Industrial IoT Integration via Cloud Memory Mapping for PLCs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial IoT solutions often fail to integrate seamlessly with existing industrial automation systems, leading to user confusion, cybersecurity risks, and inefficiencies in data management, which hinders their widespread adoption in industrial environments.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for integrating cloud-based IoT technologies with industrial automation systems like PLCs, SCADA, and DCSs, allowing for modular and variable data acquisition and gateway configurations, enabling seamless data ingestion and communication using existing secure methods, and providing a user-friendly interface for configuration and management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple separate IoT systems are used to solve different industrial problems, then specific monitoring functions can be achieved, but user interface complexity increases and user confusion occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate IoT monitoring systems into a single unified industrial automation system that can handle diverse monitoring functions (vibration, temperature, humidity, fluid levels, power quality) through a common platform and single user interface, eliminating the need for multiple separate dashboards
2Adaptability or versatility
If proprietary communication mechanisms are used in IoT solutions, then cloud connectivity is achieved, but cybersecurity risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal communication interface that supports multiple industrial communication protocols (Modbus, OPC UA, Ethernet/IP, Profinet) allowing the system to connect to various cloud platforms and industrial devices using standardized, secure protocols rather than proprietary mechanisms
3Adaptability or versatility
If IoT devices force existing industrial equipment to adapt to new methods, then IoT data collection is achieved, but integration difficulty with legacy systems increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of forcing legacy industrial equipment to adapt to new IoT communication methods, the patent inverts the approach by having the IoT system adapt to legacy equipment through protocol translation layers and compatible communication interfaces, allowing seamless integration without modifying existing industrial automation systems
Data Source
AI summary
A process for integrating an industrial automation system with an Internet of Things (IoT) system may include providing access to a cloud-based platform, the cloud-based platform having a user interface. The user interface provides for easily displaying and changing configuration parameters describing a gateway module, a data acquisition module, and a sensor data channel associated with an industrial automation system wherein the data acquisition module can collect and process data from the sensor data channel and communicate that sensor data and any related processed information to a gateway module. The gateway module may also communicate configuration information to the data acquisition module and sensor data channel. The process may use the cloud-based platform to generate a memory map of the IoT system which can be used by a PLC or similar device of the industrial automation system to configure the IoT system and display data collected from the IoT system.