Fundamental principles of controller-based Industrial Wireless LAN

The SCALANCE WLC711 IWLAN controller enables centralized management of an Industrial Wireless LAN. It automatically detects new access points, establishes a connection to them, and manages and coordinates access points and clients. Thanks to the Layer 3 architecture, access points located in different Layer 2 subnets can also be managed. This function allows wireless expansion of an existing Ethernet network without having to make changes to the existing network topology.

With the IWLAN controller, the IWLAN wireless infrastructure can be divided into logical, service-based networks (Virtual Network Services). Different services, security requirements and access criteria can thus be reliably managed, and different user groups such as administrators, commissioning engineers, or visitors can use the same wireless network.

In the same way, different applications such as Voice-over-IP (VoIP), video and Internet access can use the same infrastructure. The result is optimal capacity utilization of the IWLAN network.

If applications with high reliability and availability requirements are to communicate wirelessly, either two IWLAN controllers can be operated redundantly or the access points can be set up redundantly (overlapping of the radio links due to two wireless cards in the device).

In applications where cable connections are not possible or are only possible with difficulty, the controller-based access points can be reliably integrated into the network even without a cable connection. Thanks to the mesh algorithms, the access points can resume communication in the event of a network error.

The controller-based access points of the SCALANCE W780C series can only be used with the SCALANCE WLC711 IWLAN controller and can only be configured using this IWLAN controller.

The IWLAN controller connects, manages and coordinates all access point and clients such that the WLAN environment appears like several IP subnets with central management. The individual connections are additionally managed here, and the stations can therefore move securely and reliably throughout the entire radio network.

Diagnostics and management functions

As well as centralized management and wireless network configuration, the SCALANCE WLC711 IWLAN controller also offers error recording, wireless network monitoring, and documentation of network statistics.