Coexistence (Industrial Communicaiton)

“Coexistence” in industrial communication refers to the ability of different wireless communication systems to operate in the same frequency band without causing interference or disruptions to each other’s performance. In the context of IO-Link Wireless, which operates in the unlicensed 2.4GHz ISM band, coexistence is essential because existing wireless networks are already in use. IO-Link Wireless employs mechanisms such as blocklisting and adaptive frequency hopping to ensure that it can work alongside other wireless systems without causing interference. Blocklisting prevents air collisions with systems like Wi-Fi by mapping out blocklisted channels, and frequency hopping changes the transmission frequencies to reduce interference impact. This coexistence strategy allows IO-Link Wireless to maintain high performance and reliability, similar to a wired connection, even in environments with multiple coexisting wireless networks and interferers.