An Introduction to IWoT: How the Web of Things Helps Solve Industry 4.0 Challenges

Aggressive Environments

Industrial platforms for data gathering, for example, a production chain, are designed to resist the aggressive industrial environment where it might be exposed to high temperatures, electrical noise, electromagnetic fields, dust and many other threats. However, the integration of The IoT in the industry requires, in many cases, the integration of microprocessors very sensitive to temperature, electrostatic and/or hits. These apparatuses might be suitable for an office environment, but they are not really appropriate for a hazardous environment. Device protection, as hardening or waterproofing, is essential in an industrial environment.

This all concerns physical requirements, but there are some other problems to take into account in an industrial environment, like connectivity. One of the key factors of The IoT is, obviously, the internet connection: no device is an The IoT Thing until it is connected. However, a public regulation, such as ATEX normative for hazardous and potentially explosive environments, usually restricts wirelessly connectivity. It might not be an internet access point (Ethernet cable) or a wireless connection (Wi-Fi) in key areas of a given industrial facility; it might even not be possible to deploy one. Because of this lack of conventional connectivity, devices must rely on other ways of communication, stronger, wider and shielded from the environment.

Real Time

In terms of industry, The IoT has strict requirements such as bandwidth, latency, and determinism. Industrial machines often need a millisecond precision for decision-making, so the thing that monitors it must react, at least, with that precision. It also has to be scalable and adaptive, for example, a bakery industry that needs a lot of sensors to measure ovens temperatures and control them, so that each oven must be accessible and respond to temperature updates quickly. Also if a new oven was added it should not affect the rest of them or the whole system.