Solution developed to connect sensors to existing infrastructure

The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) announced that group members developed to connect sensors to an IT system using existing infrastructure without affecting real-time operations for brownfield facilities.

By Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) November 26, 2018

The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) announced results for the Smart Manufacturing Connectivity for Brownfield Sensors Testbed. IIC-member participants TE Connectivity and SAP SE, with support from the OPC Foundation and ifm, developed a solution that enables operators of decades old manufacturing facilities (brownfields) to connect sensors to an information technology (IT) system using existing infrastructure without affecting real-time operations.

“In discrete manufacturing, the real-time manufacturing sub-systems are generally managed by programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that make use of data provided by various sensors,” said Dr. Michael Hilgner, manager consortia and standards, TE Connectivity. “However, PLCs in most brownfield facilities are outdated and can’t handle more work beyond the original automation task such as processing a high volume of data required for added value services. So, we replaced the existing I/O module with a Y-Gateway to pull sensor data from real-time control systems and sent it directly to IT systems via an additional channel.”

“Being able to exchange information between the shop floor and IT systems offers many benefits to manufacturers, including monitoring, controlling and simulating manufacturing processes,” said Erich Clauer, vice president, industry standards & open source, SAP. “Advanced analytics helps to optimize processes, minimize consumption and reduce downtime. In particular, machine learning algorithms require a high volume of data to reduce the teaching time and to generate reliable models.”

Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC)

www.iiconsortium.org

– Edited from an IIC press release by CFE Media. The Industrial Internet Consortium is a CFE Media content partner.

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