Making things yields more grit than glamor. Take a step back to providing inputs to the manufacturing process – the stuff used to make things – and you find even more grit and less glamor. But, manufacturing and the industries that feed manufacturing, including oil and gas production, mining and electricity distribution, create the things we use to survive and thrive.

The two most recent products announced by ABB Tropos Wireless Communication Systems, Tropos Mesh OS 8 with reliable broadcast capability and the Tropos 1410-DIN wireless bridge and mesh router for automation applications, share something in common – they help our customers make things and the stuff used to make things. And while these products may lack sizzle, they provide plenty of steak.

Tropos Mesh OS 8 supports for reliable Layer 2 broadcasts. Reliable broadcasts enhance support for automation protocols and applications including GOOSE, RNRP and mine management systems. With Tropos Mesh OS 8, the benefits of wireless mesh networking – large outdoor coverage areas, mobility, faster process reconfiguration, lower cost retrofits of existing facilities – are now available to a wider variety of industrial operations.

The Tropos 1410-DIN wireless mesh router and wireless bridge is designed to be installed, using standard DIN rail mounting, in the types of enclosures often employed in process control, energy and industrial automation systems. It extends the functionality of wireless mesh networks to devices where installation of standalone Tropos routers is impractical. The Tropos 1410-DIN enables automation devices to communicate with other devices and with central computing applications such as SCADA systems. It also allows workers with Wi-Fi equipped laptops or tablets to communicate with automation devices wirelessly, rather than having to be close enough to the device to plug into it with a cable.

“As demand for Tropos wireless mesh networks in industrial applications grows, we’ve responded to the market by offering the Tropos 1410 in a form factor used by standard enclosures for process control systems,” said Mike Bailey, senior vice president of engineering and operations for ABB Tropos Wireless Communication Systems. “The Tropos 1410-DIN will enable more industrial facilities and applications to reap the benefits of broadband wireless mesh networks.”

Exciting? No. But we’re happy to allow the latest hot social media startup to bask in the spotlight. We’ll keep doing what ABB has always done best – helping our customers make things and the stuff used to make things.

Bert Williams