PICMG is pleased to announce the formation of a new CompactPCI Serial technical subcommittee. CompactPCI Serial is a modern modular computer standard that has achieved great success in multiple industries, including transportation and industrial automation. Its key features are simplicity, flexibility, and robustness which enable cost-optimized solutions. The new technical subcommittee has the goal of extending the current CompactPCI Serial specification with an update covering requirements for modern high-speed applications and will strive for maximum interoperability between the current revision and this extension. Extending the standard will guarantee further success in existing applications and open new opportunities. The committee’s stated goals are to support PCIe Gen4 and Gen5; add Ethernet KR4 support; evaluate USB4; support a redundant system slot similar to CompactPCI Serial for Space; and will recommend a robust “utility connector” with locks or screws. EKF, Hartmann, and nVent are sponsoring the effort. The following PICMG members have joined the initiative which kicks off in February: Acromag, Inc., ADLINK, Airbus Defence & Space, Amphenol – BSI, DESY, Elma Electronic, Embeck, FASTWEL, HEITEC, Lodz University of Technology, MEN Mikro Elektronik GmbH, National Instruments, nVent, Schroff GmbH, Samtec, and TE Connectivity.
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is the fastest growing segment of Internet of Things with annual revenues expected to be larger than the commercial segment of Internet of Things through the first half of next decade. Within this segment are many traditional embedded markets including: defense and aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial automation. Among these markets, Smart Factory (industrial automation) is the fastest growing vertical (24% CAGR) as factory automation seeks to deploy intelligent factory equipment, tightly couple factory operations and backend processes, leverage IT skillsets, and improve overall efficiencies through analytics.
At the 2019 Embedded Technology Conference, I had the
opportunity to present to a room of long-time industry professionals about the
state of Industrial Internet of Things.
In part of the discussion I told the fictional story of how Mary, a director
of operations at a smart factory, was faced with the monumental task of bringing
up a new factory line while upgrading the factory equipment; however, she
needed to leave the existing software infrastructure intact. To do this, Mary’s new hardware would need to
plug-and-play with existing infrastructure and interoperate with disparate
equipment at levels so far unachievable in industry. Mary moved forward with her plans, confident
in positive results. Her upgrade was a
huge success. Mary got a large promotion, and everyone lived happily ever
after. The question I posed then is just as relevant today: “Is this a fairy
tale, or could this really be possible?”
At PICMG, we believe the answer is: “Not only is this possible, it is achievable today.” With collaboration between our member companies and other industry consortia, we are targeting open specifications to address the need for interoperable industrial computing solutions at the sensor plane. This paper outlines the first two of these specifications which were launched earlier this year and are expected to be released in the first half of 2020.
Sensor Data Model and Network Architecture
If sensors in an IIoT deployment are to plug-and-play with the rest of the automation infrastructure, there must be agreement upon how the devices communicate with the network, how they report their features, and how they can be interacted with from higher layers of the network. With IIoT, the first of these challenges, how to communicate, is largely taken care of by internet technologies: Ethernet, HTTP, JSON and the like. The second problem – how the sensors report themselves, and how they interact with the rest of the network requires the standardization of data models and network architectures.
The first
IIoT specification underway by PICMG addresses just this need. Key elements of the architecture under
discussion today are a low-level binary data model definition that enables
lightweight sensor nodes, a gateway architecture (for converting binary coded
data models to DMTF Redfish), methods of synchronization of multiple endpoints,
and security recommendations.
This
specification will enable an ecosystem of new smart sensor vendors to create
sensors that interoperate seamlessly within the Redfish/PICMG sensor-domain
network architecture. Existing vendors of Com Express and CompactPCI
Serial will also benefit as potential gateway suppliers into the network.
This proposal is expected to have two primary outputs. A DMTF Redfish-compatible data model, and a specification that documents the system architecture of the sensor-domain network.
New small
Form-Factor Module
The second specification currently
underway proposes a new microcontroller-agnostic ultra-small form-factor module
for the enablement of smart sensors. This module, which is expected to be
no more than 30mm squared, will provide a hardware platform for traditional
sensor vendors wishing to quickly create smart sensors. When combined
with the PICMG sensor domain network architecture and data model, sensors will
seamlessly integrate into the network with plug-and-play interoperability.
We envision that this specification
will benefit the industry in three specific ways. First, it will enable sensor vendors to
create smart sensors without having to manufacture the control circuitry and/or
software by purchasing these components from PICMG-compliant suppliers. Second, it will enable controller suppliers
who wish to create smart sensors or smart-sensor components to do so in a way
that is interoperable with other suppliers. And lastly, it will accelerate the
uptake of smart-sensor technology through open-specifications and
interoperability.
Joining the efforts
At PICMG, we are excited about these two new contributions aimed at accelerating the adoption of standards-based IIoT. Together we are working on moving “plug-and-play” at the sensor domain from fantasy to reality.
The Internet of Things suffers from a lack of common data models. Interestingly enough, PICMG, traditionally a hardware standards organization, is helping developing data models based on open source software as a possible remedy. Here, Doug Sandy CTO of PICMG uses a simple CNC machine to deconstruct the complexity, and also alludes to a potential standard, postage-stamp-sized hardware platform that will help fulfill the IIoT vision for embedded engineers.