Implementation of a Powerlink-WirelessHART gateway for industrial automation

In industrial automation fields, seamless connection of the capabilities of smart wireless devices to a high-bandwidth and deterministic real-time Ethernet-based industrial backbone has emerged as an important research focus. This study describes a method for integration of WirelessHART networks into the Ethernet Powerlink backbone. A Linux-based open Powerlink-WirelessHART gateway (PW-GW) solution is proposed. By implementing the proposed application layer translation method on PW-GW, the gap between the Powerlink protocol and the WirelessHART protocol is bridged. Additionally, we develop a prototype of the PW-GW solution and construct an experimental system to demonstrate its function and performance. The communication delay of the system is measured to verify that the PW-GW developed in this study satisfies the real-time requirements of time-critical industrial applications.