In recent years, the industrial applications of the wireless transmission of data acquired through sensors have been growing. Addressing the challenges or requirements that come with this needs the integration of new product designs and manufacturing techniques with automation devices. Factors like development time, security, reliability, transmission in an industrial environment, data rate, battery life with energy harvesting capabilities, etc. are of major concerns.

This thesis is based on the Wärtsilä smart NOx sensor case study which investigates the possibility of replacing the existing wired CAN bus connection between the smart NOx sensor and the rapid control prototyping system speedgoat and possibly in the future the Engine Control Unit (ECU) with a wireless communication solution. The designed prototype would wirelessly transmit the smart NOx sensor data. The smart NOx sensor data is received using a CAN bus integrated with a wireless transmitter module. The wireless receiver module receives the data and then relays the CAN frames through an integrated CAN Bus to the speedgoat. A matlab simulink module has been programmed into the speedgoat to receive the CAN frames, calculate O2% and NOx ppm values and display the results on a monitor connected to the speedgoat. Criteria like transmission in industrial environments, packet loss, RSSI, bit error rate, reliability and security of the wireless solution are analyzed. According to the analysis done and best practices, a wireless solution is recommended and implemented. The wireless-CAN prototype is installed on the Wärtsilä W4L20 diesel engine in VEBIC for monitoring and observation.