Vixtera received the US patent for the fault detection in a system of connected devices
Blog
The deployment of IIoT means the cooperation of software and equipment. These parts of a solution work in different ways, that’s why the flow of data should be well-thought-out and structured. Vixtera offers its own technology that allows collecting, filtering, processing, analyzing and displaying information for the whole system. In this article, we will describe the three tiers where the mentioned operations are performed and how they are related.
Page Contents
At the core of these new offerings is a massive amount of data generated by devices and transmitted over the IIoT infrastructure. Collecting, processing and managing data, from devices to high-level enterprise applications, requires new tools and capabilities.
Architecting a successful IIoT deployment involves new ways of thinking about machine-generated data, and requires new levels of collaboration across the organization. As data is collected from the field, there are overlaps and synergies between traditionally separate domains of Information Technology (IT) and Operations Technology (OT).
For example, IT personnel typically focus on networking and productivity technologies and may not have direct experience working with industrial equipment deployed in the field. By the same token, OT personnel typically focus on the very specific processes required for industrial control and may be new to the nuances of gathering, transmitting, and protecting data in the IIoT environment.
Creating an effective IIoT deployment requires combining expertise from IT and OT and, so, when it’s done well, it breaks the barriers between two groups. The resulting convergence creates a new operational blueprint and prepares organizations for scalable and sustainable growth. Below are three stages that enable this process.
This tier comprises reporting, remote monitoring, and predictive modeling. The Application Tier interfaces with the enterprise, using a service network to communicate with mission-critical applications like ERP, CRM, modeling and maintenance. The Applications Tier uses data from the field to build company-specific functionalities and fulfill business requirements. Many enterprise applications are supplied by the third-party partners who have already designed the solutions and/or frameworks to accept the IIoT data.
In this tier, the data from devices gets assembled, processed and analyzed. The task of preparing data for use by other applications requires substantial computing resources and can take place in the public cloud or within the enterprise’s data center or private cloud. In many instances, especially related to industrial use cases, the data analytics must be performed on the premises, closer to data collected devices. The Data & Analytics Tier serves the Application Tier by creating and streaming operational data. Data in this tier can be used for real-time analytics or placed in the long-term storage for historical reporting.
The functions performed by the Data & Analytics Tier are often supplied by the same third-party partners who’re furnishing enterprise applications. Many of these applications provide a set of open protocols for connecting the data integration layer of the Data & Analytics Tier to the network-access functions of the Edge & Connectivity Tier. The open nature of these interfaces simplifies the work of accepting data from devices and prepares it for use by enterprises.
This is where data is collected from devices and sensors, analyzed and filtered to cut out noise, errors and repetitions, and is delivered to Analytics and Application tiers. It’s critical, at this tier, to optimize data governance identifying the shortest path to analytics engine and the least amount of data that may impact your most critical business outcomes. Providing data consumers with a single view of the metadata and giving them the opportunity to provision a curated inventory of metadata is a necessary step toward the practical implementation of all analytics and AI/ML processes.
The edge takes care of IIoT “essentials”, connecting to and managing devices, events and data. On one side of the edge is a local network that communicates with devices via various hardware interfaces and an alphabet of communication protocols. And on the other side is an access network that communicates with Data & Analytics Tier via a collection of open and semi-proprietary protocols. This is a tier with a ton of not well-publicized and “hidden minefields”. And, so most of the existing IIoT platforms may require significant DIY development (drivers, software) to stick it all together – connecting devices and adapting them to applications. So, watch out for solutions that help you simplify these lengthy and laborious processes.
Figure 1. ViEdge Data Management
At every step in the way, Vixtera makes it simple to facilitate your IIoT journey. To get you started, we offer an extensible pre-built software framework with run-time core components and empower you with a variety of services to assist with the rapid productization of your solution and integration with platforms and clouds. To get inspired and to learn about Vixtera innovations and solutions, please visit us at www.linkedin.com/company/vixtera-inc