Looking Ahead: Kicking Off 2018 with Industrial IoT
As we face a quickly approaching 2018, it is shaping up to be a busy year! We are building a line-up of presentations at leading industry conferences to share our findings, innovation and expertise on the trends we’re seeing around Industrial IoT, the intelligent edge, and all the markets we have a presence in – oil/gas, military, unmanned systems, government, and utilities (to name a few). This year, we will be kicking off 2018 with a presentation at an Industrial IoT event in January hosted by TMC and Crossfire Media. This week, show organizers released details about the Industrial IoT Conference program being held January 22-25, 2018 at Disney’s Contemporary Orlando, Fla., and we are thrilled to be a part of the event. Here’s what we learned from their news: “The event will focus on the IoT technologies and solutions increasing the productivity and efficiency of manufacturing and production processes. The Industrial IoT Conference is collocated with IoT Evolution Expo which in its 19th iteration is the leading education and networking forum for the enterprise looking to understand how to develop and implement IoT Solutions.” The event is also going to offer a blend of keynotes, breakout sessions, panels and special events. FreeWave to Present in Orlando During the event, Scott Allen, the CMO of FreeWave Technologies, will have the pleasure of joining the Industrial IoT (IIoT) breakout sessions as a panelist in “IoT on the Factory Floor.” The session, featuring top IIoT experts and business leaders, will look at how IOT is being deployed on the factory floor and how it improves the management of production. Panelists will also answer important questions, such as: Have we gotten to the point where Programmable Line Cards are taking advantage of connectivity or are gateways making human intervention easier? Where is the promise of IoT for manufacturing being delivered and how? See the full event schedule here. Manufacturing & IoT in the News Recent reports indicate IoT in the manufacturing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of almost 30 percent. As manufacturing businesses work to reduce costs and innovate, while dealing with a transitioning workforce, the report predicts rapid growth in IoT investments. A recent Forbes article highlights the opportunity for app development as many in the manufacturing industry head towards retirement. As indicated by the rapid adoption of IoT, the “IoT on the Factory Floor” session in Orlando will certainly offer timely insight. We recently covered some big headlines in manufacturing, read the blog post to see which news stories caught our attention: https://www.freewave.com/iiot-headlines-manufacturing-big-data-predictive-maintenance-remote-access/ As we head towards the new year, we are in awe of the innovation and disruption that we often found ourselves in the middle of in 2017. We have some bold thoughts on what’s to come for IIoT in 2018 – so keep an eye out for that! Be sure to look for us in Orlando if you’re attending the Industrial IoT conference in January! We hope to see you there.
FreeWave Blog Series: The Intelligent Edge (Part 2)
Part 2: Novice App Dev – A Q&A with Greg Corey from FreeWave The Internet of Things (IoT) has changed the consumer world in ways no one ever imagined. By placing intelligence in the IoT network, the “Thing” can do whatever we want it to do. Now Industrial companies are seeking to take advantage of this edge-deployed intelligence in order to maximize profits, improve safety and streamline operations. In addition to the challenges IoT technology had to overcome – such as cybersecurity, scalability and interoperability – Industrial IoT (IIoT) must also focus on reliability, ruggedness and more. FreeWave is uniquely positioned to understand and address all of these challenges. We have delivered world class IIoT platforms for almost 25 years to thousands of industrial and unmanned systems customers. With that experience, we’re now leading the charge to deploy intelligent applications at the edge of industrial networks and unmanned systems. In the third installment – and second half of an interview we ran last week (read part one of the interview here) – of “The Intelligent Edge,” we sat down with Greg Corey, FreeWave systems engineer, to talk about his new app – ZumDash – and the future of app development of the Internet of Things. FreeWave: Over the course of developing ZumDash, are there any lessons or things that you took away from it that if you could go back and do it again, you would change, or moving forward you kind of see as something that you will incorporate into future projects? Greg: Yes, definitely. I’ve only been using this a couple months, and I’ve learned a lot about it. I think what’s really important about Node-RED is that it empowers non-software developers to solve problems using software, and it’s taught me a lot about the types of problems that you’ll run into when doing software development. There are some challenges I’ve had to overcome in that. But, every release that I make of this app it gets better and it becomes more usable. FreeWave: When you say more usable, what are some of the things that you’ve of tweaked to make that happen? Greg: So, instead of having to change a setting in five different places, you change it in one and then you can store that setting and pull it from there. Bringing stuff to the forefront where a user can modify it instead of having to modify the code underneath. Basically, giving users more control over how the application runs and making it simpler after setup are two of the things I’ve tried to flip this on. Incorporating some UX/UI elements. FreeWave: Are there any high-level industry points that you think are important to consider as well? Greg: One thing is that FreeWave radios have always been just a radio product, and that goes for any radio manufacturer: you put data in and then it comes out the other side. And our radios have been put on sites to do just simply that task. If you look at the consumer space, 10 years ago, and you think of all the devices that we had in our lives, like a GPS navigation device, and then maybe an iPod, and a tablet, and then maybe a voice recorder or something like that. Those are like four or five different pieces of hardware that only did specific tasks. Now, in 2017, everybody has a smartphone, nobody has an iPod anymore, nobody has a GPS navigation device anymore because they’ve all leveraged software on hardware on smartphones. Eventually, radio platforms are going to go the same way. In the industrial setting, people are going to buy a radio and put it out there, then they have all these other specific hardware devices to do these things. What if the radio could be that smartphone where you just leverage some software and were able to cannibalize all these other hardware-specific devices by using software just like the smartphone revolution. FreeWave: So, ‘things’ are becoming not just smarter but they’re having a greater possibility to put interactive software applications onto devices that didn’t really used to have that capability? Greg: Hardware has gotten really cheap and it’s gotten really commodified, so any manufacturer can put together a little hardware solution in a very small form factor. The advantage anymore is not hardware anymore, it’s software because a lot of these hardware manufacturers are using the same chipsets from the same vendors. And, really, the playing platform is equal if you’re making just hardware, but the real secret sauce and the advantage comes in leveraging software on devices. FreeWave: What about the Fog Computing aspect of this that seems to be a growing piece of the puzzle? Greg: Fog Computing – that’s the paradigm where you can have these intelligent Edge devices that are making decisions instead of having everything centrally located. It’s like mainframes back in the day, everything was centralized, and then we got decentralized, right? And then everybody got a laptop. And then going to the Internet of Things, and the IIoT, it’s like we went back to something that was centralized, and now we’re going back to the decentralized aspect, where we’re thinking, “Maybe devices need to be independent and intelligent out on the Edge.” It’s a really broad category. It just depends on what you’re looking to do in a network. FreeWave: Are there any projects or anything that you’re working on that you wanted to share? Greg: I’m constantly improving the usability of the ZumDash right now. And then, I don’t want to say too much, but we’re working on a couple of projects where customers want to implement this type of technology, but we’re not really ready to release names or corporate specifics about these projects. FreeWave: Do you see any other interesting trends or challenges facing the Industrial IoT app development space? Greg: There’s this paradigm that in the future everybody will be a software developer. And the reason that everybody isn’t a software developer today is
FreeWave Blog Series: The Intelligent Edge
Part 1: Novice App Dev – A Q&A with Greg Corey from FreeWave The Internet of Things (IoT) has changed the consumer world in ways no one ever imagined. By placing intelligence in the IoT network, the “Thing” can do whatever we want it to do. Now Industrial companies are seeking to take advantage of this edge-deployed intelligence in order to maximize profits, improve safety and streamline operations. In addition to the challenges IoT technology had to overcome such as cybersecurity, scalability and interoperability, Industrial IoT (IIoT) must also focus on reliability, ruggedness and more. FreeWave is uniquely positioned to understand and address all of these challenges. We have delivered world class IIoT platforms for almost 25 years to thousands of industrial and unmanned systems customers. With that experience, we’re now leading the charge to deploy intelligent applications at the edge of industrial networks and unmanned systems. In the second installment of “The Intelligent Edge,” we sat down with Greg Corey, FreeWave systems engineer, to talk about his new app – ZumDash – and the future of app development of the Internet of Things. FreeWave: Can you talk about how you got involved in IoT app development and what that means from an Industrial IoT perspective? Greg: I got involved with IoT app development when we [FreeWave] started the ZumIQ project. IoT app development revolves around developing software to interconnect devices, and there’s a huge need for that in the industrial space known as the IIoT. So, I started working with some graphical JavaScript-based environments like Node-RED, and I realized that this quickly allowed me to solve problems that were facing our customers. FreeWave: Are Node-RED and JavaScript the primary languages being used right now to develop those apps? Greg: Yes, mostly you’ll see a lot of Python stuff, a lot of Java, and hence JavaScript, and then you’ll see some stuff written in C as well, but, really, the web-based languages have taken off. People write apps in Java and PHP for the most part. And then Node-RED is a graphical frontend for JavaScript. FreeWave: Can you talk a little bit about the app that you developed for FreeWave – ZumDash – and where it resides within an IIoT network? Greg: So, FreeWave has traditionally made radio products where you just put data in and out of the system and that’s all it does. It’s just a complicated replacement for a physical cable. With the new ZumIQ platform, it allows us to add a lot of intelligence at the Edge of these networks where a radio is functioning much more than just a radio. It’s actually an application development environment. It’s an application platform. So, the app that I developed, I wanted to showcase the radio’s capabilities at the Edge of the network, and specifically, there’s a few other things I wanted to show. I wanted to show data storage: so, actually, it’s recording data on the radio itself. I wanted to show the display of that data in a dashboard format. I wanted to show communication, so the radio can still act as a radio and then you can have email alerts and other alerts based on data points. And then I wanted to show logic as well: If This Then That. So, to be able to read a sensor value and if it’s within a certain range to then take action on it. So, the app that I built was really meant to showcase those four things: data storage, dashboard, communication, and logic. FreeWave: So, for the storage part, how often are people trying to actually store data on those Edge devices as opposed to having them just be conduits for the data transmission? Is that a different way of approaching it? Greg: Yeah, it’s a different way of approaching it, and what it allows you to do is free up network capacity. So, if you’re continuously sending and receiving data from the field to a central source, you’re using throughput and bandwidth on that network. With some of these Edge networks, it could be in something that’s moving on the ground and there’s not a very high antenna height; it could be a really noisy environment; there could be a lot of metal obstructions in the way. Sometimes, in the industrial realm, the networks aren’t as rock solid as you would want them to be, or there’s limited capacity for connectivity. So, by moving some data storage operation to the Edge, we can then free up our network capacity for other resources. FreeWave: So then from there are you able to run analytics on that Edge device to filter out some of the data that you don’t need? Greg: Yeah. Iin ZumDash there’s a frontend on it that I use. Using the frontend, you can remotely log into the radio, you can examine every piece of data the radio has recorded, and you can do that graphically. Then, you can build charts based upon that data, and then you can also export to Excel. So, all the data that resides on the radio in the MySQL database is available for analytics remotely, on demand. FreeWave: Does this have a dual track function where you can store data and look at it later, but you can also get the data in real-time if you need it? Greg: Yes, and also, how often the app records data to the database is configurable. You can look at configured intervals. The quickest time I can do at the moment is five seconds. So, every five seconds it’ll record data from six different sensors. FreeWave: Why was the dashboard display an important part of this app? Greg: It allows easy access to data. Let’s say there’s a problem and you want check on the status of a device. I don’t want to have to look through logs or something like that. I want that data easily displayable. So, adding the dashboard allows anybody to be able to log in and
Industrial IoT Top News: Fog and Edge Computing
As more IoT devices are deployed (with billions to come in the near future) there is a substantial push towards on-device analytics, programmability, and command/control for critical applications. This is especially relevant for businesses that are driving operational transformation with remote or industrial networks. As a result of these factors, all roads point to fog and edge computing as critical practices for meeting the future demands of Industrial IoT (IIoT). Below you will find our list of top news stories that highlight the trends, research data, predictions and best practices around edge and fog computing over the past few weeks. If you want to read about an edge computing application being deployed with our customers today, read about the “Small SCADA” edge application here. Edge Computing Supports the Growing Needs of IoT Devices An article recently featured in Network World by Raj Talluri (@rajtalluri) looks at the increasing power of everyday IoT devices. This newly achieved power results in reduced data center loads and cloud-based capabilities that are leading to IoT innovation. As a result, on-device computing and analytics (i.e. edge computing) are growing in importance. “Edge computing delivers tangible value in both consumer and industrial IoT use cases. It can help reduce connectivity costs by sending only the information that matters instead of raw streams of sensor data, which is particularly valuable on devices that connect via LTE/cellular such as smart meters or asset trackers. Also, when dealing with a massive amount of data produced by sensors in an industrial facility or a mining operation for instance, having the ability to analyze and filter the data before sending it can lead to huge savings in network and computing resources.” The future of IoT Deployments Points to Fog Computing A recent TechTarget article by Alan R. Earls looks ahead at fog computing. It notes that large amounts of data required for IoT devices is leading to a future that includes fog computing and edge IT. The article reveals that IoT leverages more devices than ever was conceivable. In fact, the most recent estimates foresee more than 50 Billion IoT devices deployed in the coming years. These devices are often deployed outside the data center, far beyond the reach of IT professionals. As a result these devices are going to be increasingly software-defined to allow for remote management, revealing the need for critical fog IT strategy planning. “Tomorrow’s cloud will need to extend beyond the walls of a service provider’s data center, seeping into the business — becoming almost pervasive via edge devices and local connection hubs.” Successful Fog Implementation With Fog Computing on the horizon, an EE Times post by Chuck Byers of @OpenFog, offers tips for successful fog implementation. The post focuses on recognition of where fog techniques are needed, spanning software across fog nodes North-South and East-West, understanding the pillars of the fog as identified by OpenFog, Making fog software modular and linked by standard APIs, and tips for making each installation very easy. “Software is the key to the performance, versatility and trustworthiness of fog implementations. Make it manageable and interoperable by carefully partitioning it into functional blocks. The interfaces between these blocks should be based on well tested, standard APIs and messaging frameworks. Open source projects can be a good starting point for fog software development once you’re identified the right properties for your applications.” The Transformative Nature of IoT A post in Computer Business Review discusses the shift in IoT from optimization from transformation. According to the post, more than half of IoT projects have met or exceeded their goals even though most are sticking to improving company efficiencies rather than transforming business processes. A recent survey states that for the 47 percent of companies which failed to meet IoT goals, two reasons stood out: company culture and a shortage of skills.This further demonstrates the importance of getting the whole company behind IoT projects in order to have the greatest chance of success. The article also highlights the early, but growing importance of edge computing. “Edge computing, where computing and analysis is carried out near where data is gathered, not in a central data centre, is continuing to grow in importance but there’s still progress to be made. About 30 per cent of sensor data is currently analysed ‘at the edge’, the rest goes to a traditional data centre which creates issues of latency and bandwidth for the network. But looking forward those surveyed expected more than 70 per cent of sensor data would stay at the edge within five years.” A New Look at Data Through Edge Computing A TechTarget IoT Agenda Blog by Jason Andersen (@JasonTAndersen) examines how more engineers are placing a higher importance on data produced by their automation systems than on the tools needed to make them happen. This evolution in thinking reflects the increasing potential that data and advanced analytics offer enterprises in untapped business value, especially looking at emerging practices like edge computing. “Currently, most industrial enterprises are in the ‘informed’ stage, where they are starting to understand and realize the potential of IIoT, but have not made strides in tapping its potential. However, many are beginning to look ahead and think more tactically about progressing to the next phases.” Could Edge Computing Weaken the Cloud? An opinion piece by Bob O’Donnell (@bobodtech) in TechSpot examines the potential changes we can expect to see as we move closer to edge computing. While he doesn’t see cloud going away by any means, he does expect a shift towards edge computing in some areas. “Exactly what some of these new edge applications turn out to be remains to be seen, but it’s clear that we’re at the dawn of an exciting new age for computing and tech in general. Importantly, it’s an era that’s going to drive the growth of new types of products and services, as well as shift the nexus of power amongst tech industry leaders. For those companies that can adapt to the new realities that edge computing models will start to drive over
IIoT Edge Applications: Small SCADA
In a small SCADA environment, remote monitoring and automation are important tools for creating operational efficiency and ensuring cost-effective solution deployment. Real-time data in small SCADA environments enable programmable radios to act upon data at physical locations of the sensor or device. As such, processes can be remotely monitored and controlled without the Cloud. You still can send data to the Cloud, but only the data you need, when you need it. This frees up network bandwidth and minimizes latency significantly. In industries where even milliseconds count, this kind of Edge intelligence can mean the difference between ops in the red or ops in the black. We recently announced the release of our ZumDash application, which is hosted on our ZumIQ App Server, and can function agnostically across different I/O systems and networks. In a small SCADA environment, the ZumDash is ideal for real-time data aggregation and transmission. It is capable of running both at the Edge on hardware, as well as the Cloud, ensuring uninterrupted functionality. In an oil and gas setting, ZumDash can empower field operations managers via the intuitive dashboard display that can be customized to fit individual needs. Additionally, the app itself is powered by Node-RED programming, making it easy to configure on the fly, along with the ability receive real-time alerts for any operational needs like inspection, parts replacement, or troubleshooting. Essentially, having a remote monitoring and automation system powered by programmable Edge radios that can host proprietary third-party apps like ZumDash enable companies to more effectively deploy resources, saving time and money across the board. For any companies in the Industrial IoT space – or companies that rely on dispersed assets and asset management – intelligence at the Edge can be the true difference maker for your organization. For more information about the ZumDash Small SCADA application, please visit: https://www.freewave.com/zumiq-remote-access-control/ To learn more about the full ZumIQ solution, read case studies or download solutions briefs, please visit: https://www.freewave.com/zumiq/
FreeWave Blog Series: The Intelligent Edge
A Blog Series Dedicated to IIoT, Application Development, and Intelligence at the Edge The Internet of Things (IoT) has changed the consumer world in ways no one ever imagined. By placing intelligence in the IoT network, the “Thing” can do whatever we want it to do. Now Industrial companies are seeking to take advantage of this edge-deployed intelligence in order to maximize profits, improve safety and streamline operations. In addition to the challenges IoT technology had to overcome such as cybersecurity, scalability and interoperability, Industrial IoT (IIoT) must also focus on reliability, ruggedness and more. FreeWave is uniquely positioned to understand and address all of these challenges. We have delivered world class IIoT platforms for almost 25 years to thousands of industrial and unmanned systems customers. With that experience, we’re now leading the charge to deploy intelligent applications at the edge of industrial networks and unmanned systems. In the first edition of “The Intelligent Edge,” we’re sitting down with Jesse Steiner, FreeWave systems engineer, to discuss how he is helping industrial customers understand the power of deploying intelligent applications in an industrial network. FreeWave: We’re starting this blog series to interview people who are contributing new applications and ideas for IIoT environments. You have an interesting story to tell around that — can you share that with us? Steiner: Sure — so I started getting involved with IoT apps once we released ZumIQ, the App Server Software platform that is deployed on our ZumLink 900 Series radios. I don’t have a whole lot of programming experience — I’ve used a handful of different languages at a pretty novice level over the years. The first thing I used it for was to write a simple app to monitor the level in the water tank out at a remote ranch location that wasn’t often manned. It was the second property for the ranch owner. He had this big water tank, 22,000 gallons, that he needed to keep an eye on the level because it provided irrigation water, drinking water, bathing water, all that. He’d had issues in the past where the circuit breaker on the pump tripped, or had a leak, and he went out to his second property to find he had no water to use. So we took a ZumLink 900 Series radio with ZumIQ, wrote an application for it that would pull a sensor for the level in the tank, it would format that data, and then send it over the radio network to the internet and to the cloud, and then to the ranch owner so he could look at his water tank anywhere. It was really done as proof of concept, and as a learning exercise for me, but it’s been deployed for a month, month and half maybe, and it’s already proven very useful on multiple occasions FreeWave: So how did you write the app? Steiner: I don’t want to call it a programming language, but I used a programming environment called Node-RED. It’s basically a graphical interface to Node.js. It’s a graphical thing where you lay these function blocks down and connect lines but you’ve also got the ability to write your own Javascript code that gets inserted and run in that environment. From there, it got sent to a cloud hosting service called dweet.io, which is really good for very beginner use — it doesn’t require any advanced IT knowledge or programming knowledge and you can get data in there and store it really quickly. And for actually viewing it, I used a service that’s owned by the same company as dweet called freeboard.io. You basically build a dashboard and point it towards the data you have stored in dweet, and it will pull that out and display it in a graphical way. FreeWave: What other applications could the tank level monitoring be used for? Steiner: That application caught the eye of the company who installed the pump and tank system out at that property in the first place, and they’ve since reached out us and said, “Hey, we’re interested in this. We’d like to see if we could develop it further.” As FreeWave, we’re not selling the software or any of the service. But we did provided the radios and pretty much the same code that we had used before to this company, so they can develop something that would be more than proof of concept — really, a marketable software product where you could choose the number of tanks, monitor multiple tanks of different sizes, keep an eye on pump status, potentially control the status of pumps and valves — really for a whole monitoring and control system when it comes to remote irrigation. What that comes down to is intelligence, monitoring and control in remote locations, where is kind of where FreeWave has been used for 20 years out in the oilfields. FreeWave: Any sort of learnings you took away from going through the process of writing the application? Steiner: For a non-developer, the Node-RED environment is a very useful, powerful tool. It’s great for getting simple projects up and running very quickly without vast programming knowledge. The projects I’ve worked on since then have become a bit more complicated, so more and more I wasn’t just using pre-made blocks in these applications, it was just more code in the traditional since. So Node-RED is a great platform for getting going — and I still use it, I just rely less and less on its built-in features and I’m kind of adding my own. Once we got in a situation where we needed to make things truly available anywhere, basically once I grew out of the freeboard.io dashboard, I started making things from scratch in Javascript and HTML, but it was really a good springboard to get me introduced. In terms of tips for somebody that would be just starting, really the biggest tip is don’t be intimidated. Don’t think you need to be an expert coder to put together
International IIoT Perspectives: Fog Computing On a Global Scale
Fog Computing is a slippery concept. It combines two critical components of data computing today, Edge and Cloud computing, into a system that leverages the strength – and necessity – of both. This idea of local computing (the Edge) combined with more complicated analytics engines (the Cloud) opens up a world of possibilities for data communications. Fog Computing & Emergency Response Earlier this fall, researchers at Georgia Tech looked at the application of Fog Computing in areas struck by natural disasters. In these areas, traditional means of internet connection are often knocked out of commission, leaving rescuers and victims unable to communicate with one another, even though there are many apps designed to help facilitate rescue. Where Fog Computing comes in is that rather than relying on a direct connection to the internet, different Fog nodes can be leveraged to create an ad hoc network that can still send basic messages: However, one important advantage of a fog system is that messages can be distributed between a broad network of computers through temporary ad hoc connections, even without live internet connections. The geo-distributed network of fog nodes, which could be phones, tablets or any device part of the Internet of Things, could generate communication channels in areas where there were none before, allowing the creation of population density maps in flooded areas. Another application would allow users to check the fog network to see if their family members are safe after a crisis event. Fog Computing applied in this setting is applicable around the world, as we are reminded daily of both the ubiquity and fragility of wireless communications against the whims of nature. Smart Grids Need Fog Computing Across the globe, more and more countries are jumping into smart grid deployments. The good side is that smart energy tools are critical to managing resources. The bad side is that most are not sufficiently developed with the necessary security infrastructure in place. When considering the rapid development of smart grid tech, Fog Computing quickly comes up as a viable tool for ensuring reliable data communication and information transfer between consumers, grid operators and larger energy providers. The Open Fog Consortium, a global Fog Computing group comprised of technology and academic thought leaders, has formed Resilient Information Architecture Platform for Smart Grid (RIAPS), a project aimed at developing software for Fog Computing platforms: RIAPS is very different from conventional platforms as it was designed for inherently distributed and decentralized applications. An application is composed of interconnected real-time software components (similar to micro-services) that can be event- and/or time-triggered and that interact via well-defined communication patterns, including publish/subscribe and synchronous and asynchronous service invocations. Such components are location transparent and agnostic about the underlying messaging framework. Although the project is based out of Vanderbilt University, in the United States, the repercussions will be felt throughout the world. Is Fog Computing the Final Answer? While Fog Computing has yet to be standardized and applied across the wide range of IoT technologies out in the field today, its ability to combine both local and Cloud data analytics is something that can have an impact in both the consumer and the Industrial IoT. However, the first adapters, companies that play in IIoT settings, will be largely responsible for driving the growth of this concept moving forward into the future.
Calling Industrial IoT Developers…to the Well Pad?
Organizations continue to enhance their digital transformation strategies as they see measurable benefits and improvements in operations. Many industries that have traditionally used either manual methods or a disparate technologies for data collection, will soon have access to next generation, cloud-based monitoring and control of their networks. In these networks, robust wireless communication technologies bring intelligence to remote assets, enabling command, control and visibility from computers or mobile devices, and accessibility from anywhere. These future-proof wireless telemetry systems leverage automation and programmability to monitor data globally and execute and process logic locally. As organizations eye the future of operations with these types of capabilities there are big opportunities for software developers in the Industrial IoT (IIoT) space. Developers in Demand With programmability introduced to the industrial IoT network, the possibilities for developers are endless. Novice developers could even leverage open-source technologies like Python and Node-RED to enable new applications for monitoring and control that can transform business operations. We’re already seeing automation prototypes for tank level monitoring of remote and isolated oil/gas assets, and this is only one example of the type of application that would prove highly beneficial for organizations with geographically dispersed assets in the field. These programmable solutions are also extremely flexible, as a company can choose to develop the app themselves or integrate third-party applications. There is at least one pilot program currently in progress designed to support and enable developers who want to create applications for expansive IIoT networks. IIoT app development can serve a number of industries. The ability to add programmability to these solutions further supports companies as they digitize operations. Next Generation Automation for Oil and Gas Small-to-medium-sized oil and gas companies in particular can benefit from automation technologies that combine wireless telemetry with programmability, especially in terms of ROI. By automating manual processes, they cut down on operating costs by a large marker. Well pad automation technology builds analytics and intelligence into the wellhead environment. This is a big step beyond traditional communications because it enables the intelligent applications and programmability to establish an advanced operating environment. With a modern communication network in place, the organization becomes more agile and productive because it can leverage predictive analytics, remote command and control, new protocol translations, and modern cloud-based services – all at the well pad! When the oil and gas company has the power to make informed decisions that drive higher production outputs, they are able to visualize and measure the benefits. It’s an exciting time in the IIoT space as we watch digital transformations change the way companies operate. With more processes automated and programmability being incorporated throughout the entire network, even at the most remote edge, we’re seeing significant opportunities for developers to help point these industrial organizations at the future.
Programming for Cloud-to-Device Communications in Industrial IoT
Should you leave processing in the cloud or on the edge? Both. Particularly in IIoT, developers need to start thinking about both tracks. There is a power struggle going on in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Many think cloud applications are the future of real-time data processing in IIoT settings; others believe data should be processed and decisions executed at the edge of the network. In truth, the answer lies somewhere in the middle: Data needs to be processed both via the cloud and at the edge, which presents an interesting opportunity for software developers in the IIoT space. Clearly, being able to operate industrially hardened smart devices remotely – and in many cases automatically – from the cloud presents many benefits. But the challenge lies in potential connectivity issues when developing applications. Developers must think along a dual track, which means that they must think about how an app developed for the cloud can be mirrored to run on the edge device itself. Several factors converge here to create a unique atmosphere for developers: connectivity, security, and today, the programmability of edge devices. Traditionally, the devices themselves simply acted as conduits for data collection and transport, but today, hardware manufacturers are creating devices that can host third-party applications. A point worth noting is the advent of Node-RED, which can streamline some of the programmability challenges. So, understanding the need for mirrored applications, let’s look at a few use-cases that highlight exactly why this redundancy is necessary. Cloud-to-Device in the Oilfield In the case of oil fields, when the edge app sees an oil pump showing a temperature reading above a predetermined safety level, the applications on the device can decide to shut the pump down, or the cloud application can send a command to do so. In cases where there are emergencies, different sites might have a different set of actions that need to be initiated. In fact, most sites have thermal sensors on the oil pads. If the oil pads exceed a certain threshold, then these cloud programs know there is an explosion and a fire happening onsite. To prevent a chain reaction, the cloud will send a command to shut down all the pumps and all the valves in that area so they don’t create a chain reaction and keep spreading. Extending the oil site example, if there is an intentional attack on the site, the first thing you do is disconnect the communication lines back to the cloud to protect the network. In that scenario, having the same application running on the cloud and the edge devices still allows the same decision to be made in the local network by the device itself. If the device cannot ‘see’ the cloud, it can still respond and execute tasks. If the cloud program is not responding, and the device notices the pad temperature goes beyond the threshold, it can initiate a local shutdown protocol. Once the network is back online, the device can send this information back to the cloud which can, in turn, be given to site operators remotely. Because of these necessary duplications, programming for these settings can be difficult. For example, in Oracle applications, in SCADA networks, all of the applications run on Java. Oracle pages run on Java. Therefore, most programmable industrial devices must demonstrate that they can run the same Java application locally. Many IIoT platform providers have now expanded the scope of the programming. They’ve built devices that can actually drag and drop the same Java code from the cloud into individual edge units, to run that device. Of course, it has to be developed for a device and for the cloud, so it requires some extra attention, mainly because on the device, the decision-making is slightly different. It does not execute the application unless it cannot speak to the cloud. When it cannot speak to the cloud, then it executes the command just the way the cloud would. Redundancy Applications in UAS In other industrial settings – unmanned systems, for instance – the protocols are different. If a drone can’t communicate with the operator, it could have a simple command that says, “Trace back all your GPS location and fly them in a reverse mode and go back to where you came from, until you can establish communication and get new commands.” So, it’s the same concept. Programmable IIoT platforms are now being set up and designed so that they can run applications in multiple different languages. If the application is written in C, Java, Python – basically, anything that can be read on the cloud – it can be dragged and dropped into those edge units, and it could execute the same protocols directly on the edge device. This simple concept is transforming the way the IIoT thinks about data transport and real-time decision-making. If you write your code once you can drop it in both places, and if the device loses communication, it knows what to do. Of course, there are many other considerations when thinking about programming applications for the edge and the Industrial IoT. Security remains paramount, and we see examples every day pointing to a potential meltdown if security isn’t addressed properly. Still, the potential for the cloud-to-device communication and application execution remains great. For developers, being able to think across platforms, languages and program functions are three key points to consider when creating applications for the Industrial IoT. This article originally appeared on DZone.com
IIoT News Roundup: How IoT is Saving Lives
In the past several weeks, there have been two massive natural disasters in the U.S., as Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas, bringing historic flooding to Houston and surrounding areas, and Hurricane Irma devastated parts of the Caribbean and Florida. Sadly, thousands of people find themselves without power, food and shelter. It is indeed a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to those affected. In this devastation, however, there is a story emerging about the role the Internet of Things (IoT) has played in disaster preparedness. Indeed this technology has matured to the point that it is making a real and measurable impact in helping communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from disaster. In today’s IIoT news roundup, we will take a look at several stories emerging around disaster preparedness, smart cities and the IoT. Disaster Response in the 21st Century: Big Data and IoT Saves Lives In this story from Forbes, author Chris Wilder describes some of the ways the IoT and other technologies have changed the way disasters are predicted and responded to. Specifically, Wilder cites the ways crowd sourced emergency applications have made post-disaster communication and emergency dispatch easier and more streamlined. Further, Wilder speaks to the ways Big Data generated from sensors and meters throughout the region helped give more advanced notice to impacted areas and helped predict the path of these hurricanes with greater accuracy. IoT’s Role in Natural Disasters like Harvey In this article from IoT for All, author Hannah White discusses how the advent of the IoT has fundamentally changed the way hurricanes are predicted and responded to. Specifically, White discusses how open data was used to list Red Cross shelters with space availability, as well as evacuation routes that remained passable. White also describes the way organizations are leveraging drone technology in their response. Oil and gas companies are using drones to inspect their facilities, while insurance companies have been able to use the tech to capture high-resolution 3D images of damage to help expedite claim response and enable those affected to rebuild and recover more quickly. Finally, White discusses the way different organizations are leveraging IoT sensor arrays to measure and predict natural disasters in advance, helping to provide critical time to those in harm’s way. Where Will Hurricane Jose Go Next? How Drones and Lightbulbs Help Predict Dangerous Weather Unfortunately, Irma and Harvey are being quickly followed by another potentially dangerous storm (at the time of writing, Tropical Storm Jose) looming east of the United States. In this article from Newsweek author Kevin Maney describes the ways technology is helping us predict storms with greater accuracy. In the article, Maney notes the one of the key components for more accurate weather modeling and prediction is vast amounts of data. Indeed, the IoT is the most prolific and advanced data engine in technology history, and scientists are able to leverage the IoT to make incredible breakthroughs in their weather modeling algorithms. Department of Energy Investing in Power Resiliency In this recent blog post from the Department of Energy, it was announced that the DOE is invested some $50 million to help improve the resilience and security of the United State’s energy grid. This is a particularly timely announcement in the wake of Harvey and Irma, whose impacts on area electrical grids were profound. One of the technologies in discussion as part of the investment are micro grids, smaller, more “agile” energy structures that make the impact of localized storms less widespread. In a traditional grid system, one transformer can impact wide swaths of residents, while a micro grid limits damage and makes repairs simpler, less costly, and faster. Final Thoughts While the devastation caused by these two natural disasters cannot be overstated, IIoT played a significant role in saving lives both before the storms made landfall and after the storms had passed. When it comes to these sorts of disasters, even minutes of additional notice can mean the difference between life and death. As IoT solutions grow more robust and continue to become more ubiquitous in cities across the globe, we expect prediction and response capabilities to continue to advance at an incredible pace.