Why it matters
Connecting a device changes what it can do and what can go wrong with it. Both need designing for, and safety applications need the second more than the first.
Systems & architecture
Industrial IoT
Industrial IoT is the use of networked sensing devices in industrial environments to collect operational data and make it available for monitoring, analysis and control.
How it works
Field devices sample and transmit to a gateway or directly to a cloud service, which stores, analyses and presents the data. Devices are usually constrained in power, compute and connectivity.
Example
Sensor nodes across a plant streaming to one dashboard, so conditions in eight areas are visible from one screen.
In Alfa HazardX
Nodes authenticate to an ingest endpoint with a per-device key and stream over Wi-Fi. Readings buffer locally when the link is down.
Read further
Related terms
- Edge intelligenceEdge intelligence is processing and decision-making performed on the device that collects the data, rather than on a remote server.
- Fail-safeA fail-safe design ensures that when a component fails, the system moves to a safe state rather than an unsafe or unknown one.
- Local alarmA local alarm is an audible or visual warning produced by the sensing device itself, without depending on a network, server or remote service.