9/5/2016 Advances in sensing, connectivity, and control fuel IIoT designs ­ Embedded Computing Design

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Advances in sensing, connectivity, andcontrol fuel IIoT designs

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The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) promises to deliver astep change in efficiency and a leap towards autonomy forindustrial automation and other sectors, such as security andsurveillance and building management. The prospect of self­monitoring, self­managing factories and manufacturingprocesses is no longer beyond the distant horizon. The abilityto remotely identify, monitor, and control every individual

WIREN PERERA, ON SEMICONDUCTOR

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device on a manufacturing process network with minimal orno human intervention offers opportunities that were beyondcomprehension just a decade ago – even in the eyes ofengineers working at the very forefront of industrialmanufacturing technology. At the core of achieving the IIoT’strue potential will be the effective interplay and connection ofsensing, computing, and control technologies in robust,energy­efficient implementations.

Successful IIoT design and management can mean continuouslyoptimized efficiency, reduced operating costs, and more resilientself­learning processes. At the fulcrum of this are a number ofsemiconductor technologies on offer and in development at someof the world’s top electronic component manufacturers.

The key drivers in the IIoT are more measurement of an expandingnumber of parameters, fast and extensive analysis of and reactionsto data, and accelerated enhancements to processes.

Vision­based sensing and energy harvesting

Sensors are at the heart of the IIoT, gathering more and more data.But to measure more, we need to sense more – more parameters,more accurately, and more often. Overlaying software onestablished technologies can bring incremental gains, but to makethe necessary advances we need to add more parameters withaccuracy. Each additional parameter can make the system smarter.

Sensor technology to measure “traditional” parameters, such astemperature, light, position, level, humidity, and pressure, continuesto advance. But despite becoming smaller, more cost­effective, andoften embedded, each sensor is dedicated and, hence, limited in itsfunctionality and versatility. Vision­based sensing enables a new

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paradigm. Corollary to the concept of “a picture is worth a thousandwords,” once a machine can “see,” much more is possible muchfaster.

With vision sensing, programmability brings flexibility, enabling asingle vision system to sense missing or misplaced componentsand other process variables. The trend towards vision­basedsensing – both still and video – will make future systems moreintelligent, flexible, and ultimately more valuable.

Current advances in machine vision, in many situations, canprovide better sight than the human eye. Coupled with thereduction in risks associated with human error, it enables a newdegree of adaptability and speed for reconfigurable productionprocesses. This could be anything from optimization based on real­time events to the reconfiguration of a system that may allowmultiple products to be made on a single line. They only require asimple change from one control program to the next and thesystem is ready to run. This has obvious cost, time, and laborbenefits and reduces the risks associated with error.

However, the distributed nature of the IIoT and the requirement toplace multiple sensors at the various points of measurementpresents another challenge: the reliable delivery of power.

Successful sensors, especially those utilized in IIoT designs, havefour basic attributes: they need to be self­powered, collect data,broadcast their status, and have the ability toconnect. Wireless sensors with the ability to harvest energy, i.e.self­powered, are essential if the IIoT is to advance and realize itspotential. ON Semiconductor’s energy harvesting, wireless SmartPassive Sensor family, as shown in Figure 1, provides an exampleof the technology that can meet these requirements. These devices

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can be used to sense in the most hard to access, spaceconstrained places with no direct power source.

[Figure 1 | ON Semiconductor’s Smart Passive Sensor family are wireless and self­powered]

Being able to harvest power will allow sensors to functionautonomously.

Instant access to data

Sensors gather data, and then post­processing and analyticsgenerate valuable information, along with the ability to control ourfactories and processes.

The processing of large, sustained flows of data associated withreal­time sensing for the IIoT is reliant on the cloud. This analysisrequires platforms that can store large data sets across distributedclusters; often combining and processing data from manygeographically dispersed sources.

Among the many benefits the cloud brings is the removal ofbarriers in global organizations. For example, a problem in aChinese smart factory can trigger an almost instantaneous processimprovement in a similar factory located somewhere else in theworld.

Advances in secure communications and authentication allowmobile devices to connect into these networks, bringing

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opportunities for instantaneous access to information. Flexibleaccess can then drive value into the business and its relationshipswith the outside world. In fact, this IT/Operational Technology (OT)integration, as shown in Figure 2, has the potential to bring thegreatest benefits to a broad range of industrial­automationapplications.

[Figure 2 | IT/OT integration]

Reacting to analyzed data

Many industrial control systems are very sophisticated and requireaccurate or careful, often rapid, positioning. This could meananything from the speed and direction of a cooling fan, to a motoror servo that adjusts a valve position, or a stepper motor for linearor angular positioning in a precision task.

Alongside the rapid development of sensing for the IIoT,the actuatorsand their controllers that provide the physical

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reactions to gathered, analyzed data are seeing similaradvancements. Discrete, component based solutions for motorcontrol are being superseded by advanced integrated powermodules that are smaller and more straightforward to implement.

Combining sensing, connectivity, and actuation

Integrated manufacturing processes require a broad range ofsensing technologies to be combined with connectivity andactuation, which creates design and expertise challenges. Fullyintegrated hardware and software development platforms thatcombine these elements are crucial to help speed and ease thecustomization of specific functions for adoption into end products.Modularity makes these platforms extensible to new IoT/IIoTfunctions and devices that are based on new advances, allowingmore rapid adoption. Open­source support is also important, sincea broad ecosystem and interoperability are crucial for the IoT’ssuccess.

Vision sensing is a good example. From a hardware perspective,this requires video processing capability to implement, as well asimage­processing software to interpret the data stream. Similarly,data gathered from energy harvesting wireless sensors must beable to be moved to the cloud (see Figure 3).

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[Figure 3 | ON Semiconductor’s IoT Development Kit for Smart Passive sensors allows themovement of sensor data to the cloud for applications development]

Sensors, data processing, and actuators are all significant buildingblocks of an IIoT application. However, without a means tocommunicate, share data, and transmit, receive and executeinstructions, the IIoT cannot function.

Considering the IIoT’s unique requirements, not all standards andprotocols are satisfactory. The technologies suitable forsmartphone PANs or single­supplier standards are unlikely to besuccessful. Instead, it’s important for IIoT platforms to demonstrateflexibility by supporting a broad array of standards, includingThread, SIGFOX, EnOcean, M­BUS, KNX, ZigBee, and proprietaryprotocols. The adoption of a software­defined radio approachallows a single platform to support multiple protocols. ZigBee andThread are complementary, and the alliance of the industryorganizations behind these protocols should also drive broadadoption within smart home applications.

Thread is an IP­based (IPv6) networking protocol built on openstandards for low­power 802.15.4 mesh networks that can easilyand securely connect hundreds of devices to each other and

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directly to the cloud. Security and interoperability are two ofThread’s key value­added capabilities.

Conversely, SIGFOX enables wide­area networks that providerelatively low bandwidth communication with fixed or mobile smartobjects or sensors that are deployed over a large area. Exampleapplications for this protocol include the nationwide tracking ofshipping containers or vehicles, and communication withgeographically spread assets such as smart­city equipment or oilpumps and pipelines.