Network Enhancement - Pepperl+Fuchs WHA-GW Manual

WHA-GW-*
Operation
Firmware Upgrade: Installation completed
6.4

Network Enhancement

Once the WirelessHART network is running, there are some simple measures that will help
enhancing network performance and reliability. Those measures are described in the
following.
Note!
After having installed and set up a wireless network, give the network a couple of hours to
stabilize itself before taking the following steps.
Verify Connections
Check that each device has joined the network and is communicating properly (see
chapter 6.2.2).
If you cannot establish a connection to a device, the device is probably too far away or an
obstacle blocks the radio waves. In this case, add an additional device to bridge the gap.
Eliminate Bottlenecks
If the messages of several devices all have to pass through one single device to get to the
Gateway, the network has a bottleneck. If the device at the bottleneck fails, whole parts of
the network get cut off from communication because there are no alternative paths to route
messages.
To eliminate bottlenecks in a wireless network, add at least one device near the bottleneck
to provide redundant communication paths (see Figure 6.14 on page 82). There should
always be at least two communication paths from one device to another.
81