Industry 4.0 – Connectivity Enabled Automation

Wireless connectivity, cloud computing, sensor technology, big data analytics and AI are all combining to enable Industry 4.0 and the Industrial “Internet of Things”.

Industries have opportunities to innovate and change – adopting technology in new ways to automate, improve efficiency, do new things that weren’t previously possible and to enable new business models.

The challenge in leveraging wireless for automation is that connectivity is not perfect.  There are coverage gaps and data performance can be variable and this has consequences as applications become more complex and “always on” data dependent. 

Industries are addressing this challenge by migrating from Wi-Fi to cellular LTE or 5G – and in doing so recognizing that new tools and approaches are needed for wireless connectivity planning, deployment and operational reliability.

This whitepaper lays out the challenges and walks through some of the solutions available to de-risk industrial wireless automation.