IoT is Being Integrated into the Industrial Automation System

In the field of industrial automation, with the transfer of applications and services to cloud computing, the main patterns of data and computing location have been changed, which has brought subversive changes to the field of embedded devices.

The proposal of the IOT provides a new breakthrough for the further solution of the integration of the informatization and industrialisation. The development of the new manufacturing industry is based on the application of automation technology. The application of the IOT has changed the passive way of information collection in the traditional automation technology and realizes the automatic, accurate and timely collection of production parameters in the production process. The traditional industrial production adopts the communication mode of M2M (Machine to Machine) to realize the machine-to-machine communication, while the IOT realizes the intelligent, interactive and seamless connection among people, machines and systems through Things to Things communication, which makes the relationship between enterprises and customers and the market closer, and enterprises can feel the rapid changes of the market.

For example, in the iron and steel industry, the existence of the IOT enables management decision-makers to grasp real-time changes in prices and changes in raw materials, so as to make accurate and reasonable adjustments to production; the management concept based on ERP has changed the management concept, thus improving the management efficiency.

Driven by the development of computer, communication and network technology, the development of industrial communication technology has experienced the stages of analog instrument control system in 1960s and 1970s, distributed control system (DCS) in 1980s and 1990s, and fieldbus control system (FCS) at the end of the 20th century.

So the integration of the IOT and factory production equipment can real-time monitor all kinds of pollution sources produced by the factory in the production process. When the sensor is applied to equipment and oil and gas pipelines, it can be sensed for the safety status information of workers, equipment machines and surrounding environment in dangerous environment. The transportation of dangerous goods can also be monitored. The characteristics of each shipment and each batch of materials can be described, so that the raw materials in each container or bulk cargo can be traced with more security.

In addition to tracking and monitoring hazardous chemicals throughout the process, factories must become more cautious than in the past in terms of water, oil, gas transportation and remote control of equipment during the manufacturing process because of the rising trend of both oil and electricity. RFID can be used to track and manage the transportation links between oil and gas resources facilities, improve the safety of oil and gas transportation, and RFID can be used to remotely control the valve switch of oil and gas pipelines, balance oil and gas flow, and then make the management of equipment more smarter .

The application of the IOT in smart factories has a wide application prospect and the economic and social benefits are obvious. The smart factory imported into the IOT can achieve at least the following five functions, electronic work order, transparent production process, controllable production process, accurate production capacity statistics and electronic display board in the workshop. Through these five functions, it can not only realize the visualization of manufacturing process information, but also plays a lot of role in production management and decision-making.