For hard-to-wire locations and constantly-changing work landscapes with moving equipment and heavy machinery, such as applications commonly found at mining sites, wireless connectivity is the ideal solution for providing highly flexible and efficient network communication. However, most industrial applications require a stable and reliable wireless network that can only be achieved with industrial-grade wireless devices.

Industrial operators using commercial-grade wireless devices for mission-critical wireless applications may be getting satisfactory wireless network service, but frequent maintenance and system downtime can add up to a high total cost of ownership. In this paper, we reveal many harmful effects commonly found in industrial environments that can quickly disable a commercial-grade wireless device, and discuss the types of protection an industrial-grade wireless device should provide to ensure continuous wireless network communication.