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In the following existing IIoT technologies and their suitability for Industry 4.0 will be analyzed. Furthermore, application scenarios will be discussed. Theses technologies then could be used to extend the Basyx demonstration stand.
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## Industry 4.0 and IIoT
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Industry 4.0 - the fourth industrial revolution - aims to create "smart factories" that are able to automate and optimize the entire manufacturing process from production planning and supply chain management to quality control and maintenance. IIoT, the Industrial Internet of Things, plays an important role in Industry 4.0. It refers to a network of interconnected machines, sensors or other devices and enables the collection, exchange, and analysis of data from various sources, allowing for smarter and more efficient industrial systems and processes. Operational Technology (OT) could be integrated with Information Technology (IT). To use IIoT components in Industry 4.0 they have to be mapped to an I4.0 component as a digital twin. The I4.0 component consists of an asset and the corresponding Asset Administration Shell (AAS). The AAS provides the asset's properties, capabilities, and behavior.
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IIoT devices can be added to existing systems for collecting data without interfering with the actual PLC (hybride IIoT). This is usefull because IIoT may cause delays influencing the performance. On the other hand, full IIoT solutions can be realized without the need for a separate controller. This [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7xMLZKapFk) shows examples for both methods using the technology from PEPPERL+FUCHS.
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## State of the demonstration stand
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The whole project serves as a demonstration for AASs implemented using [BaSyx](https://projects.eclipse.org/projects/dt.basyx). BaSyx supports type 1, 2 and 3 AAS. As for now, various LEDs and buttons for controlling them, different sensors, a display, and a RFID reader are included in the system. Animations can be run with the LEDs and the sensor values as well as results from the RFID reader can be displayed. To enable all of this, a AAS Server as well as a AAS registry are provided.
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The system consists of Raspberry PIs and ESP32 microcontrollers and standard sensors made for use with such devices. All these components are not suitable for use in most industrial applications as they are not protected and not precise enough. HTTP/REST, MQTT and functionality from the BaSyx SDK are used for invoking operations and for communication.
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At the moment nothing is really done with meassured data. The values from the sensors as well as the data from detected RFID chips is simply displayed on the LCD. Furthermore, no real machine/ device/ system is monitored or even controlled in the demonstration.
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## BaSyx
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The [BaSyx](https://projects.eclipse.org/projects/dt.basyx) SDK already provides lots of features of which only some are used in the current implementations. But the incomplete documentation of BaSyx makes it hard to find out what features are available and how they work.
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Besides HTTP/REST and MQTT the SDK supports OPC UA and native TCP/UDP communication. In the future, especially including OPC UA as an alternative in the demonstration could be tested. One of the IIoT kits could be used to do so. Furthermore, [property delegeation](https://wiki.eclipse.org/BaSyx_/_Documentation_/_Components_/_AAS_Server_/_Features_/_Property_Delegation) was introduced in version 1.3.0 enabling the integration of third-party HTTP/REST data sources. This feature could be tested when integrating new technologies.
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## IIoT technologies and use cases
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In the following different IIoT Kits will be evaluated regarding their suitability for use in Industry 4.0 and the demonstrator. Depending on the included sensors possible use cases will be shown.
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### IIoT technologies
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| Kit | Sensors | Hub / Gateway | Protocol / Platform / Technologies | Remarks |
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| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
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| [PEPPERL+FUCHS IIoT-Starter-Kit](https://www.pepperl-fuchs.com/germany/de/iiot.htm) | IO-Link sensors: <br/>inductive sensor, distance sensor, read/ write station | IO-Link Master | HTTP/REST, MQTT, OPC UA <br/>IO-Link, Ethernet/IP or PROFINET-interface, multiple cloud platforms (e.g. AWS) | all necessary parts inclusive<br/>for hybirde or full-IIoT solutions |
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| [CUBIDO IIoT Jump Start Kit](https://www.cubido.at/services/iot/iiot/jump-start-kit) | (1) ifm IO-Link sensors: <br/>RGB LED pilot light, photoelectric barrier, RFID reader, temperature and humidity sensor <br/>---<br/>(2) ifm IO-Link sensors: <br/>magnetic pulse sensor counter, temperature and humidity sensor <br/>---<br/>(3) ifm IO-Link sensors: <br/>vibration sensor, temperature and humidity sensor | IO-Link Master?, CloudRAIL.Box | IO-Link <br/>Microsoft IoT Central <br/>OPC UA <br/>CloudRAIL.Box should support MQTT | Azure subscription necessary <br/>includes Kick-Off workshop <br/>data of existing sensors can be included using OPC UA <br/>individual kit possible |
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| [Amazon Monitron](https://aws.amazon.com/de/monitron/) | vibration and temperature sensors | Monitron Gateway | Bluetooth Low Energy <br/>Ethernet or Wi-Fi Gateway <br/>AWS Cloud | Kit was already purchased <br/>setup with mobile App <br/>reverse engineering might be necessary |
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- Full IIoT solution without PLC
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### Application scenarios
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In general, IIoT can be used for for example predictive maintenance, quality control, inventory management or monitoring of the energy usage. It can provide insights into the performance of industrial systems.
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#### PEPPERL+FUCHS
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The inductive sensor can be used for detection of metallic objects or to determine their position. Furthermore, the speed of metallic objects or the distance to them can be measured. The distance sensor can be used to do the same for non-metallic objects as well. Furthermore, distance sensors can be used to determine the level of materials in a tank. Safety monitoring is possible, too. Both sensors could be used to count objects as well.
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In an industrial environment such sensors could be used to determine if a work piece is in the right place before starting a process or to count the produced objects. Furthermore, a machine could be stopped or slowed down if a human approaches it. To realize the first scenarios with the demonstration an additional machine doing something with objects would be needed. But one could for example only turn on the display when somebody is near the demonstration stand or do something if an object is detected.
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RFID in general can be used to track the position or status of assets, for inventory management, for access control or identification or to track the maintenance and repair history. For example, different data could be made available depending on which RFID tag is detected and simultaneously it is possible to track who accessed it.
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As the sensors are connected via IO-Link and controlled by the IO-Link Master it should be possible to add additional sensors using the same technology.
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#### CUBIDO
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Three different kits are provided. The first proposed application scenario of the first one is access control and human resources management. The photoelectric barrier in combination with the LED can be used to detect the presence of humans or objects and to indicate it. This can be useful to secure work areas. In this context, the RFID reader could be used especially for identification.
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The second kit is for smart manufacturing. The included sensors can be used to meassure the efficiency and to monitor the system. For example, the produced items could be counted. If the temperature and/ or humidity are too high, this could indicate that something went wrong. On the other hand, one could use these values to determin if the conditions are good enough to ensure that the system can work as intended.
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The focus of the third kit is on condition and environment monitoring. With this kit the previous described monitoring of the conditions can be realized. Additionally, the vibration sensor enable to monitor for example pumps or motors. The evaluation of the acquired data allows for predictive maintenance.
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#### Amazon Monitron
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Monitron is comparable to the third CUBIDO kit. Combined with the software based on machine learning it is especially designed for predictive maintenance.
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## Integrating a RFID reader
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Because of the delivery times and my lacking experience with BaSyx I decided to first add a RFID reader connected to a Raspberry PI to the demonstration. This helped me to understand how BaSyx works and what might be possible using the SDK. Nonetheless, it is hard to say what will work with the demonstration due to the incomplete documentation.
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As the RFID reader is stationary, tags have to be placed on it. Currently, the text and id of a chip are displayed when it is read. One could use this information to for example differ between different user groups. Depending on the group different data could be displayed. For example one could show just the messured values for a standard user and more detailed information for another group. Debug messages could be displayed if a developer chip is read. Because unlike the IDs of the RFID tags the text can be changed, a database for storing tags and their corresponding rights might be necessary.
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Alternatively, RFID tags could be used to invoke different operations or to override functionality for a set amount of time. |