SENSORS & SENSING SYSTEMS FEATURE
SENSOR INTEGRATION ‘ON THE EDGE’
SICK’s SIG200 Sensor Integration Gateway is an IO-Link Master with an on-board web server
By building smart sensor applications, machine
designers can deliver Industry 4.0 capability one process at a time. David Hannaby, SICK UK national product manager and smart sensor specialist, comments
I
ndustry 4.0 is much less to do with universal connectivity and data sharing at an
enterprise level, as it is about a step-by-step growth in connectivity and data transparency at the machine level. In the Industrial Internet of Things, Smart Sensors are the ‘things’, the ‘eyes and ears’ of every machine and process, and they have now become intelligent enough to think and act for themselves. IO-Link was the breakthrough standard open
communications gateway that helped join the dots for these industrial processes. IO-Link enables sensors to cooperate at the lowest level of the automation hierarchy then link, through an IO-Link Master, and transmit data, often with added value, via the factory ethernet network to a controller, such as a PLC. Enabled by IO-Link, Smart Sensors output
the signals or values necessary to enable initial collaboration between other sensors and devices at the field level. This decentralised automation takes processing load away from higher-level controls, increasing machine responsiveness and production speeds. So, at the coalface of automation, sensors no longer simply collect data or send binary 1/0 switched outputs; they will intelligently interpret, act upon and communicate the information they collect. As a result, traditional, centrally-focused,
factory network control systems are freed from processing bottlenecks which could often slow the long data communications chain between sensors and PLC. The processed data and resulting actions from field level can be made available for recording and review in the control room or in the cloud.
REAL-TIME DATA INSIGHTS IO-Link also opens a window to individually identify and see right into the heart of the sensor via a local or cloud-based dashboard. Smart sensors provide real-time insights into their own operating status, as well as into the machinery they are part of. Meanwhile, device replacement is ‘plug and play’, because the automation system remembers and downloads the settings to the new sensor automatically. It’s easy to find where every sensor is located on a machine via its IODD (IO Device Description). As a result the all-too familiar time-consuming troubleshooting to track down a sensor when it needs to be replaced
or even just cleaned has been eliminated. This ‘smart’ new world view offers many
new benefits but, for the whole system to be responsive and manageable, local, distributed processing and data-exchange hubs are just as necessary to take the load off the higher, more centralised levels of control.
SENSOR INTEGRATION GATEWAYS These processes are facilitated via sensor integration machines and gateways. SICK has already begun to roll out a scaled portfolio of devices to support sensor integration into fieldbus environments and higher automation hierarchies.
SENSOR FUSION SICK’s SIG200 Sensor Integration Gateway is an IO-Link Master with an on-board web server that collects, combines, evaluates and transmits signals from IO-Link devices from any manufacturer. SICK’s innovative DualTalk technology means the SIG200 needs only one cable to communicate simultaneously via the fieldbus with the machine controller and with higher-level enterprise or web-based systems. The SICK SIG200’s flexible data integration
can even be extended to standard binary sensors with SICK’s SIG100 sensor hub. This can be used to bundle up to twelve standard I/Os in a single IO-Link data packet, which can then be communicated to machine controllers and cloud-based systems via the SIG200. A maximum of 52 I/Os can be connected to one SIG200 by using the SICK SIG100. The SIG200 offers all the Industry 4.0 benefits
of setting up a system using an IO-Link Master, PLC and sensors. Alternatively, it opens a second route, to by-pass the PLC and create a data gathering system linking straight to the cloud. SICK is offering an IO-Link Master Starter Kit,
The SICK SIM1000 and SIM2000 Sensor
Integration Machines, for example, collect and evaluate data from multiple sensors working together at the field-level via standard interfaces, including Ethernet, IO-Link, CAN and Serial. With up to four Ethernet ports, the SICK SIM1000 and SIM2000 can support interfaces for cameras, lighting, LiDAR scanners, encoders, photoelectric or displacement sensors, as well as to higher level controls and to the Cloud. The multi-sensor outputs, values and results can be used to drive typical industrial automation applications such as camera-based inspection, measurement, or identification of objects. In January, SICK launched the first in a family
of intelligent Industry 4.0 gateways designed to work as both IO-Link Masters and small, distributed control systems in one.
which contains everything needed to set up an application using the SIG200. The kit includes the SIG200, IMC Proximity Sensor, WLG16 photoelectric sensor and reflector, cabling and accessories together with SICK’s SOPAS ET and FieldEcho software. Step by step guidance is provided for a quick-start configuration of a simple application using the IO-Link Master.
SICK T: 01727 831121
www.sick.co.uk
IO-Link Master Starter Kit DESIGN SOLUTIONS | MAY 2020 27
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