Abstract: A system is provided for monitoring the temperature of dryer drums in papermaking or textile machinery. Wireless temperature sensors are mounted to each dryer drum. Sensor pickup devices receive temperature signals from the temperature sensors that are processed by a computer. Multiplexers may be used to provide the signals from multiple sensor pickup devices to a radio-frequency transmitter. A radio-frequency receiver may be used to receive signals from the transmitter and provide these signals to a computer. The computer determines the temperature of the drums by processing the temperature signals. The computer may provide control signals to a distributed control system to control the temperature of the drums (e.g., by controlling the flow of steam into the dryer section).