Wireless Instrumentation for Safety Critical Systems. Technology, Standards, Solutions and Future Trends

Wireless communication is an important part of everyday life, but has until recently been considered too unreliable for use in industrial processes. In particular, there has been reluctance to accept wireless systems as part of safety critical operations. This report considers the pros and cons of wireless communication in Safety Instrumented Systems. The report provides an introduction to wireless sensor networks (WSNs), the underlying technology for wireless instrumentation, presenting the history and basic technology enabling the recent development of low-power sensors and actuators. An overview of the different international standards for WSNs is provided, with special focus on the two specifications specifically targeting the process industries; namely WirelessHART and ISA100.11a. Furthermore, current status of wireless instrumentation within the oil and gas industry is summarized, including the financial and operational drivers for going wireless, along with the technical requirements which must be fulfilled for a successful adoption of this new technology. Example reliability calculation of wireless detector system is presented, and the wireless gas detector GasSecure is presented as a case. Finally, future trends and the consequences of using wireless instrumentation in safety critical systems are presented discussed