Best Wireless Vibration and Ultrasound Sensors in 2027

A vibration sensor tells you a bearing is wearing. An ultrasound sensor can show the friction behind it earlier, which gives a lubrication team time to act.

Five wireless condition monitoring vendors are compared here on the signals they cover: Tractian, Augury, AssetWatch, Petasense and Waites. Specs change, so confirm current figures with each vendor before you buy.

What Should You Look for in a Vibration and Ultrasound Sensor?

Start with the signals the sensor captures continuously, because a sensor that samples ultrasound occasionally gives a different picture than one that streams it. Then check vibration bandwidth, battery life, connectivity, hazardous-area certification and who interprets the data. Learn more about how ultrasound and vibration sensors work together.

Continuous monitoring differs from periodic ultrasonic testing with a handheld instrument, where a technician listens to one bearing at a time on a route.

How Do the Vendors Compare?

"Not stated" in the table means the vendor does not mention it, not that the product lacks it. Waites and Petasense offer ultrasonic-range sensing through different hardware, covered in their sections below.

Tractian Smart Trac Ultra

Best for

Plants that want vibration and continuous ultrasound in one wireless sensor, with their own technicians seeing diagnosed faults, including in washdown and hazardous areas.

Overview

Tractian Smart Trac Ultra puts vibration and continuous ultrasound in a single wireless housing, with temperature and RPM measured alongside.

Data travels over 4G/LTE to the Tractian condition monitoring platform, and Auto Diagnosis names the likely failure mode on motors, pumps, fans, gearboxes and compressors. Poor lubrication is a common cause of premature bearing failure, so the ultrasound channel supports condition-based maintenance that greases bearings when the signal calls for it. The ultrasonic and vibration sensor video shows both signals side by side.

• Quick install: no cabling or plant network is needed; a sensor is mounted with adhesive or drill-and-tap and reports within minutes, with CMRP and CAT-certified field experts on hand for setup and training.
• Classified zones: beyond the IP69K washdown rating, the sensors are hazardous-location certified for ATEX, IECEx, and NFPA 70 Class 1, 2, and 3 (Division I).
• Work order handoff: ultrasound and vibration alerts reach CMMS, ERP and EAM tools, Maximo and Oracle among them, via Tractian integrations.

Key features

• Vibration trends and spectrum up to 64 kHz.
• Battery life of 3 to 5 years and an operating range of -40°F to 250°F.
• Line-of-sight reach up to 3,300 ft, or about 330 ft where equipment blocks the signal.
• Ultrasound alarms that support lubrication based on condition rather than static schedules, with the option to listen to the bearing while you grease it and check the result afterward.
• Severity-based failure detection alerts, each with a root cause and next steps.

Customer results and industries

• Food and beverage: Jacob Hoffine, Reliability Engineer at Ingredion, describes a lubrication problem that was found, fixed and rechecked on the platform, and says that without Tractian "we would have never noticed." Lubrication-driven bearing wear on motors, mixers and conveyors is where ultrasound gives the earliest signal, a pattern common in condition-based maintenance in beverage plants.
• Metals: At Cadillac Casting, a Michigan foundry, Tractian flagged bearing wear and fast-declining lubrication on a 200 HP motor shortly after installation. The team swapped the motor over a weekend, and the teardown confirmed a locked bearing rubbing on the shaft.

When planning a pilot on lubrication-critical assets, work through the 7 things to prove before scaling a machine monitoring pilot.

Tractian pricing for vibration and ultrasound coverage

A Tractian quote starts from the assets you want watched: which bearings and gearboxes are critical, which failure modes threaten them, and where ultrasound coverage pays off on top of vibration. A specialist then prices a plan around that risk, so bring your list of lubrication-critical machines to the first call.

Questions to ask before you buy

• What does continuous ultrasound catch on my bearings and gearboxes that vibration misses early on? It flags friction and lubrication changes, so greasing can follow condition instead of a fixed schedule.
• Can I see a diagnosed lubrication fault from a plant like mine? Auto Diagnosis ties the signal to a failure mode, and the alert tells technicians the root cause and next step.
• How quickly do the first sensors report? With no cabling, 3 to 5 years of battery life and field experts at install, a first set of assets can go live fast.
• Is one sensor model enough for washdown lines and classified zones? IP69K handles washdown, and the hazardous-location certification above handles classified zones.
• Which food and beverage or metals customer can speak to the results? Ask for the Ingredion and Cadillac Casting references above.

Augury

Best for

Companies that want a broad machine health program across asset types with human-reviewed diagnostics.

Overview

Augury sells machine health monitoring that combines continuous sensors, AI diagnostics and human review. Its IoT sensors capture vibration, temperature and magnetic data, with coverage of 200+ asset types.

Key features

• Product tiers for critical equipment, hazardous areas, ultra-low RPM (below 20 RPM) assets and medium-criticality assets.
• Hazardous coverage stated for Class I and II, Division 1 and 2 environments.
• Recommended actions with human review by vibration analysts.
• CMMS and EAM integrations.
• A four-step loop of monitor, diagnose, validate and act, with a stated 75% fewer false alarms than threshold systems.
• An ultra-low RPM tier for large gearboxes, drums and kilns.

Ultrasound, battery life, wireless range and pricing are not stated. A tiered program means the coverage you receive depends on how each asset is classified.

Pricing

Augury quotes by program with no public price list, and the tier each asset falls into shapes the cost.

Questions to ask before you buy

• Does any Augury sensor capture ultrasound, and on which model? With no ultrasound stated, get it in writing if lubrication monitoring matters to you.
• Which tier would each of your assets fall into, and what does it cost? Ask for a quote broken down by the four criticality tiers.
• Which findings reach your team without analyst review, and how long does review take? Analysts validate critical diagnostics, so timing matters for fast-developing faults.

AssetWatch

Best for

Companies that want a managed program where the vendor does most of the analysis and runs the wireless network.

Overview

AssetWatch runs condition monitoring for its customers on a subscription. Vibration, temperature, electrical and oil analysis data feed one platform, and a person checks each finding before customers see it.

Key features

• 24/7 continuous vibration and temperature monitoring with triaxial accelerometers, plus route-based vibration, electrical monitoring and oil analysis.
• Cellular hubs included in the price, no corporate Wi-Fi needed, and a lifetime sensor warranty.
• A first actionable alert after a median of about 3 days, following an install of about one day.
• A $199 trial, and a Condition Monitoring Engineer per account.
• Alerts that explain what was detected, why it matters and what to do next.

No ultrasound is stated for AssetWatch sensing.

Pricing

The AssetWatch subscription carries no CapEx and starts with a $199 trial, but the ongoing price is not published. Over several years, an owned-sensor model can cost a different amount than a service fee. Learn more about CapEx or OpEx budgeting for condition monitoring.

What to confirm with AssetWatch

A lubrication program needs to know whether ultrasound is available and whether it runs continuously or on routes. Accuracy is worth testing on your own assets: in an r/IndustrialMaintenance thread on AssetWatch vibration sensors, a maintenance user said such sensors are far less accurate than a high-end vibration tech's equipment and typically measure a single location. Also ask what happens to the hardware and your history if you leave, and how long a finding waits for review before it reaches your team.

Petasense

Best for

Companies that want a wireless vibration mote on Wi-Fi, with wired add-on sensors for other signals.

Overview

Petasense offers wireless vibration motes that send data to its ARO cloud, plus a transmitter that supports additional wired sensors.

Key features

• VM4 mote: triaxial MEMS accelerometer with 1.6 kHz frequency response, temperature, Wi-Fi and field-replaceable CR123A batteries rated for up to 5 years with standard settings.
• VM4 Pro: 5.5 kHz frequency response and running speed detection, recommended for variable speed assets, early-stage bearing wear and gear mesh issues.
• Enclosure rated IP67 and certified for Class 1 Div 2 environments.
• Storage for up to 50 high-resolution readings if Wi-Fi drops, and event-based measurement at the edge on the Pro to save battery.
• A transmitter sensor menu that includes an ultrasound sensor (US1, 40 kHz detection), along with pressure and current sensors.

The US1 has a 1.5 m cable and a 0 to 50°C operating range, so it is a wired sensor on a transmitter rather than a function of the wireless mote.

Pricing

Petasense prices on request, and the cost of adding a transmitter and US1 to a mote is worth asking about separately.

What to confirm with Petasense

Ask whether the US1 can sit on the same asset as a vibration mote and how it is mounted, since cable routing and power matter on moving equipment. Because the VM4 runs on Wi-Fi, plan a site survey of coverage near motors, pumps and fans before a rollout. For Division 1 locations, confirm what is available beyond the Class 1 Div 2 rating.

Waites

Best for

Companies that want stainless steel wireless sensors with analyst review and high-frequency impact detection.

Overview

Waites sells wireless sensors housed in 316 stainless steel that monitor full-spectrum vibration and temperature, with radio reach of roughly 3,000 feet in line of sight.

Key features

• ImpactVUE, built into the S4, PiezoNode, SM1, SM6 and SM7 sensors, isolates high-frequency impact patterns to flag early bearing, gearbox, lubrication and looseness faults.
• ImpactVUE captures ultrasonic-range energy up to 50 kHz and works on assets turning as slow as 1 RPM.
• Continuous trending that connects impacts to named faults, unlike handheld ultrasonic inspection.
• Analysts and reliability engineers who review the data with machine learning.
• Tethered sensors and network hardware in addition to the wireless models.

Waites states an average customer return on investment of under 4 months. It does not state battery life, hazardous-area certifications such as ATEX or platform integrations.

Pricing

Waites sets prices per quote; ask whether ImpactVUE-equipped models cost more than the base sensors.

What to confirm with Waites

Without a battery figure, a replacement plan for hundreds of sensors cannot be budgeted, so ask for battery life at your sampling interval. Ask which diagnoses are automated and which wait on an analyst, including at shift changes and weekends. With no stated area rating or integrations, confirm the model suits your classified areas and how a fault reaches your maintenance system.

How to Choose a Vibration and Ultrasound Sensor

Start with your most critical bearings and gearboxes, then work through this checklist before you request a quote:

• List the machines where lubrication drives failure and the speeds they run at.
• Ask each vendor whether ultrasound is continuous, how it is mounted and what frequency it detects.
• Confirm battery life at your sampling interval and the area rating for your zones.
• Walk the site for gateway or Wi-Fi coverage before you commit.
• Decide who reads the alerts: your own team, AI, or a vendor analyst. Tractian also provides human review when a team wants it.
• Pilot on a small set of assets and compare alerts with what technicians find on inspection.

Keep a log of faults the pilot misses. In an r/IndustrialMaintenance discussion of vibration analysis for condition monitoring, around 50% of respondents still experienced failures despite vibration-based predictive maintenance, a maintenance user reported. The criteria for evaluating machine monitoring software help structure that review.

Learn more about how industrial IoT sensors work, vibration sensor traps to avoid during rollout, and wireless condition monitoring sensors beyond ultrasound.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a vibration sensor and an ultrasound sensor?

A vibration sensor measures machine movement, which shows imbalance, misalignment, looseness and bearing wear. An ultrasound sensor picks up high-frequency sound from friction, impacts and turbulence, which can show lubrication problems and early bearing faults before vibration levels change.

Do I need both vibration and ultrasound monitoring?

Vibration covers most rotating-equipment faults. Ultrasound adds earlier signs of friction and lubrication issues, so it is most useful on bearings and gearboxes where lubrication drives failure. A single sensor that captures both can reduce the number of devices per asset.

Which vendors cover ultrasound?

Ultrasound coverage by vendor:

• Tractian: continuous ultrasound alongside vibration in one wireless sensor.
• Waites: ImpactVUE reads ultrasonic-range energy to 50 kHz.
• Petasense: a wired US1 sensor with 40 kHz detection, attached to its transmitter.
• Augury and AssetWatch: vibration, temperature and other signals, with no stated ultrasound.

Confirm current specs with each vendor.

What should I ask a vendor before buying a vibration and ultrasound sensor?

Ask which signals the sensor captures continuously, the sampling bandwidth, battery life, connectivity requirements, hazardous-area certification, and who reviews alerts: software, AI, or a human analyst.

See Vibration and Ultrasound Monitoring in Your Plant

To see how a single sensor captures vibration and ultrasound on your assets, explore Tractian vibration analysis, or compare it with other predictive maintenance sensors.