“What the exact percentage is, I don’t know, but my gut instinct tells me that in the future, you’ll see 80 percent of the plant being wireless and 20 percent being wired.” Even 10 years from now, this is unlikely to be the norm, Karschnia concedes. “But I think you’ll see some cutting-edge people who are doing it.”

The incentive, he says, will be financial, citing a typical 60 percent to 90 percent savings today for installing a wireless transmitter vs. a wired one. When multiplied across 80 percent of a typical large plant’s I/O points, that equals a reduction of tens of millions of dollars. “The cost savings associated with this are so staggering that customers will have to look at it, just because they’re saving so much money,” says Karschnia.

Becker points out too that the savings from wireless come not just from reduced wireless installation costs. Plant implementation times can be dramatically faster without the need to run wires, he notes, reducing project risk. And by taking advantage of additional measurement points made possible by wireless technology, plants can run more efficiently and reliably.

Once more plants do make the move to wider use of wireless, including wireless control, Becker figures that other plants will be forced to follow. “If all of your competitors are using wireless and it’s resulting in lower costs, higher reliability and greater profits to the bottom line, how long can you afford not to take advantage of that?”

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