A few months ago a customer and I met to discuss their Industry 4.0 & IIoT pilot project. We discussed technology options and ways to collect data from the existing manufacturing process. Options like reading the data directly from the PLC or setting up an OPC service to request machine data were discussed; however these weren’t preferable as it required modifying the existing PLC code to make the solution effective. “What I really want is the ability to capture the data from the devices directly and not impact the control of my existing automation equipment.” Whether his reason was because of machine warranty conflicts or the old adage, “don’t fix what ain’t broke” the general opinion makes sense.
Capture versus Control.
This concept really stuck with me months after our visit that day. This is really one of the core demands we have from the data generation part of the IIoT equation; how can we get information without negatively impacting our automated production systems? This is where the convergence of the operational OT and network IT becomes critical. I’ve now had to build an IT understanding of the fundamentals of how data is transferred in Ethernet; and build an understanding of new-to-me data protocols like JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) and MQTT. The value of these protocols allows for a direct request from the device-that-has-the-data to the device-that-needs-the-data without a middleman. These IT based protocols eliminate the need for a control-based data-transport solution!
So then truly connected IIoT automation solutions that are “Ready for IIoT” need to support this basic concept of “Capture versus Control.” We have a strong portfolio of products with Industrial Internet of Things capabilities, check them out at www.balluff.com.
Fascinating insight. It’s very helpful to think about the different requirements of control systems vs. data-logging or data-accessing systems. Nice, concise explanation of the topic.