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Monday, 1 October 2012

Introducing the Internet of Things - Part 1

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The “Internet of Things” (IoT) is nothing new. It is simply a term that has quite recently been adopted in the embedded and automation industry, to describe the increasing number of sensor networks, all linked via the “Cloud”, which create a more efficient way of life for those who are both directly and indirectly affected by them. The IoT is becoming more prevalent now due to the increasing availability of its core requirement – a critical mass of devices and a dedicated and reliable cloud structure.

Perhaps a simple way of describing the IoT, otherwise known as Intelligent Systems, is to touch on the way in which more and more wireless and network enabled products are now being integrated with non-computing objects in order to intelligently communicate and provide a more efficient and cost effective application. These kinds of applications have been around for decades, in large retail chains and factories, but now due to the continued development of wireless enabled products and online or offline applications, they are becoming more accessible to a much wider range of companies in the industrial sector. The need for dedicated control rooms costing hundreds of thousands of pounds has been replaced by software which can be run on a small hand-held tablet at the fraction of the price.

One of the most important uses of the IoT is hardware monitoring. Be it the temperature of a boiler, a drop in power for a mission critical piece of hardware, or even the movement and degradation of a 1bn tonne glacier in the Antarctic.

Traditional methods of monitoring these systems (SCADA systems aside) would be a simple manual process. In the case of a boiler temperature, there would be a thermometer located on the outside of the boiler that would be checked at regular intervals by an operative. The IoT automates this process and wirelessly alerts the operative, remotely if required, of any temperature fluctuations. Software applications analyse and interpret data signals from wireless sensor points, namely ADAM modules, and provide an alert should an issue arise. The software can even then communicate back to the ADAM module which in turn could have an effect on the hardware (ie: turning off the element inside the boiler).

Instantly the financial investment in the hardware required for this system could potentially be offset by the eradication of the manual means of monitoring these processes. It is in this area that Impulse is helping educate and support its customers to help them better understand the benefits of integrating an Intelligent System into their existing applications.

An example of the Internet of Things – Logistics, factories and retail

In this article we will use a real-world example to describe the implementation of the Internet of Things. In order to give a good understanding, this example will discuss the processes before and after implementation, and an example of the products used throughout the application.

Logistics, factories and retail before the Internet of Things

The traditional processes involved in tracking stock traversing the supply chain were that of paper check-lists and documents. Manifests, printed stock-lists and printed order forms would be physically carried with delivery drivers, signed on receipt and then stored at each relevant location of the supply chain. There were sometimes examples where documents had sections ripped off the further down the supply chain the products travelled, each being stored at the local depot or store. Documents transferred between stores, warehouses and logistics were also prone to being lost or destroyed accidentally.

Once the stock arrives at the retail store from the manufacturer or supplier, a stock list was used by one or two stockroom workers, who would manually check each product in the delivery against the stock-list provided by the delivery driver.

Since the 1980s computers have been used in the retail environment. Becoming more prevalent in the 90s among larger retail outlets, scanners, network enabled tills and picking machines meant that stock records could be kept up-to-date automatically when transactions were processed. Records of stock movements, deliveries and sales were also stored and could be referenced by a central GUI, local to the store’s network. This locality, or isolation, of information is one of the key areas in which the IoT evolved the retail sector.

In the case of a zero stock level in a retail outlet with multiple national stores, the sales staff would have the option of calling one or more of these stores to check stock levels. The time this could potentially take could cost the sale, especially if availability is very limited. 

Moving towards the Internet of Things

Around the mid-nineties, large retail stores implemented hardware and software which had some internet capability. In many cases, transactions and stock levels would be transmitted via the Internet to the distribution centre at the end of the day, which would in turn affect the stock being sent in the next delivery. As these systems progressed, it also became possible for stores to communicate with databases located in other stores in order to check stock levels.

Although these systems were now communicating with each other, the schematic was still flawed. Each store, distribution centre and supplier had their own local database which was updated by a push from nodes further down the supply chain. This essentially diminished the reliability and integrity of the data, and also severely limited the ability to access the data from outside the firewalls of the individual stores and distribution centres.

On a similar point, it was also technically difficult to push data down to the stores, and similarly access the central data from an external source. Due to the manual recording processes involved it was difficult for stores to gain a true measurement of ROI during sales and promotions. With an ever expanding product line it was also difficult to efficiently track where stock came from, how old the stock was and other important information points such as shelf life and warranties.

The push of data up the supply chain


The final step to implementing the Internet of Things

The processes described above are not a million miles away from where the Internet of Things has taken us over the past few years. The major changes have come about with the development of wireless devices that are attached to computing and non-computing objects, along with the introduction of cloud based storage.

What do we mean by “attached to non-computing objects”?

Describing this concept is actually very simple. Wireless (or wired of course) devices can be connected to an object which has little or no computing or communicative power, via a sensor of some description, which instantly gives that object an IP address.

An example could be the cables running through an electricity substation. A sensor connected to an IP enabled device could monitor the cables and report any spikes in frequency to a central cloud, which would then tell human or electronic data analysers that there is degradation in the cabling system. An engineer can even call on an individual cable for information, or a picture of health for the whole system could be manifested from data being sent from all relevant connected devices.

What is Cloud storage?

Cloud based storage has been around, really, since the advent of the internet. It is simply IP based storage accessible from the Internet, which has been common to website hosting since websites first came online. The difference now is that it is more accessible.

Hosting companies, even mobile phone companies, are embracing the need and benefits of offering cloud storage. Mobile phone users can upload images and videos to their cloud storage and download them on any device anywhere in the world. Editors of magazines and books can liaise and work on pieces directly with their client via the cloud, rather than sending back and forth via email.

Where the technology hasn't changed a great deal, the perception of it has. 10, or even 5 years ago the general feeling in the industrial industry was that of wariness to transmitting and storing sensitive data in the cloud. Some areas of security have been improved, but above all users have become more accustomed to the idea of storing data on remote servers via the Internet.

In the distribution and manufacturing worlds the cloud becomes even more beneficial. What can be more efficient than members of the head office for a large retail chain having the ability to sit anywhere in the world and analyse stock movement, sales, stock checks by customers, returns, essentially anything about the operations of the national or international company?

Introducing the Internet of Things - Part 2

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The Internet of Things in the manufacturing and distribution sectors

We've touched on how the Internet of things has been developed over the years on top of existing technology already integrated into retail and distribution outlets.

Here we look at the example we have already discussed in more detail, namely the manufacturing and distribution sectors. Impulse has over 18 years experience in providing products to the manufacturing and distribution markets, and continue to develop new solutions for our customers in this and all industrial vertical markets.

Below is a concept of an intelligent distribution system. We explain in more detail the types of products used in this example, all of which are available through Impulse.

Layout of an intelligent distribution system


Products used in the intelligent distribution system:

Delivery truck
TREK-550
Used for monitoring vehicle information (engine status, MPG, speed and duration). It can also be used as a location tracking device and a data logger. Communicates with ECU via Canbus / OBD-II.

ADAM-4118
Thermocouple module to monitor cargo temperatures at multiple locations in trailer. Transmits data back to TREK-550 via Modbus RS-485.

Delivery bay
ARK-1120
Low powered device with multiple I/O ports, used to connect to RFID sensors and communicate with central stock database.

EKI-2525
Standard 5 port unmanaged Ethernet switch to communicate RFID scan data back to central database.

ADAM-6160
Ethernet based relay output module to roll delivery bay doors up and down remotely. System based in control room.

Forklift truck
TREK-743
Wireless in-vehicle panel PC can connect to RFID sensor and match pallet ID with stock location. System can tell driver which location to put the pallet and also give him/her a list of jobs etc.

Cold / warm storage area
ADAM-6018
Module to interface with temperature sensors and transmit data back to control room.  Digital output channels are available on this module if the control centre wants to adjust room temperatures. Module connected to centralised control system in control room via Ethernet.

FPM-3151G
Wide temperature panel PC used for localised database access. Manual stock movements etc.

EKI-2525I
Wide temperature Ethernet switch to connect ADAM module and FPM panel to central control system.

Rack control system
SYS-4U
Multiple pre-configured rack-mount systems (SYS-4U4000-7A01 etc) used for the following:

  • Stock software interface server
  • Database storage server
  • Automation server (connected to ADAM modules and other sensors)

EKI-7656C
16 TX Port + 2 Gigabit Combo Wide Temp Managed Redundant Ethernet Switch. Used to manage data between various parts of warehouse and the servers. Use features such as failover redundancy and bandwidth QoS.

Control room
EKI-4524I
24 TX Port Unmanaged Ethernet Switch to connect various ADAM-6000 sensors throughout warehouse to SCADA system.

ARK-1122
Embedded PC used to interface with various ADAM modules. Utilising WebAccess software to create SCADA control interface. ADAM modules control and monitor different parts of warehouse including:

Cold / warm storage area
Delivery bay roller door
Outside gate access
HVAC system

Other / Misc
MARS-3070
Tablet PC used by warehouse staff for manual stock checks and remote access to stock database. Tablet communicates with control system via WiFi.

EKI-6351
IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi Mesh Access Point/station – used to create mesh wireless network throughout the warehouse for forklift and other wireless devices.

Summary
The transition to Intelligent Systems and the Internet of Things has been going on for many years in the industrial and retail markets. Industry and commerce has been built over the last couple of decades on a foundation of networked devices, designed to communicate with each other in order to provide more efficient working processes.

It is plain to see that the step from one of these existing networked systems to what we coin as the Internet of Things is not a huge leap, more of an expansion of existing technologies and an understanding of how truly flexible your systems can be when adopting this concept. The efficiency of your working processes can be greatly increased with the simplest of product applications, essentially giving your business an extra pair of hands to help monitor non-computing objects provide alerts without you having to lift a finger.

Our highly qualified technical sales team and engineers at Impulse can help you with the design, development and deployment of your intelligent systems, whether it be expanding your existing system, or designing a completely new one from the ground up.

If you would like more information, please feel free to call us on +44(0)1782 337 800.