Industrial Internet of Things (or) Industrial IoT can be defined as a
" System that is capable of acquiring data from Industrial assets, storing this data, performing required analysis based on business objectives, generating and showcasing insights to relevant stakeholders, and enabling stakeholders to take necessary actions that create value for business "
Considering this, any Industrial IoT system needs the following capabilities.
Ability to acquire data from a variety of Industrial assets like Engines, Machinery used manufacturing plant, Heavy off-road equipment and so on
Perform a certain degree of processing in real time at the Edge layer
Transmit the processed data to the IoT platform through available means of connectivity, and effectively handle connectivity failure scenarios
Ingest the streaming data coming from various assets
Store the data
Perform stream analysis or batch analysis based on business needs and derive insights
Provide role-based visualization to relevant stakeholders
Enable user enabled actions or automatic actions that enable business value
As we can see in the above drawing, the different functionalities of an IIoT system can be broadly grouped into 5 building blocks namely Data acquisition, Edge, Connectivity, Platform, and Security.
It is very important to understand these building blocks in detail before getting into developing IIoT solutions to solve business problems. This part of the blog (Anatomy of IIoT) delves deep into each of these building blocks with dedicated blog posts.
Data Acquisition is about acquiring relevant data from Industrial assets by suitable means. This involves direct sensor data measurements, derived measurements, acquiring data from Industrial control systems and Embedded controllers. Through a series of blog posts we will explore these different types of data acquisition methods in detail
The Edge is a vital layer in any Industrial IoT system that acquires, aggregates, and processes data from industrial assets into meaningful information. It is vital to understand the edge layer in detail. We will do so by covering in detail the edge device specifications, hardware, software, and edge functionalities
Connectivity is all about transmitting and receiving information between the edge layer and the IoT platform. Here we will look at different connectivity options, pros and cons of each option, examine methods of effectively managing connectivity
IoT Platform caters to a wide range of functionalities spanning device management, data ingestion, storage, stream processing, big data analytics, visualization and more. All of these functionalities are enabled by a variety of technologies. With the help of multiple blog posts, we will delve deep into these different technological building blocks that constitute an IoT platform
IoT Security – Here, we will focus on security by design through comprehensive IIoT system threat modelling and analysis, and mitigation measures
Well, that is a lot of ground that needs to be covered. More in subsequent blog posts ...
Great, you compiled all required information in single blog!!!