Blog

We have exciting progress on our IIoT efforts. First, we are announcing a work register has been formed with the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) to collaborate on IIoT efforts. The DMTF is an industry standards organization striving to simplify the manageability of network accessible technologies.

The alliance between the organizations will help ensure the groups’ standards are coordinated and aligned in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) domain. PICMG is utilizing Redfish® Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to create a meta-data model for IIoT. This model will facilitate a distributed network of sensors, each of which act as a micro-server.  So, what does this mean?

Essentially, we are filling in the missing link in the smart factory chain for IIoT interoperability. As you know, PICMG specifications have long-standing usage in industrial automation going back to 1994. Dozens of the organization’s members have high-performance embedded computing products in industrial gateway, controller, and other applications based on specifications such as CompactPCI Serial, COM Express, and more.  What we’d like to do is connect these deployed embedded computers with legacy PLCs and all sorts of sensor devices in the smart factory. Using the Redfish RESTful (Representational State Transfer) APIs, our model will utilize a coding approach that is already well known to IT/Web developers. The combination of the meta-data model for a connected sensor network along with a wealth of versatile open standard hardware computing possibilities may finally provide the market a “plug and play” path for end-to-end IIoT interoperability.

PICMG will have a booth at the Sensors Expo next month. We plan to have a simple demo using RESTful commands connecting sensor devices to open up discussions with attendees. Our CTO, Doug Sandy, will also have a speaking slot on our IIoT approach.

Check out the Sensors Expo held in San Jose, CA from June 26-28th. PICMG will have a 10′ x 10′ booth to promote the organization and our IIoT initiative.

If you’d like to meet with a PICMG officer, contact us at [email protected] to set up a meeting at the show.

At PICMG, we have kicked off a new focus on the requirements for Industrial IoT (IIoT). From there, our efforts can expand out to other IoT market requirements. In IIoT, hardware and software interoperability tends to be more important than household/consumer applications as sensors, actuators, and controllers from multiple vendors must work together seamlessly. But, standardization has not yet materialized.

IIoT, is different than traditional industrial automation in the fact that it combines ubiquitous sensing, advanced analytics, and IT technology. Going beyond traditional automation control functions, IIoT includes sensors and actuators for facility operations, machine health, ambient conditions, quality, and a variety of other functions. Advanced analytics enables the IIoT system to realize higher levels of operational efficiency by extracting meaning from the potential data available from a vast array of deployed sensors. Similar to cloud data centers, where sensors data is used to optimize virtually every aspect of operational efficiency, smart factories and other IIoT applications utilize analytics to improve up-time, optimize asset utilization, and reduce overhead costs. Migration to IT technology enables the IIoT operator(s) to deploy, monitor, and optimize their IIoT application. Standardization around IT practices helps to eliminate islands of proprietary equipment within the installation and provide tighter integration between the control domain and the operations domain. Adoption of IT methodologies enables IIoT companies to leverage the large existing base of IT hardware and software solutions when appropriate. Each of these benefits offers significant potential for capital and operational savings.

Standardization of the upstream interfaces for controller devices and meta-data models for sensors can help solve hardware and software interoperability and ease-of-use issues. Standardized interfaces would allow dissimilar pieces of hardware to communicate with the IIoT command center in a uniform fashion and eliminate isolated islands within the installment. Likewise, an extensible standardized meta-data model for sensors would allow for systematic detection and control of sensors and control points without extensive code re-writes. From a hardware standpoint, the IIoT marketplace would also benefit from greater standardization around communications interfaces, power, and environmental requirements.