In an environment where users increasingly expect solutions to provide continuous monitoring and lifecycle management to boost productivity, especially in hazardous environments, annual shipments of wireless devices for industrial automation applications reached 5.8 million units worldwide in 2025, accounting for approximately 6% of all new connected nodes, a study by Berg Insight has found.
And according to the internet of things (IoT) market research firm’s resulting Global Industrial Wireless Solutions Market report, technology suppliers are progressively embedding cyber security capabilities directly into their products and annual shipments are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1% to reach 8.5 million by 2030.
The study observed that instrumentation is particularly important in process industries where continuous monitoring and precise control of process variables are essential. Field instruments are also increasingly being used in factory automation applications such as machine and condition monitoring.
Although wired networking solutions are still predominantly used for industrial communications between sensors, controllers and systems, the study found that wireless solutions are widely used as wired replacements in hard-to-reach or hazardous areas, on moving machine parts and on portable equipment.
“The standardised wireless technologies Wi-Fi, IEEE 802.15.4 and Bluetooth have advanced to become the leading wireless technologies for industrial applications,” noted Veronika Barta, IoT analyst at Berg Insight.
Other wireless technologies include cellular, proprietary radio solutions in the unlicensed ISM 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz bands, non-3GPP LPWA, satellite, IO-Link Wireless and non-802.15.4 WPAN technologies.
Looking at companies providing technology to the market, the study observed that a growing number of wireless field devices are being provided by many major industrial automation supplirs, including ABB, Emerson, Honeywell Technologies, Omron, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens and Yokogawa. Leading suppliers of industrial wireless sensing solutions for process and factory automation include Balluff, Banner Engineering, Endress+Hauser, ifm electronic, Krohne, Pepperl+Fuchs, SICK, Turck and Vega.
Berg also highlighted how major providers of wired industrial network equipment also offer wireless solutions to enable customers to monitor and control devices wirelessly in parts of the plant that are normally not connected due to accessibility or wiring costs.
These include Siemens, Cisco, Belden, Moxa and Phoenix Contact, which all offer industrial wireless devices such as routers, gateways and access points along with their wired solutions. Cellular solutions are typically used for data acquisition and backhaul communications in distributed automation applications.
The largest providers of cellular IoT gateways and routers in the industrial space include Teltonika Networks, Cisco, Moxa, Siemens, HMS Networks, Phoenix Contact, Advantech, Robustel, Digi International and InHand Networks. In addition to the leading industrial WLAN solution suppliers Cisco, Belden, Siemens and Moxa, other providers of WLAN devices include Phoenix Contact, Westermo (Ependion), Advantech, HMS Networks and ACKSYS (iXnov Group).
Cyber security was also seen to have become one of the highest strategic priorities for suppliers of industrial networking and control solutions as environments become increasingly connected. Indeed, the analyst believes that the convergence of operational technology and IT, combined with the growing adoption of industrial IoT, remote access and edge computing, has significantly expanded the attack surface of industrial systems.
The ability to deliver robust cyber security capabilities was highlighted as being an important differentiator for solution providers, particularly in sectors such as manufacturing, energy, utilities and critical infrastructure. “Cyber security is no longer viewed as a standalone technology layer, but rather as a foundational design principle across the industrial automation system architecture,” Barta concluded.
