The Internet of Things (IoT) is real and changing how factory production is managed. For the electronics industry, it’s another demonstration of how an application ecosystem is needed to make potential into reality.
By Bill Schweber
The potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) is getting a lot of attention, and with good reason. Technology now allows monitoring of nearly every aspect of the home, factory floor, office, or even a person, and enables control of many of these factors. Terms like “smart home” or “networked home” are being used, as consumers adopt sophisticated devices such as the Internet-enabled Nest thermostat, which learns user lifestyle, adapts to needs, saves energy, and supports remote monitoring and control. The near-ubiquitous access to the cloud and data is also driving the IoT as an attractive proposition.
While most of the IoT attention and hype has been focused on the mass market, the reality is that IoT commitment and uptake is higher in industrial settings. This is a major part of the manufacturing transition to Industry 4.0, which leverages enhanced, pervasive sensing, numerous smaller, distributed controllers, and tight connectivity. For example, one of GE’s most updated factories has more than 10,000 sensors spread across approximately 17,000 m2 of manufacturing space.
Fig. 1: Industry 4.0 (Internet of Things) makes use of countless sensors and connectivity via multiple secure gateways, with cloud-based data analysis and high-level management. (Source: Intel)
Why an industrial focus?
A multipoint Industry 4.0 installation is complex. There are issues and challenges ranging from points to be monitored and even controlled up to system-level connectivity, performance, initialization, and the user interface. A functional and reliable Industry 4.0 installation requires individuals with expertise, time, patience, and commitment, which many homeowners don’t have in the quantities needed.
In contrast, there are good reasons for the attractiveness of the IoT architecture that makes Industry 4.0 a reality in the plant and manufacturing environment:
- A fully integrated IoT system may need a mix of wired, wireless, and optical fiber networks; it is not a simple network to implement. The basic Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) network in most homes is not robust or reliable enough for the plant environment.
- The return-on-investment payback in energy savings and other factors is more immediate, tangible, and measurable. Effective IoT implementation can increase operating efficiency and reduce the need for manual intervention, especially critical in facilities that operate around the clock, and not just in a single eight- or ten-hour shift. By applying analytics to the collected data, building and plant operators can get deeper perspectives on their operations and opportunities for improvement.
- Distributed computing and control puts critical decision making closer to the machine and process, thus minimizing bottlenecks and shortening control loops for higher manufacturing throughput with tighter process limits and tolerances.
- It’s a good fit with the programmable logic controller (PLC), still the dominant factory-floor and industrial process control system due to the ruggedness of its hardware (temperature, vibration, dirt), robustness of software and operating system, simple user interface, appropriate form factor, and capable and tailored I/O. In short, its focus on the application rather than extraneous features works well in this setting.
An opportunity at an inflection point
From a vendor perspective, IoT and Industry 4.0 are obviously a huge opportunities. According to IHS report I/O Modules Report – 2014, the worldwide market for Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) input/output components (mostly ICs) will see five to seven percent CAGR between now and 2017, and the PLC and its I/O are critical to implementing Industry 4.0. For IC and component suppliers, it is critical to work closely with customers, as well as vital third parties who are part of the broader ecosystem, to provide needed pieces to complete an IoT system. It’s an essential opening to get in on the ground floor of a growth area, as well as learn about the priorities and concerns of leading-edge, high-volume, sophisticated users. It’s also an opportunity to leverage their unique technical expertise and blending of technologies to a growth market.
That’s why vendors such as Intel, Freescale Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, and others are investing in this area. Drilling down below the high-level block diagram, a complete IoT solution requires a combination of signal-conditioning for the sensors and actuators, ultra-low-power processors, power-management ICs (including energy harvesting), and a selection of connectivity options. All of these must be integrated as hardware components, as well as with the operational software that ties them together. This must be done with careful consideration of trade-offs among factors such as duty cycle, data rates, power management, connectivity options (ZigBee® or Bluetooth® Smart, for example), link reliability, system security and robustness, and potential throughput.
The IoT ecosystem is reaching a solid “take-off” point with critical mass, as vendors address the needs of system designers and independent third parties via low-cost evaluation kits and development tools to help benchmark them and effectively use the various offerings. These outside participants are often the less visible parts of the ecosystem, but act as the vital enablers who get the wheels of progress moving and keep them going forward.
Unlike so many other much-hyped “next-big-thing” developments of recent years, IoT provides genuine benefits for industrial, commercial, and even consumer users. The necessary components are available, along with the applications-software modules supporting low-level I/O and connectivity management all the way to the user interface. The result is improved production efficiency and energy management—all priority goals in today’s competitive environment.
