EC: Digi Connect Sensor, battery-powered cellular gateway

Network Integration — Wireless products: Battery-powered cellular gateway brings remote monitoring within reach. Digi Connect Sensor wireless gateway lets users connect with sensors in locations that were previously inaccessible. This is a Control Engineering 2017 Engineers’ Choice Awards Finalist.

October 13, 2016

The challenges with remote monitoring are well known. Solar panels are expensive. Local RF networks work, but are cumbersome to deploy and manage. As a result, many organizations have not been able to logistically or economically install remote monitoring systems, even in critical areas. Lack of monitoring leads to increased safety and environmental risks, higher operational costs and reduces visibility into mission-critical operations.

Digi International has the solution: Digi Connect Sensor. This market-disruptive cellular gateway eliminates the need for power sources. It can be quickly installed by non-specialized personnel, while low data usage keeps recurring costs minimal and predictable. Its installation and management software, Digi Connect Wizard and Digi Device Cloud, make Digi Connect Sensor an easy-to-use, rugged IoT solution for industrial process control.

As a battery-powered gateway, Digi Connect Sensor brings wireless connectivity to large numbers of sensors located in areas where power is either not available or too costly to route. The product supports multiple I/O options for connection to nearly any sensor with a 4/20 mA, Analog Voltage, Digital I/O or Pulsed output, while a weatherproof NEMA 4 enclosure is certified for hazardous environments.

Digi Connect Sensor is one of the first cellular gateways approved for use on an LTE CAT 1 network, specifically designed for IOT and machine to machine (M2M) communications. With cellular connectivity at each sensor, including the ability to power them, Digi Connect Sensor eliminates the need to configure local wireless networks and makes it cost-effective for data backhaul.

Digi Connect Wizard is a mobile application that guides installers through setup and gives technicians instant feedback of sensor values like threshold and delta alarms over Bluetooth on their Android or iOS mobile devices. Control engineers get immediate status updates and alerts, to help optimize processes and prevent potential damage to equipment or the environment.

Digi International, www.digi.com