NEWS


How to Identify and Collect the Right IIoT Data


By 2025, there will be more than 27 billion IoT devices connected globally, according to IoT Analytics, and there will be nearly four times more devices than people in the world. By Matt Wopata


W


hy are more devices connecting to networks every day? For one reason: to gather, share and analyse data that is useful to the person or organization collecting it.


Ensuring useful data also means making sure your data is useful to AI systems. Because AI’s outputs are only as good as the data they’re fed, data that is clean, accurate and properly contextualized creates higher- value AI systems and results.


There are many types of data that can be gathered in an industrial installation: •


• • •


Environmental data (temperature, humidity, dew point, vibration, etc.) Operational data (speed, flow, etc.) Equipment data (runtime, power, etc.) Network data (packet data, SNMP, etc.)


As your plant integrates more data into its operations, processes, and decision- making, it is imperative to implement network infrastructure that allows you to take advantage of the trove of useful data available from your IIoT systems.


Identifying the Data that Matters Collecting too much data can be overwhelming and stall improvement efforts. Data should be collected only if it will be useful to the person or organization that collects it, or to your AI systems.


How can you determine whether certain data will be helpful?


Useful data is: Valuable: It measures something worth knowing or improving. Accessible: It is available to decision-makers (people, processes, or pieces of equipment). Portable: It moves seamlessly between disparate systems. Contextualized: It’s understood by decision- makers. Secure: It’s available only to authorized systems.


In order for data to be useful, it must 6


also provide valuable insights that can be translated into actions.


For example, data can tell you when your production line stops running. Beyond that, it can also reveal what caused the halt in production, equipment overheating, improper operation or loss of a network connection, for example. From there, you can decide what actions to take to prevent the problem from reoccurring.


How to Properly Collect Your IIoT Data


To gather, share and analyse data, smart devices must be able to connect to a network, but not just any network. As more devices connect and accelerate the demand for data processing, networks must support low latency, more bandwidth and heightened security.


For IIoT data to be useful and valuable to your organization, the right network tools must be deployed to collect and process it. This is the only way to obtain useful insights from assets and your environment.


DECEMBER/JANUARY 2024 | ELECTRONICS FOR ENGINEERS


Industrial edge solutions are the tools that make this possible in industrial environments. When industrial edge computing hardware is supplemented with edge applications and complementary services, the result is an “industrial edge solution.”


Industrial edge computing processes data closer to the source instead of in a centralized location, which translates to lower latency, productivity improvements and enhanced quality.


Industrial edge solutions have become fundamental tools in realizing IIoT and Industry 4.0 use cases, and they’re driven by five operational technology trends that only strengthen their value:


Virtualization and containerization: Applications can be packaged and deployed efficiently.


Open-source operating systems: Development of new applications is faster and less expensive. Plant-wide Ethernet: Greater bandwidth availability is possible with faster transmission speeds.


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