Key highlights
- By making high-quality process data more readily available, IIoT tools lower the learning curve for new personnel.
- The IIoT ecosystem enables automation and remote monitoring of process equipment, reducing manual labor and improving response times, especially in remote or hazardous environments.
If it saves time, money and labor, then whatever form IIoT networking takes is OK with its users, and whether it uses Internet protocols (IP) or not is apparently beside the point.
Endress+Hauser: the IIoT ecosystem
While IIoT is still formally defined by traditional OT architectures and related protocols, Jason Pennington, digital solutions director at Endress+Hauser, believes it’s evolving into an overall ecosystem for process applications and hardware, connecting people, processes and things, and timely and secure delivery of data.
“Ten years ago, dealing with real-world situations like resolving alarms could take several hours if PLC codes and suggested remedies had to be located manually,” says Pennington. “Now, these tasks can take about two minutes with digitalized tools that typically rely on IIoT or similar networks.”
For instance, Endress+Hauser’s Netilion cloud- and IIoT-based solution monitors connected assets, attaches meaning to code, suggests remedies, provides voice-activated assistance, and can solve problems more quickly. “These optimization capabilities have always been there, but they used to require required too much time and labor and were too expensive. Now, they’re more usable via IIoT, and even new staffers can contribute sooner with better data that’s available much sooner.”
Softing: expansion and contraction of IIoT
Christopher Anhalt, product marketing VP at Softing, has witnessed IIoT expand and contract, and continue to evolve as the networking and communication technologies that underpin it have gain speed and grown increasingly capable.
“To us, IIoT means standard Internet protocol (IP) connections to industrial devices and software,” says Anhalt. “A few years ago, it seemed like every supplier said they had IIoT, but most have consolidated since then. Many appear to be restructuring from trying to develop software-based PLC functions, and are often returning to basic automation and specialized, industrial communications. Lately, IIoT seems to mean standardized software and standard, IT-based technologies for industrial production.”
Over the years, IIoT obviously emerged in everything from adjusting driver’s seats to asset management. “IIoT isn’t just for dashboards and talking to the shop floor. Plus, it’s also more complex now, with operators learning to use IT-driven, control-architected solutions,” explains Anhalt. “They need to come together, but it’s still a challenge, especially as IIoT integrates with cloud-computing services.”
Anhalt adds that Softing’s users are increasingly interested in using containerized software modules, such as Docker for running containers and Kubernetes for orchestration. With some brokering from MQTT or other protocols, containerized modules can help users employ standardized data in devices with microprocessors, Ethernet ports, and IIoT and other network connections. For example, Softing’s smartLink hardware and software can connect to components like actuators, and deliver data via IIoT or plant asset management systems.
“Using a platform approach with Kubernetes and MQTT is a combination of reference architectures, which gives users the flexibility to decide how much of their architecture they want to run on the edge and how much they want to run in the cloud,“ adds Anhalt. “There are still many questions about how to do this because users often don’t know how much data processing to put where—or when to do it. I think the best strategy is to stay flexible, and add more cloud computing as it’s needed.”
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VEGA Americas: taking advantage of the Internet
Because IIoT covers so many technical areas, it’s logical that developers and users define from the perspective of the individual places where they use it. For instance, VEGA Americas perceives IIoT as employing the Internet to enable its sensors and other devices, such as its Vegapuls 80 GHz radar level measurement solution.
“IIoT can assist our measurement technologies, but it can also help provide battery power and telemetry for them, and access our VEGA Inventory System cloud portal for managing remote tank inventories in real time,” says Shaun Pogue, IIoT manager at VEGA Americas. “IIoT isn’t used in process applications as much as it’s applied at enterprise levels and elsewhere. However, we see it mainly in sensors at the plant level, especially in isolated locations that can’t readily transmit or access data, but still need to know about events like tank overfills or when replenishments are needed. IIoT is more prevalent on the inventory side, where it provides visibility into logistics, account inventory, and business metrics. I think IIoT is still in its infancy because it will help users achieve more access to devices like our sensors, make it easier to perform remote measurements, and gain more value from them in the future.”
Pogue reports that IIoT also plays a role in its VEGAMet signal conditioners, which connect to cellular routers, enable local control with relays, and feature Ethernet ports. They’re used mainly in the hot-mix asphalt and cement industries, which are characterized by harsh settings that can be hazardous for typical IIoT components and their often unsecured networks.
“As usual, we have to balance the potentially huge value from IIoT connections with the risks of linking to those digital networks,” explains Pogue. “Connecting a control valve and gateway to the Internet can be a big help, but operators will also be concerned about possible vulnerabilities. That’s what we have to balance.“
To make the right choice about what type and how much IIoT to deploy, Pogue reports that users should investigate the potential measurements and holistic activities they’d like to perform, determine if they’re readily available or not, and again examine their risk and security issues. For example, VEGA plics mobile gateways help monitor silos in the ready-mix concrete industry and other cementitious applications, where they gather signals and encrypt them before transmitting to VEGA Inventory System’s cloud-based service. These gateways establish cellular or other wireless links with their cloud-computing service, which let users see all their processes and plants in one unified view from any location on a web browser. This lets VEGA’s ready-mix customers better manage the very dynamic demand situations they experience daily, along with ambient weather conditions, which cause their replenishment schedules to fluctuate frequently.
“It’s a big help if ready-mix suppliers can pull up cloud-based information from their gateways,” adds Pogue. “It can support their demand-planning software like Command Alkon, and balance how much concrete they have to produce more efficiently.”
