IIoT Device Integration Definitions for Hot-Pluggable Sensor Onboarding
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The existing Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) sensor network setup and software upgrades are slow, difficult to test, and require server restarts, leading to downtime, and lack real-time integration capabilities for new devices and sensors without disturbing active deployments.
Innovation Solution
The development of a generic variable structure for defining new device and sensor integrations within the IIOT platform, including a software design kit (SDK) and web-based user interface for creating integration definitions, along with a hot pluggable runtime model, allows for near real-time addition, adjustment, and updating of sensors and devices without restarting sensor devices or recompiling cloud computing code, while maintaining backwards compatibility and enforcing security and sandboxing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional IIOT platform software upgrades and device integrations are implemented through internal employee development and server restarts, then system stability and security are maintained, but deployment time increases to weeks and system downtime occurs during updates
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static, compiled code to dynamic, runtime-loadable modules. Device integration definitions are loaded as executable bytecode at runtime through a plugin architecture, allowing the platform to adapt and update without restarts. The runtime virtual machine dynamically executes these definitions, enabling hot-swappable integrations that maintain system stability while reducing deployment time from weeks to minutes.
Solution Approach 2:
The monolithic platform architecture is segmented into independent, modular device integration definitions. Each device type, sensor, and capability is encapsulated as a separate loadable module with its own bytecode. This segmentation allows individual components to be updated, added, or removed without affecting the entire system, enabling incremental deployments and avoiding full system restarts.
2Reliability
If device integration definitions are developed and tested internally before deployment, then integration quality and compatibility are ensured, but the development cycle extends over weeks and requires server restarts
Solution Approach 1:
Device integration definitions are pre-compiled into executable bytecode formats during development, but this compilation occurs independently of the main platform server. The pre-compiled modules are then uploaded and loaded at runtime without requiring platform restarts. This preliminary compilation ensures integration quality through static analysis while the runtime loading provides rapid deployment capability.
Solution Approach 2:
A runtime virtual machine and plugin architecture act as intermediaries between the development environment and the deployed platform. The intermediary layer validates, loads, and executes device integration definitions without requiring direct modification or restart of the core platform services. This mediation enables rapid deployment while maintaining integration quality through the intermediary's validation mechanisms.
3Reliability
If the IIOT platform uses a fixed, compiled code structure for device integrations, then system security and stability are maintained, but real-time updates and additions of new devices are not possible without restarting services
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces fixed, compiled code with dynamic, runtime-executable bytecode. Device integration definitions are loaded as flexible modules that can be executed, modified, and unloaded during runtime without compromising system stability. The virtual machine provides a controlled execution environment that maintains security while enabling dynamic adaptation to new devices and sensors in real-time.
Solution Approach 2:
The platform changes its operational parameters from static code execution to dynamic bytecode interpretation. By transitioning from a fixed compilation model to a flexible runtime execution model, the system can load new device integrations with different parameters and configurations on-the-fly. This parameter change enables real-time adaptability while the virtual machine's controlled execution environment maintains system stability and security.
4Adaptability or versatility
If server restarts are performed to enable connectivity of new deployments, then all devices connected to the IIOT platform experience downtime, but the new integrations are properly activated
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses dynamic module loading to activate new integrations without static system restarts. The runtime virtual machine loads new device integration definitions as executable bytecode modules while the platform continues to operate. This dynamic activation allows new devices and sensors to be integrated in real-time without causing downtime for existing connected devices, as the plugin architecture isolates updates to specific modules rather than requiring full system reinitialization.
Data Source
AI summary
In an illustrative embodiment, the present disclosure relates to systems, methods, and an industrial internet of things (IIOT) platform and environment for generating a device integration definition to be used for configuring a new device type for interoperability with the IIOT platform and environment, where the device integration definition includes a standardized format in a programming language syntax, the device integration definition is customizable using code hook templates for issuing commands to the device type, and the device integration definition is customizable using control templates for applying the device integration definition as a foundation for preparing a graphical user interface for configuring devices of the device type with the IIOT platform and environment.