1) Feasibility
A communications service provider must lay cables underground and set up local hot spots in a given area or facility to generate a WiFi service. However, this can be problematic if the equipment or sensors to be connected are in hard-to-reach areas. Examples include sensors monitoring the integrity of remote railway tracks, the performance of wind turbines, offshore oil wells, and other similar use cases. In these scenarios, cellular may be the better – or only – option, as cell towers create a mesh network that blankets a wide region for extensive data coverage.
2) Reliability
Within a facility such as a manufacturing plant or building, OEMs may have the option of connecting their equipment to the customer’s wireless network. However, the reliability of corporate WiFi may be an issue. WiFi operates in the unlicensed radio spectrum, which means that many devices out there – from microwave appliances to Bluetooth-enabled devices – can interfere with critical connectivity. The problem worsened because even the most well-designed WiFi network has dead spots. Access point range limitations also mean that connected devices that leave the coverage area of one access point will have to find another to connect to. It creates a problem when tracking fast-moving devices, for example, monitoring production across assembly lines.1
Conversely, cellular provides OEMs with the assurance of a dedicated, licensed piece of the spectrum and extensive coverage, which means no interference, higher-quality communications, and fewer dropped connections.
3) Ownership of the data channel
Another issue with using the customer’s corporate WiFi network is that the equipment must comply with the company’s IT security policies, such as firewalls and DMZ access, or risk being blocked from the network.
For OEMs, especially those supplying operationally-critical equipment, it is essential to have uninterrupted access to diagnostic and operational data, which they can use to improve customer service. With predictive and preventive maintenance, they can better understand the customer’s operating environment and improve the design of their products.
To avoid disruption, industrial OEMs should “own” the data channel. Investing in cellular allows them to do this and have greater control over their IoT deployment.
4) Onboarding experience
OEMs generally go to market through their network of distributors. When setting up the equipment at customer premises, it is important to ensure a friction-free onsite experience for these partners. With WiFi-connected equipment, the onboarding experience may require talking to multiple stakeholders like IT departments and facilities management teams. The network may have to be segmented to isolate IoT device traffic. A separate wireless subnet is created to ensure that devices that control critical aspects of business operations are not impacted by interference from employee or guest devices. All these require a significant integration effort, making onboarding time-consuming and costly.
With a cellular-based industrial IoT strategy, distributors can deploy pre-configured equipment directly to a customer site with minimal setup requirements. The OEM can manage their SIM cards and activate/deactivate, change rate plans and manage them online using an online user console.
5) End-to-End Security
Security is of paramount importance in an industrial IOT setting where business-critical operations are being powered by a network of connected sensors and devices and where communications may not be just one way but also involve command and control back to the machine.
While no network is ever 100 percent secure, cellular presents several security advantages over WiFi. Firstly, all cellular data is encrypted by default, while WiFi encryption often has to be turned on. This introduces the possibility of human oversight, which threat actors can exploit.
Security updates for a cellular network are undertaken by network operators who have the expertise and the reputational and financial incentive to deploy them as quickly as possible. In contrast, individual network owners usually implement WiFi security updates who may delay or overlook them.
WiFi networks are also generally easier to hack into. For example, “krack” attacks which exploit the WPA2 protocol protecting every modern WiFi network, are publicly available. On the other hand, attacks on a cellular network involve sophisticated ploys such as a cell tower simulation, network admin access at a major mobile carrier or operator, and enormous computing power.
