Roaming

Roaming is the act of a client transitioning from one access point (AP) to another. It is common to have roaming in a mobile environment, but it also has advantages in static environments where a signal can be blocked, have interference, or encounter access point failure.

In a standard roaming situation, signals are not actively maintained for signal strength and this poses a threat to your wireless devices as this can cause a weak connection. Many people experience this with their computers or mobile devices. For example, one may start with a strong wireless signal, but once they begin to move to a different area, the link to the original AP is still maintained from a farther distance, which then leads to slow Wi-Fi and failed industrial networks. The go-to resolution for this is to disable and re-enable the Wi-Fi connection which will force it to roam. Or, you can force a roam by totally losing connectivity, but this will take 2 seconds to a few minutes to accomplish, which is unacceptable in an industrial environment.

Solution: Moxa’s AWK series maintains a strong signal by actively managing the wireless connection through our Turbo Roaming technology. When a signal drops below a threshold, our radios begin constantly looking for possible choices. If a signal drops too low, or the client radio detects that the AP is no longer responsive and it will initiate a roam in 150ms. To put this into perspective, the human eye blinks from 300-400ms so the radios can make a transition twice as fast as the eye can blink. What makes this especially important is that this intelligence is built into the client and it is AP agnostic. This means that you can have any AP and it will work with a Moxa client and will still provide the intelligent roaming. For more information on the AWK series, please fill out the form on this page.

Radio

Wireless radios can be affected by erratic high frequency (HF) noises, other radios within the area, and EMI within an industrial environment. To ensure reliable communication, industrial applications need to use powerful radios that can actively manage their connectivity and have access to frequency bands that are clean (via Dynamic Frequency Selection).

With Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS), you can double the amount of open channels with the little potential for interference. There are still many wireless devices that do not support this frequency band, so that means there are many untouched channels with a high likelihood of being completely open.

Solution: Moxa’s AWK radios provide connection reliability and better compatibility. They are certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance to be interoperable. In other words, a Moxa client or AP is certified to work with another party that is also certified. Additionally, when you have applications that are mission critical, Moxa’s radios are capable of full radio redundancy through what we call AeroLink Protection. Our AeroLink Protection technology creates a reliable redundant wireless bridge where you can have any number of clients connected to various APs while the clients monitor the signal. If an interference, blockage, or radio failure is detected, the system will seamlessly transition to the next radio in 300ms. For more information on the AWK radios, please fill out the form on this page.