Data acquisition
remote pumping station or even for accessing data from a distant location on a large site. This virtually unlimited range opens up many possibilities for centralised monitoring. Of course, the site may already have a Wi-Fi network, in which case an even more straightforward solution is available: simply install a wireless router at the location where you want to access data, enter the security settings, and you are immediately hooked into the network. This can save a tremendous amount of wiring compared with setting up a conventional wired network connection.
So far, we have seen that it is almost always possible to access data easily and cost effectively from the sensors in your plant but now we need to consider the quality of that data. Consider, for example, a simple sensor with a switching output that operates when a preset temperature is reached. This may be perfectly adequate for plant control purposes, but when you are looking to improve the quality of a process, you may well find that trending the actual temperature would be more useful. An attractive way of adding this extra functionality is to replace the conventional temperature sensor with one that supports IO-Link connectivity. The sensor will still have a switching output to keep the control system happy, but it will provide much more information, including real- time data about the actual temperature, via the IO-Link connection. An added bonus is that many IO-Link sensors are multifunctional. Flow sensors,
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“Maybe it is time to take another look at your older plant and consider what you could achieve by capturing data from it, and using that data to improve performance, energy efficiency and reliability...”
for example, very often also provide temperature information, which means that one sensor can do the job of two.
It is also worth bearing in mind that IO-Link is a multivendor system that is very widely supported. In fact, if you have bought a new sensor or instrument in the last five or so years, it is definitely worth checking – it may well already have additional functionality and IO-Link connectivity that are just waiting to be used. To round off this article, we have now seen how to access data from legacy plant and how to make sure that the data is of the right quality. Now the question is, what do you do with the data when you have got it? There are any number of software products out there that will take the data and turn it into useful information to help you manage and optimise your processes. But beware! Some of these products can be very costly to implement, and many require users to
get involved with coding, especially if customised functionality is needed, as it almost always is. Fortunately, there is a new breed of software products that are designed to turn raw data into helpful information easily, cost effectively and without the need for coding. These innovative products are a subject for another article, but briefly, they use drag-and-drop technology and software wizards that make it easy for users to build ‘dashboards’ accurately matched to their individual requirements without ever writing a single line of code. In fact, these products are so intuitive that users can expect to see useful information after just 15 minutes or so of working with them.
Legacy plant does not need to be left out of the digitalisation, nor does it need to cost the earth to add data collection and analytics worthy of the 21st century. Most of the data required to make this step forward probably already exists in the plant, and this article has explained how it can be accessed conveniently and cost effectively. It has also explained how to improve data quality when necessary and briefly touched on what to do with the data once it has been acquired. With all of this in mind, maybe it is time to take another look at your older plant and consider what you could achieve by capturing data from it, and using that data to improve performance, energy efficiency and reliability.
ifm electronic
www.ifm.com
November 2025 Instrumentation Monthly
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