from hexadecimal values to decimal values and then statistical analysis of the data was provided. The results show that: 1. The wireless kit was able to detect differences in the RSSI value between manufacturing environment and neutral environment on distance below 90 feet. 2. When the distance becomes larger than 100 feet, the kit was not able to detect any differences between the two settings because the RSSI readings were low for both of them and the effect of the interferences was minimal.

The results of this project suggest that manufacturing can adopt this technology because of the huge advantages that can be added and could be reflected directly on the processes. However, the findings also suggests that each manufacturing organization should plan, design, and test wireless sensor network application for its own processes before the implementation phase as it helps for future plans in integrating the technology in different applications. Moreover, it is important to start with simple and non-critical applications before spreading the WSN inside the manufacturing area. The implications of the WSNs improve quality and efficiency of production.

Year of Submission

2008

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Industrial Technology

First Advisor

Ron O'Meara

Comments

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Date Original

2008

Object Description

1 PDF file (90 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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