Factories present an interference for wireless LAN communications, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology is offering to assist. WLANs and other technologies such as RFID tag monitoring could offer much in terms of service automation, but NIST research says many factories have too highly reflective environments that disperse radio waves. That means factories with metal structures, such as auto production plants, will have a difficult time taking advantage of WLANs.
NIST said it plans to partner with the U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), to develop a statistical representation of the radio propagation environment of a production floor as a basis for developing standards to pre-qualify wireless devices for factories.
For more about the NIST's research:
- take a look at this article from InformationWeek
- read this blog from NIST