Industrial companies are faced with ever-increasing price and cost pressure in
global competition. In order to face these challenges, they must continuously
break new grounds to innovation and efficiency. In doing so the Industrial
Internet of Things (IIoT) is considered a digital success story. However, many
businesses with extensive factory premises or hazardous areas – due to a lack of
economic options, compatibility or certifications – are not integrated in the
modern information and data flow. Business critical assets are insufficiently
managed and monitored, or are very costly to locate. The beacon technology now
has the potential to fundamentally improve how businesses operate and manage
assets by connecting people, sectors, assets, and systems in the
industry.
"Translating
the technical progress into practice is a challenge", says Dr. Holger Schlüter,
Associate Director IoT/Industry 4.0 at Lufthansa Industry Solutions.
"Independent of their industry, businesses share the same challenge: they must
design their entire value chain to reduce costs while simultaneously increasing
productivity and efficiency. The management, tracking and localization of assets
plays an important role in this." Lufthansa Industry Solutions therefore relies
on the Loc-Ex® 01 BLE-Beacons from ecom for hazardous areas ATEX / IECEx Zone 1
(Loc-Ex 01) and for non-hazardous areas (Loc 01 HC & Loc 01 SC).
Putting
innovative technologies to profitable use
Lufthansa
Industry Solutions, together with ecom, enables companies to put IIoT-solutions
to profitable use. "We see ourselves as a 'hinge' between business and
technology," says Holger Schlüter. "Many industrial companies are looking for
economically viable answers and solutions to capture location as well as
tracking and sensor data." Lufthansa Industry Solutions was therefore looking to
integrate a new solution into its IIoT-portfolio that is also suitable for
hazardous areas.
Important
criteria were high precision, low battery consumption as well as certified
explosion protection and the integration into a digitization strategy. When
selecting a suitable provider, Lufthansa quickly took advantage of the
explosion-proof, wirelessly interlinked solution portfolio (smartphones,
tablets, beacons, peripherals as well as apps and software) from ecom as part of
the Pepperl + Fuchs Group. "With the Loc-Ex® 01 BLE-Beacons from ecom we are on
the safe side. Common localization solutions are often restricted to location
data. Loc-Ex 01® BLE-Beacons on the other hand, provide an exceptionally
cost-effective and largely maintenance-free option to collect data from assets
and connect them to back-end systems, which is unique in the market", highlights
Schlüter.
Real-time
solution for close range localization
The
real-time localization system was specifically developed for the accurate close
range localization of objects. By attaching small Bluetooth beacons, assets
become intelligent, localizable objects, which can provide arbitrary
information, such as temperature or fill level, and even respond to events such
as keystroke, brightness, shock or positional change. Apart from the spatial
information, additional information about local process parameters is
transferred in real time. The Bluetooth 4.1 standard ensures that the beacons
are compatible with both currently popular as well as hazardous area
explosion-proof tablets and smartphones. Thus, they are forming a comprehensive
system for any digitization strategy. In addition, the beacons do not strain the
company WLAN or consume any of the often scarcely available IP addresses by
bridging the "last mile" with Bluetooth and only transmitting the data to the
backend system at a central location.
"We
can configure our Bluetooth-Low-Energy-Beacons Loc 01 and Loc-Ex® 01
specifically to our customer´s needs", says Paulo Jorge de Almeida, System
Engineer Mobile Computing at ecom. "The Bluetooth beacons can control devices
through the built-in back channel or act as a signaling device, so the desired
object can be more easily identified. The Quuppa Intelligent Locating System™,
which uses the angle-of-arrival technology, is employed. The horizontal and
vertical angles between the locators and the beacons are determined
simultaneously. A two-dimensional localization with an accuracy within a few
centimeters is possible with only one locator. At least two beacons are required
for a localization in 3D space.
The
key benefits of using beacon technology
The
beacon technology offers Lufthansa Industry Solutions distinct advantages:
Compared to other geo-location technologies, the beacons provide a high degree
of precision and accuracy along all three axes. Due to the long range of up to
300 meters in open space, the costs for monitoring large areas can be kept low
and the desired localization accuracy can be varied by the number of locators
installed. In addition, neighborhood relations and alarms can be defined, for
example, if dangerous goods are to collide or be stored side by side. Also the
insensitivity to signal strength fluctuations is a significant advantage over
conventional Bluetooth-based localization technologies.
Another
advantage is the low battery consumption. Due to the energy-saving Bluetooth
standard Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), a battery change – even at the highest
transmission power – is only necessary after several years. Applications which
have the ability to be beacon powered, have minimal impact on the devices’
battery life. Mobile apps can also pick up beacon signals on which a stable
Internet connection is not available and store data locally on the device. When
re-accessing the corporate network, the backend system is immediately
updated.
Localization
both outdoor and indoor
Since
tracking by GPS inside buildings is difficult due to obstruction of the required
satellite signal, an alternative technology is necessary for indoor
localization. Bluetooth beacons have an interior range of approximately 10 to 30
meters. Thus it is very rapidly and easily possible to locate the specific
location of a person. The number of beacons required for this depends on the
area in question and the desired accuracy of the location to be
reached.
The
signal transmitted by the beacons can be received by a suitable software app
installed on the mobile device of the mobile worker. This allows for the
distance to the beacon to be calculated. As soon as the mobile worker is within
reach of a second or further beacon, the location can be determined relatively
precisely, depending on the location method. Even three-dimensional positioning
is possible with Bluetooth beacons. That is to say, it is also possible to
specify the floor on which a person or object is situated and can be forwarded
to the central navigation system of the control center.
Conclusion
Bluetooth
beacons are perfect for locating, tracking and managing business-critical
assets. They combine digital and physical data into a single, unified business
intelligence unit. "Even though only a high-level reference architecture exists
for the Industrial Internet of Things, as to say there is no industry standard,
the Loc-Ex 01 BLE-Beacons from ecom have established themselves as an accepted
asset tracking and localization solution in hazardous areas that can also be
integrated into any system. And especially when it came to adapting to specific
requirements, ecom advised us comprehensively and provided us with various
thought-out customized solutions", sums up Dr. Holger Schlüter, Associate
Director IoT / Industry 4.0 at Lufthansa Industry Solutions.
By Paulo Jorge de Almeida, System Engineer Mobile Computing at ecom
BLE beacons are, as the name suggests, beacons that use Bluetooth Low Energy technology. Just how much of an impact does this have?
ReplyDeleteCost: the technology enables 60-80% cheaper cost of operation than competing standards
Power Consumption: 50-99% less power used means the average beacon can last up to 2 years
Bluetooth beacon
Amazing content, a lot of amazing websites which is actually new for me
ReplyDeleteIIoT Solutions