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An intelligent gateway powered
by the Zynq SoC enhances
productivity in a state-of-the-art
manufacturing plant.
The Industrial Internet of Things-
the idea that all systems should be
connected on a global scale in order to
share information-is quickly becoming
a reality. Today, a growing number of
companies, especially in the industrial
equipment markets, are taking IIoT
one step further by creating complex
systems that integrate sensors,
processing and communications
to form intelligent factories, smart
energy grids and even smart cities.
These
developments
increase
productivity and profitability, as well
as enrich lives. New technology
implemented on a Xilinx
®
Zynq
®
-7000
All Programmable SoC is helping to
bring intelligent systems into the
manufacturing sector of the IIoT. The
smart gateway, designed by System-
on-Chip engineering S.L. (SoC-e),
streamlines productivity and helps
companies like Microdeco become
more reliably connected and secure.
To maximize profitability, factories
seek more flexibility in their layouts,
more information about the process
and manufactured products, more
intelligence in the processing of this
data and an effective integration of
the human experience/interaction.
However, as new technology is
introduced into the factory sector,
those creating it need to respect some
rules. The first and most important
is that production cannot stop. New
technologies must be compatible
with old systems and interoperability
among vendors should be facilitated.
Furthermore, the solutions should
provide a means of taking the next
step in automation, leading to
more autonomous or decentralized
analytics.
In order to achieve what many are
callingthe“fourthindustrialrevolution,”
factories need infrastructure and
systems to use the IT and electronics
for automated production. Although
many factories automated in the
third industrialization wave, in many
scenarios it is necessary to implement
both steps simultaneously: the third
and fourth evolutions of automation.
This situation offers a good opportunity
to integrate IT infrastructures that will
fit with new requirements for smart
factories but are compatible with the
third
era
production-scheduling
and
automation systems. Figure 1 depicts
the typical production system widely
used in industry that helps adapt
and optimize production to demand.
The enterprise resource-planning
(ERP) software consists of tools that
support the commercial database. It
defines what to fabricate. Meanwhile,
Intelligent Gateways Make a
Factory Smarter
Armando Astarloa, System-on-Chip engineering S.L
44 l New-Tech Magazine Europe