Wireless data acquisition is the latest technological marvel. Tired of messy wires dangling all over your rooms? Need a tangle-free, uncomplicated way to transfer and receive data? What if your data could just magically zoom from one device to another without your even seeing it? This is just what WiFi and Bluetooth technologies do. It may surprise some of you to know that the block diagram of a wireless data acquisition system looks exactly the same as one with wires. This is because only the wired network is removed and replaced by the wireless one. Everything else remains the same. The only difference is, instead of data going over wires, it travels wirelessly.



So what makes this magic work? Usually, a wireless capable transmitter is fitted onto a transducer. This transmitter will be in sync with all the standard communication protocol. The Wifi or Bluetooth enabled transmitter may be placed within in the transducer itself. This helps the creators to get the signal over a wire less system from the transducer. Because only digital signals could be sent over such networks, using the regular WiFi or a Bluetooth is not possible under these circumstances. So these get sent as an RF signal. Before using it at the destination point, the RF signal is isolated and its value is taken.

If an analog to digital converter does the work of transmission, it is generally transferred in digital mode. Designers of the technology have realized that the standard forms of transmission carry more weight and the data they convey are easy to use. The data would then make sure that the WiFi or Bluetooth is received using a well suited design. If such is the case, it is also convenient to provide a network as these devices also come with a plug out of their Ethernet ports. This allows the device to become a part of the computer network without any hassles. An added advantage is that, the software programming used to capture the input from Ethernet ports such as these, is pretty simple to use as well.

Building your own wireless data acquisition system is pretty easy too. Just look up the relevant devices on the internet. Many websites are dedicated solely to marketing such devices. Depending upon your needs, they can create and deliver the wireless data acquisition network to you. It is better to have an entire network built on a wireless platform, than to have one on a wired platform. In the short run, the wired system may seem to make sense, because it is cheaper. But in the long run, wireless will become far less expensive, so it makes sense to invest in one. Why is the initial investment in wireless larger than a wired system? Because in one go, the company will set up the device that will never require maintenance, never need repair work and never give you complaints. A wired system is cheap to set up, but difficult to maintain. There also seems to be a reduction in the overall gain of companies in using wireless data acquisition networks.