The Era of Connectivity

Internet of Things, Services and People

The internet is going to become more and more like the electricity – that moves the world almost without being seen. “We won’t think about ‘being online’ or ‘checking the internet’ – we will simply be connected”.

The internet has changed the way we drive our lives. It has never been so easy to remain connected. Connected with our friends and family and even doing business more efficiently, worldwide, the internet has revolutionized the way we live. For experts, the internet is going to become more and more like the electricity – that moves the world almost without being seen. “We won’t think about ‘being online’ or ‘checking the internet’ – we will simply be connected”.

Author

Ricardo-Hirschbruch-130Ricardo Hirschbruch
Experienced professional in process automation and industrial IT solutions. In ABB since 1985, held various positions in project management, engineering and sales in the industrial business. Has managed various local business units in PA and since 2006 is responsible for the Process Automation division in Brazil and LATAM.

Hyper connected world, also for the industry

The hyper connected world is becoming a reality, also for the Industry, which is undergoing a revolution in production methods and value creation, with interconnected systems that communicate to improve flexibility, efficiency, productivity and reduce cost.

With the massive use of intelligent devices connected in a network, industrial systems now interact more efficiently when it comes to supporting decisions: operation, maintenance, engineering and management, as well as the interaction among people and the control systems themselves. Actions, which are automatically triggered, from the information gained through big data analytics and aggregated in large data banks, bring us to new standards of productivity, totally connected and integrated.

There is a great increase in ‘intelligent’ devices and services, parallel to the growing adoption of broadband communication networks. We can see that not only humans are increasingly more connected, so are machines and devices.

More intelligent and connected machines are gradually driving this change towards a more productive world, more energetically efficient, with high quality standards, releasing man from hazardous work, as well as reducing monotonous and repetitive tasks.

Apparently we are at the initial stages of an industrial change, which is so profound that it passes through a revolution in production methods and value creation, such as the one brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Three forces move forward this process: the exponential advance in computer capabilities, the huge amount of digitalized information and new innovation strategies.

The escalation in industry digitalization and automation, which uses interconnected systems that communicate to increase flexibility, efficiency, productivity and reduces costs, has received different names: industrial internet or Industry 4.0 are some of them.


Three forces move forward a profound industrial change: the exponential advance in computer capabilities, the huge amount of digitalized information and new innovation strategies.

Processes that govern themselves revolutionize production

Industry 4.0 refers to a fourth Industrial Revolution, a concept that was originally launched in the German government’s industrial program, now used as a nickname worldwide when addressing the latest industrial developments. 

We are therefore, on the brink of the fourth industrial revolution. The first was driven by the steam engine and manufacturing process mechanization. The second one, activated by the availability of electric energy and the production line, represented by Ford and his “T Model”. In the 70’s a third revolution sprung up, with the increase of factory automation based on electronics and computers at the place of work.

Now, with the fourth industrial wave, devices are capable to take control over manufacturing and distribution. This future will be marked by the strong product individualization under extremely flexible production conditions: mass customization, with wide integration of business partners in the value chain.

The vision of Industry 4.0 is to create the so called ‘cyber-physical systems’ in which products charged with sensors can tell the machines how and when they should be processed. The processes now govern themselves in a de-centralized modular system. Devices with embedded “intelligence” begin to work together in direct wireless connection or through the internet cloud to again revolutionize production.

Central control systems give way to de-centralized decision-making once device-to-device communication hits the factory floor. This is the central idea of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In Industry 4.0, each actuator and each sensor in a factory is connected to what is called Internet of Things (IoT), creating the foundation for complete process integration. Mobile communication technologies, cloud computing and “Big Data” analysis constantly transform the industrial intranets, which served as the basis for the industrial automation in recent years, into an industrial internet.
Central control systems give way to de-centralized decision-making once device-to-device communication hits the factory floor.

Internet beyond manufacturing and just things

The term “Internet of Things” usually describes how machinery is being integrated via networked sensors and software. ABB takes a more-holistic approach.

For one, ABB’s approach extends beyond manufacturing, or discrete automation, to include process industries as well as utilities and infrastructure.

And ABB’s approach concentrates not just on things – those physical devices within the factory that are undergoing an automation revolution – but also on services to ensure these devices are running as they should. People remain central to the process, in that they are making decisions, programming and optimizing all activities performed by these devices.

Put simply, this is

The Internet of Things, Services and People (IoTSP) at ABB: Intelligent industrial devices, connected via networks that expand opportunities for remote services and that allow people to make better decisions thanks to their ability to collect, analyze and act on data.

ABB takes a more-holistic approach - beyond just things

Internet of Things, Services and People at ABB

IoTSP enablers

The main technological elements that, chained, leverage each other and make this concept feasible are:

  • Sensors and actuators; things from the Internet of Things.
  • Networks with remote communication, which promotes mobility and connectivity.
  • The huge amount of information available: now called ‘Big Data’.
  • The infrastructure that hosts and shares the information: the ‘Cloud’, or ‘Cloud Computing’, and above all:
  • Analytical intelligence; integrated knowledge that transforms the data into information representing value.
Mobility and connectivity

The Internet of Things is the network for physical objects with software, sensors and connectivity incorporated in the electronic products to allow objects to exchange data with other connected devices, with the user or the actual manufacturer. The products store their correct production sequence, evolving to an auto-organized network, which is no longer dependent on a central control. Network data and information are integrated in real time under a new form of planning and management.

Data storage capacity

Cloud Computing also leveraged Big Data management. The Cloud’s infrastructure offers memory and the capacity for storage in scalable form, unifying the data organization process, which in a segmented form makes it more difficult to manage several platforms and systems at once. A big part of the Big Data applications interact with data and information that was created and is stored in the web, within the cloud-computing model.

Turning data into business value

Each device is exclusively identifiable through its embarked computer system and is capable of interoperating within the existing Internet infrastructure. All information becomes available when, where and in the form that they are necessary and more useful, distributing “intelligence”, not only physically throughout the devices, but throughout the entire life cycle: design, engineering, planning and production. All of this is supported by advanced data analysis tools based on sensors, modeling and real time simulation.

50 billion connected objects expected by 2020

Specialists estimate that the Internet of Things will be composed of nearly 50 billion objects by 2020.

The global chemical industry, for example, is installing greater quantities of sensors in order to bring more granularity in monitoring processes, opening new frontiers for improvement. Sensor on the network and automated feedback mechanisms may change the standards of scarce resource usage, including energy and water, also allowing for more efficient fare calculation.

Sensor on the network and automated feedback mechanisms may change the standards of scarce resource usage

Explosion of the quantity of digital information

Another important characteristic of the new industrial era is the explosion of the quantity of digital information available. From product conception to production line organization, from equipment datasheet to process data, everything is digital. Since the last decade there has been such an increase in data, that surprisingly, it is estimated that 90% of what is currently stored in digital systems around the world was only created within the last two years. However, only a small fraction is analyzed and used in any way, and a big part is volatile, in other words, it loses value instants after it has been collected.

Advances in sensor technology has made it possible for machinery to be capable of monitoring themselves and everything around them, sending data to control and diagnostic systems. Digital information in such quantity and diversity, associated to advanced methods to extract data value, determine the necessary level of human process intervention, with less risk and lower cost.

90% of what is currently stored in digital systems around the world was only created within the last two years.

‘Big Data’ applications in industrial environment

The specialized systems are a good example of existing ‘Big Data’ applications, using deductive algorithms that apply rules on the basis of stored knowledge to infer new factors and create valuable knowledge. The systems emulate the ability to make decisions by an experienced professional specialist through a process of examining big data sets in order to discover hidden patterns, unknown correlations, trends and other useful information, creating the foundation to help companies make better decisions on a daily basis.
Looking for oil at the sea bottom

An application such as this was very important, for example, for the development of the pre-salt oil fields in Brazil, streamlining the processing of the extensive seismic data collected by the probes that look for oil at the bottom of the sea. With millions of variables, and uncountable image simulations, only through the use of ‘Big Data’ was it possible to carry out the work within feasible lead-times.

Predictive maintenance

When analyzing, for example, machinery instant vibration data, we can detect subtle variations which indicate wear or other conditions that cause equipment deterioration, allowing the forecast of the ideal moment for replacement or maintenance. Early replacement is expensive and a late on corrective maintenance brings on costs with operational interruption.

Discovering hidden patterns, unknown correlations, trends and other useful information helps companies make better decisions on a daily basis

Compiling data to break functional silos

ABB has developed AssetVista™, a specialist system that compiles industrial asset, process and environment data in order to diagnose a plant’s assets and help give efficient and precise answers, in order to optimize equipment maintenance performance. The model can foresee when machinery fails, saving on repair expenses and avoiding unplanned down time, increasing productivity.

In a typical plant, for example, operationally critical equipment may generate a great variety of information, but which are frequently distributed in independent manners to different systems and functionally different users. This individualized view implies that essential information may not be shared on time among all parties involved.

This new system breaks away from the information silos that may exist between operations, engineering and maintenance functions, by sharing and directing information. As such, the different and specialized departments are forewarned about a potential fault along with a diagnosis and action recommendation, to resolve the problem before production is jeopardized, avoiding unnecessary maintenance which could also expose personnel to safety risks.
New system breaks away from the information silos that may exist between operations, engineering and maintenance functions, by sharing and directing information.

Decision-making by machine imitates human reaction

The greatest demand for the ‘Internet of Things’ involves the detection in real time of unforeseeable conditions and instant response guided by automated systems. Using a great variety of data combination, through automated applications we can increase productivity, through systems that adjust automatically to complex situations, making much of the human intervention unnecessary. This type of decision-making by machine imitates human reaction, although at much higher performance levels. Take this as a perfect example for the before mentioned Services come true through the Internet of Things, Services and People.

The progress of computers has resulted in machines being more powerful, agile, and especially, cheaper. In 1985, the world’s fastest computer cost 30 million dollars. Today, most smartphones have greater processing capacity than that computer. In the last decade, the price of some sensor models used in electronic equipment dropped 85%.

In the manufacturing industry in general, this trend can be felt by the strong expansion of robots. Last year, global sales for industrial robots neared 200,000 units. Popularization is a result of price drops and their new abilities. According to studies, robot prices have been dropping 10% per year in the last decades. And productivity is increasing. Advances in robotics are allowing human beings and robots to collaborate with each other in an inconceivable manner until recently.


Using a great variety of data combination and automated applications we can increase productivity, through systems that adjust automatically to complex situations, making much of the human intervention unnecessary.

Collaborative robot - a completely new robotic concept

YuMi, ABB’s new collaborative robot, is a completely new robotic concept, dual-arm and sensor technology that allows it to feel pressure. It can apply the adequate force not only to what it is executing, but also allows it to respond to the environment around him, which means working in safety alongside humans, without the need for cages or fences, or restricted areas. Safety is inherent in the concept of its design and functionality, making it possible to be installed in work areas currently used only by people. It is the first true collaborative robotic solution, capable of handling anything from a watch to a tablet and, with a level of precision that can thread a needle, it will radically change the way we see automation.

YuMi fulfills the demand of a consumer market, with more elevated production volumes, products with a shorter life cycle, tighter delivery deadlines and an increasing trend for customized product, mass customization, and it is therefore very close to the consumer market.


IoTSP and Smart Grid

The Internet of Things was specified to offer advanced device, system and service connectivity, which goes beyond the simple machine-to-machine communication and covers a variety of protocols, domains and applications. At the same time that the interconnection of these devices inaugurates a new era in automation in almost every field, it leverages other advanced applications such as the ‘Smart Grid’.

Electricity networks are currently the greatest interconnected systems on the planet, with millions of electric generating units, transmission lines, and billions of consumers, and represent a good analogy of what can be done with the connectivity of more intelligent devices. With more and more objects becoming interconnected, the Smart Grid transforms a system- oriented by offer, which is common today, into an interactive system with bi-directional communication between the producer and the consumer, where the energy supply is dynamically adapted and adjusted, with increased quality and lower cost.

“Intelligent” devices connected by networks can be better monitored and their consumption patterns controlled in real time. Through more complex applications on the existing infrastructure and services, industrial machinery and other connected consumers will negotiate the optimization of consumption peaks, currently the most critical issue in energy supply. Energy operators have the capacity to immediately identify flaws in any point of the network since the energy supply and the monitoring travel on the same circuits, responding in a much more efficient and problem-free manner.

Combining intelligent device connectivity with social network

With more and more objects becoming interconnected, the Smart Grid transforms today's system oriented by offer, into an interactive system with bi-directional communication between the producer and the consumer.

Combining more intelligent device connectivity with social network platforms opens up the potential for new collaborations forms between people and machines.

Internet of Things, People and Services represent ABB’s strategy to leverage increasingly more connected human and material resources and allow new service models that improve operations and increase our clients’ profitability. Advances in communication and cryptography techniques have greatly contributed to enable, with safe connections, remote services for field personnel support, regardless of their location. These services are designed to maximize knowledge bases with a better cost-benefit ratio.

ABB develops a collaborative community where end consumers interact remotely with our service engineers to solve the problems quicker and has a bank of diagnosed situations which are stored and readily reusable. The system can also operate in an active monitoring manner, where it regularly analyses equipment status or complete installations. Should there be an abnormal situation, it notifies operators and maintenance personnel for some form of intervention.

Specialists are also analyzing one of the controversies generated by the Internet of Things: information privacy. Imagine the example of connected cars. The style of driving can be monitored and reduce insurance cost, for example. On the other hand, it can also be used to observe those who drive dangerously or break traffic laws, applying penalties automatically from the vehicle’s displacement record captured by the internet. Radars and inspectors would no longer be necessary, since it is possible to know speed and trajectory with precision and also if any traffic laws were broken whilst driving the vehicle. In theory, it is already possible to implement such an application, however no one has crossed that line yet because there is a relevant discussion regarding the data privacy.

ABB develops a collaborative community where end consumers interact remotely with our service engineers to solve the problems quicker and has a bank of diagnosed situations which are stored and readily reusable.

ABB is at the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution

ABB is at the forefront of this fourth industrial revolution, recognizes the ever growing importance of the internet and is proud to say that more than 50% of our products are related to software already today. This is one of the pillars of our Next Level growth strategy, which was recently announced, and which has the objective of accelerating the sustainable value creation. We believe in the differentiation based on software and industrial automation to make simpler and more transparent processes and we apply significant research and development effort in order to have the products and technology that allow companies to migrate their factories to the next level.

In 2014, ABB joined the Internet Industrial Consortium, IIC, an entity, founded to promote collaboration between technology companies, which look to establish global standards for the Industrial Internet and boost innovation, norm development and interoperability.

We are at the cutting edge of this evolution, with over 10 years developing and improving control systems, communication solutions, sensors and software for the Internet of Things, Services and People. These technologies allow clients in industry, power generation and infrastructure to analyze data more intelligently, optimize their operations, and increase productivity with more flexibility. We have a robust research and development group and we also work with institutions that are world leaders in technology. ABB invests 1.5 billion dollars a year and keeps 8,500 researchers in 30 countries, mixing talents from several nationalities, assessing ideas developed in the academic institutions, testing commercial viability and sharing within the global scope for the entire company.

ABB invests 1.5 billion dollars a year into R&D and keeps 8,500 researchers in 30 countries

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