The industrial internet of things (IIoT) sometimes called Industry 4.0 – is radically changing how businesses, especially industrial companies, operate.
Let’s begin with a short IIoT definition:
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) refers to the vast number of machines and devices – or ‘things’ – a business uses that are now connected to the Internet. Protecting this critical operational data, secure IIoT forms a closed, private Internet network where the devices can communicate and share data with other people, systems, and things. This data can be used to improve existing work practices and business processes as well as creating entirely new ways of doing things.
The industrial internet of things (IIoT) sometimes called Industry 4.0 – is radically changing how businesses, especially industrial companies, operate.
Let’s begin with a short IIoT definition:
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) refers to the vast number of machines and devices – or ‘things’ – a business uses that are now connected to the Internet. Protecting this critical operational data, secure IIoT forms a closed, private Internet network where the devices can communicate and share data with other people, systems, and things. This data can be used to improve existing work practices and business processes as well as creating entirely new ways of doing things.
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What is IIoT?
The industrial internet of things (IIoT)
sometimes called Industry 4.0 – is radically
changing how businesses, especially industrial
companies, operate.
Let’s begin with a short IIoT definition:
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) refers
to the vast number of machines and devices –
or ‘things’ – a business uses that are now
connected to the Internet. Protecting this
critical operational data, secure IIoT forms a
closed, private Internet network where the
devices can communicate and share data with
other people, systems, and things. This data
can be used to improve existing work practices
and business processes as well as creating
entirely new ways of doing things.
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Improved operational efficiency
Industrial IoT software allows you to create environments of
connected assets that bring a wide range of operational
efficiency benefits. Sensors located in production systems,
assembly lines, warehouses and vehicles produce data that
helps managers monitor exactly how an asset is performing
and address issues before they arise.
Increased productivity
Industrial IoT solutions provide real-time information on the
performance of equipment and people to help streamline and
improve business processes and workflows.
Cost reduction
Deploying IIoT offers large cost saving benefits for organizations. For example,
industrial IoT devices can save dramatically on energy bills – by as much as 70%
on lighting and 30% on air-conditioning, according to some estimates.
Enhanced customer experience
By placing industrial IoT sensors within products, manufacturers are able to
capture and analyze data on how customers actually use their products – enabling
them to improve future product upgrades and releases.
Reduce waste
Inventory management is one of the most important benefits of IIoT software. By
attaching IIoT devices to products, warehouses and vehicles you can make the
entire supply chain process more effective, reducing the need for excess inventory
and the potential for stock-outs.
Improved
operational
efficiency
Increased
productivity Cost
reduction
Enhanced
customer
experience Reduce
waste
Benefits of IIoT
As IIoT devices become smaller, cheaper and smarter, they can
be applied almost everywhere. The data they create can be
turned into actionable insight that delivers incredible business
benefits including:
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Many organizations have been attracted by the benefits of
industrial internet of things but realizing those benefits is not
straightforward. There are many industrial IoT challenges to
overcome before an organization can institute a successful IIoT
program. These include:
Industrial IoT Security
Security is one the biggest challenges for IIoT adoption. Many
devices are collecting extremely sensitive data but, in many cases,
the devices have been designed with little thought to security.
Industrial IoT security must ensure that the identity of every
person, system and thing on the network is properly managed
and detected.
Challenges of IIoT
Data Privacy
As more and more devices are connected to the Internet,
concerns surrounding how personal and sensitive data are
captured, transmitted and stored also grow. The value of
IIoT lies in the ability to access, integrate, and analyze this
data while maintaining data privacy.
Industrial IoT Standards
Standards lie at the heart of the development and adoption
of IIoT. Today, there are many IIoT standards but little
standardization. For example, IIoT devices use a variety of
methods to connect and share data, including LTE, LP-WAN,
wi-fi, Bluetooth, satellite and even Ethernet when connected
directly to a network.
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Data Management
Handling the volume and velocity of data being created by industrial IoT
devices is a significant challenge for every organization. All this IIoT data must
be collected, stored and analyzed before it can be turned into actionable insight
that can drive improved decision-making.
Deployment Models
According to PTC, 62% of IIoT deployments are on-premise, while 38% are in
the cloud. The vast amounts of IIoT data being created places greater pressure
on delivering flexible and scalable capacity. For industrial IoT, a cloud
deployment offers performance and security gains over on-premise solutions.
Hybrid industrial IoT cloud deployment – splitting processing between internal
systems and the cloud – is a fast-growing deployment model for many
businesses.
Challenges of IIoT
Range of IIoT Devices
IIoT has many different components and there
are many different types of industrial IoT devices.
Typically, industrial IoT device examples include
sensors, actuators, tags, beacons and receivers.
When creating an IIoT network, all these devices
have to be effectively and securely integrated to
derive the full value of your IIoT investments.
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Of the many different protocols Message Queue Telemetry
Transport (MQTT) complements all the necessities of IoT. With
a view to meet the Industry 4.0 demands, Messung now
offers NX-ERA, the complete industrial automation solution to
connect your business to IoT universe. All of our NX-ERA
products now support MQTT.
When updating the firmware of the PLC to the latest version
and using MasterTool IEC XE version 3.20, all the NX-ERA
PLCs could make your business closer to Industry 4.0.
IIoT Protocol
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It is a lightweight message protocol that is based on
subscription-publishing model and requires low bandwidth.
E.g.: Facebook uses MQTT for its messenger product on
mobile platform, to ensure usage of this application is
minimized.
• This model follows/defines two entities in the network:
the broker (also called server) and the clients.
• Using our MasterTool programmer, the user will be able
to transform our PLC into a client, thereby allowing from
a simple TCP / IP connection to a secure connection
based on TLS certificates.
MQTT is a high-level architecture and consists of two main
parts (Broker & Clients)
Why MQTT?
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• As can be seen, this protocol does not
require synchronization between the
parties involved, as the broker is
responsible for ensuring the delivery of
published messages.
• So, broker helps to sort the information
and better manage the messages.
• Types of brokers available are Eclipse
IoT Mosquito, Active MQ, Hive MQ etc.
Broker
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• Clients are any devices (PLC in our case) which interact with
broker; either publishing messages or subscribing to a topic.
• Topics are the routes where messages are published within a
broker.
• When PLC publishes message to the broker; and broker
forwards this message to subscribers avoiding point-to-point
connections between subscribers and publishers.
• When broker (server) publishes any message, then PLC
(client) acts as a subscriber.
• MQTT supports TLS (Transport Security Level) for secure
connection between client & server. Communication between
client and server is established via TCP connection or an
encrypted TLS connection for secure messages.
Clients:
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• Any web service tool could be used as a programming platform for intuitive
and straightforward integration between smart devices, PLCs and brokers.
Node-Red is an example of the web server tool.
• If we write or publish a message from Node-Red, this published message
will be received by broker first. If PLC is subscribed to this message under
any topic, then it will receive the message from the broker.
• Thus, it is possible to communicate with different cloud platforms, such as
Node-RED®, where it is possible to create supervision diagrams for an
entire system, including different devices.
Web Service Tools
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CASE STUDY
Our customer is an Automotive Ancillary Manufacturing company having a huge installed base of PLCs
(of different make) inA their premises being utilized for varied applications including Robotic Cells.
Customer Requirement
Application: Robot Line Welding Machine
The customer wanted his PRODUCTION data and some critical alarms to be monitored on Web
Visualisation tool and to collect the data centrally in a local Server. Also to be energy efficient, the
customer wanted to monitor energy consumed at each stage of the production line.
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Since the existing PLC does not support Industry 4.0 compatibility, Messung suggested
a cost effective solution to retrofit the PLC with latest NX-ERA XPRESS PLC which has
integrated multiple protocol communication including MQTT & OPC UA protocols.
To take care of Energy Management System, energy meters were installed with
Modbus RTU communication facility. The NX-ERA XPRESS PLC gathered the data from
the energy meters on integrated MODBUS Protocol (inbuilt RS485 port). Moreover the
data was compiled and sent to the Customer Server.
The application was developed, panel rewired and monitored within an hour. What's
more, this task was accomplished during the break, so it helped to reduce machine
downtime.
The data was taken on TCP/IP port to the Customer Server on MQTT with broker
running on the same.
Proposed Solution
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Conclusion
Messung NX-ERA PLCs for Industrial Automation have opened new doors to ever increasing demands for Internet
of Things by introducing MQTT, where the users can operate, make analysis and even save on their existing
sensors, devices or even machines.
With Messung's smart factory automation & control solutions, users can check, monitor and even control
some of the critical functionalities of any machine in the plant at their fingertips on their interactive devices based
on operating systems like MAC OS, Windows, IOS or Androids.
Messung's cutting-edge industrial automation & control solutions with IIoT can transform operations and
efficiencies across the shop floor.
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As proven industrial automation system integrators and leading PLC supplier in India, Messung has
• in-depth understanding of industrial machinery, production processes and practical implementation of technology
• strong team of experienced engineers
• tried and tested execution methodology
A pioneering industrial automation & control systems supplier and provider of machine automation & control solutions
for four decades, you can trust Messung's cutting-edge industrial automation & control solutions with IIoT to transform
operations and efficiencies across the shop floor.
About Messung