Four Ways to Optimize Your Operations for IIoT
The phrase, “the future is here,” is overused and has evolved into a catchphrase for companies struggling to position themselves in times of technological or digital transformations. Still, the sentiment is understood, especially in times like today, where the Internet of Things is quite literally changing the way we think about hardware and software. We’d like to offer an addendum to the phrase: “The future is here more quickly than we thought it would be.” Digital transformation, increased computing ability, smart hardware and the growth of connectivity capabilities created a perfect storm of accelerated industry, and many were left scrambling to sift through the large amounts of information and solutions available. With that in mind, we wanted to provide some advice for companies across the industrial sector for the best ways to optimize operations for the Industrial IoT. 1) Upgrade your network and throughput capabilities. Nothing can kill the ROI of automated processes more quickly than the literal inability to function. It’s important to understand that as you upgrade machinery and invest in the software to run it all, those systems demand greater bandwidth in order to effectively utilize the big data and analytics capabilities. Several options exist, but for most companies some combination of industrial-strength broadband (WiFi), narrow-band, cellular and RF communications will create the most effective network for the needs. 2) Invest in smart hardware. This may seem like a no-brainer, and really, in the not-too-distant future, you may not even have a choice, but the shift toward Fog Computing is gaining momentum and being able to run decentralized computing between hardware and the Cloud can not only create greater operational efficiency, but it can also allow your data transmission to run more smoothly as well. The beauty of a Fog Computing system is that it allows a greater number of devices to transmit smaller data packets, which frees up bandwidth and speeds real-time data analytics. The core of this lies in the smart hardware. 3) Be proactive about application development. Smart hardware means that it has the ability to host applications designed specifically for your needs. Previously, many companies shied away from app development because it required highly skilled developers and devices capable of hosting those apps – a combination that wasn’t readily available. Today, the scene has changed. With the rise of Node-RED, it is much easier today to create proprietary applications without a computer engineering degree, and any company serious about leveraging IIoT technology needs to be able to to use the full scope of its data. 4) Secure your communications. There isn’t much more to be said about the importance of cybersecurity. If the last few years of massive data breaches haven’t rung alarm bells, then you aren’t paying attention. Cybersecurity today is a multi-layered need. Most companies building smart hardware are beginning to build encryption directly into the devices. But, since many companies use Cloud applications for computing and analytics, it is important to invest in strong security measures at that level as well. Unfortunately, the sophistication of cyber-attacks are only going to increase, along with the increase in importance of the data needing to be protected. It pays to be paranoid and act accordingly.
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
Connect Field Assets Together with Node-RED App Dev
Until recently, modern solutions for remote process-control and automation applications were limited to expensive retrofits, recurring subscription fees, and costly internal software development. Small- to medium-sized businesses often struggle with the balance of enabling these critical monitoring and control functions, while also focusing on the bottom line. Fortunately, the rise of open source software development has introduced new solutions that finally offer a more affordable option, with rapid ROI and measurably reduced OPEX and CAPEX. These solutions combine process-driven industrial app and edge intelligent platforms that can be implemented easily and affordably. These platforms achieve enterprise-level process control, monitoring and automation by combining 900 MHz wireless telemetry with the ability to program and host third party apps for intelligent control and automation of remote sensors and devices. Picture a Linux-based Raspberry Pi embedded in a robust industrial Ethernet radio. The beauty of these solutions is that they are designed for both experts and novices in the app dev space. Developers can program with any language that is compatible with a Linux kernel. Node-RED, in particular, has proven to be especially successful with the novice developer crowd, enabling fully functioning and visible small SCADA solutions that solve a variety of issues for small- to medium-businesses, namely the cost reduction of installation, maintenance and upkeep of more expensive hardware solutions. With Node-RED, Industrial IoT (IIoT) apps are easily designed and hosted on the radio at the edge of the network – offering local intelligence, analytics and process control to cloud-based systems. These apps have even raised the possibility of eventually serving as SCADA replacement. The programming possibilities are endless and the needs are vast, opening a significant opportunity for IoT developers to create apps that can be executed at the edge. This impacts many industries, but especially those with remote or geographically dispersed networks, such as those in oil and gas, precision agriculture, utilities, water/wastewater, and government/defense. In water/wastewater, for example, we’re already seeing the implementation of a Node-RED, complex water utility app. Node-RED Complex Water Application When a water utility has dispersed assets, such as tanks that are a large distance apart, there is a Node-RED SCADA app available that allows orchestration of both manual and automatic control of the system directly from the app dashboard without using expensive logic hardware. The Node-RED SCADA app also enables real-time alerts to potentially dangerous or damaging events via text or email – directly to their mobile devices. This is easily executed under Nod-RED programming and here’s a demonstration of how it works: With the edge intelligence and process automation delivered in a programmable platform we’re already seeing increased uptime and lower on-site maintenance costs because of the enhanced ability to monitor and troubleshoot remotely. Because data is acted upon at the sensor, these edge intelligent and process automation platforms solve problems, remotely, that are not easily solved with traditional hardware solutions. As we look towards the next generation of SCADA, it’s looking a lot more affordable and flexible. What types of apps would you like to see for water/wastewater?
ZumIQ Named Finalist in Control Engineering’s “Engineers’ Choice Awards”
Last week, Control Engineering Magazine announced our new ZumIQ App Server as a finalist in its Control Engineering 2018 Engineers’ Choice Awards program! This award opportunity is particularly exciting for FreeWave because along with the industry-wide respect that the magazine garners, the products themselves go through a fairly comprehensive review before being selected as a finalist. In late September, we officially announced the ZumIQ App Server, which combines 900 MHz wireless telemetry with the ability to program and host third-party applications, similar to a Linux-based Raspberry Pi embedded in an industrial Ethernet radio. One of the really cool (in our opinion!) facets of the ZumIQ is that Industrial IoT developers can program with any language that is compatible with a Linux kernel, including: Python, Java, C++, Node-RED and Node.js development environments. The ZumIQ App Server software comes pre-loaded with Node-RED, Python and MQTT for easy industrial IoT app development. For FreeWave, it really plants a flag in the ground for our ongoing goal of bringing true intelligence to the Edge. More importantly, it is a true testament to the engineering talent here that have bought into the company’s vision and put together an innovative, game-changing piece of hardware. We’d love to share a little more about the ZumIQ. To learn more, check out our ZumIQ Solutions Brief that can be downloaded here: https://www.freewave.com/zumiq-solution-brief-download/ If you like that, then we’d also love it if you headed over to the Control Engineering website and gave our ZumIQ a vote of confidence! You can find that link here: https://gspplatform.cfemedia.com/pe/productProfile/598e03dbe4b044ddd0c2ebbb It is an exciting time to be part of the FreeWave team, and part of the growth of Industrial IoT in general. The transformations over the last few years have been staggering, and the momentum and understanding of how these systems can improve business, quality of life and many other facets of our critical industries has only continued to grow.
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
Where is SCADA Headed?
With all the chatter around Industrial IoT (IIoT) and the disruption it brings to business operations, where does Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) technology for industrial organizations stand? Is it still relevant or will it be phased out? As businesses begin to recognize the benefits of modern technologies and deploy them across industrial networks to increase connectivity between the field and business office, this is a legitimate question. However, while organizations are working to modernize their operations, we are finding that SCADA is in no way becoming obsolete – at least for the foreseeable future. Instead, we are starting to see more modern approaches to SCADA. For example, there are now app-based small SCADA systems that are designed to fit modern network needs while putting less of a strain on technology budgets. Research also indicates that the SCADA industry will continue to drive forward. According to a recent report, the global Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition market was valued at $7.5 billion in 2014. It is expected to reach $11 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 7.40 percent between 2016 and 2021. In the Oil & Gas Market alone it is estimated that SCADA will be Worth $4.52 Billion by 2022. We Still Need SCADA Clearly, SCADA will remain an essential network component; however, we will likely begin to see modern technology have a transformative impact on SCADA. As industries increasingly adopt automation technologies to streamline monitoring and process control, technology providers are working on ways to better integrate SCADA and IIoT technologies into the network. With new programmable app server software platforms now available that combine 900 MHz RF-based technology with the ability to program and host third-party applications, there are clear signs that the SCADA systems of tomorrow will be designed to meet modern data and production demands. The newly available, app-based small SCADA systems that run on app server software platforms are already an indicator of a much more cost effective option than traditional SCADA. This gives smaller businesses an affordable way to manage data and control their network. Reducing Hardware to Drive ROI App Based Small SCADA solutions achieve the same critical SCADA functions of larger systems, including data management, logic execution and visualization – without the use of PLC-type hardware. The ZumDash Small SCADA App, for example, is programmed into FreeWave’s ZumLink radios to achieve collection, monitoring and control functionality. Furthermore, it provides a “dashboard” with status and trend visualization from any web-based device. Using Node-RED for simple, easy programming, the app-based small SCADA system was designed with minimal CAPEX and OPEX. The result is a system that increases production, optimizes operations and mitigates the risk of a catastrophic event. And the beautiful thing about a programmable app-based SCADA system is that it is customizable to individual network needs at a fraction of the cost of a traditional SCADA setup. As technology and automation demands continue to drive innovation, we expect to see an increase in advanced approaches to SCADA. As we look towards the future of SCADA, we see IIoT enabling better operations and control of the network, faster ROI, safer operations and reduced downtime.
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.
