Wireless Instrumentation provides a highly reliable and extremely economic implementation path to best practices in monitoring and automation. Wireless Instrumentation in enabling double digit improvements in efficiency and providing cost effective solutions for environmental compliance projects. Continuous monitoring of position, level, overfill and underfill, flow, shut-off emergency switches are some applications used to comply with ever increasing demands for tighter inventory control,safety and minimal environmental impact.

Wireless Instrumentation is particularly well suited to providing real-time, continuous data and is an ideal solution for retrofitting in existing plant structures that were built without conduit and wiring infrastructure. A cost saving of 90% in the design and installation of industrial grade measurement equipment can be realized. Wireless Instrumentation often can be deployed at dramatic savings and provide redundant monitoring when necessary.

This paper looks at the various wireless protocols and compares how well these protocols meet the needs for monitoring in the industrial process. In particular, new wireless sensors are surveyed that require no power wires out to the sensor. Common difficulties with wireless installations, such as line-of-sight, and Class I, Div I area classifications are discussed and solutions presented for these issues. Point-to-point radio solutions are contrasted to mesh network data communications solutions and hierarchical mesh networks.