Interview with Autosen
Sensor data: The key to the cloud
The IoT ecosystem io-key brings sensor data to the cloud. Based on open standards and a plug-and-play approach, the sensor data is made available in the cloud without any programming effort or intervention in the IT infrastructure. Philipp Boehmert from Autosen explains how this works in practice.
How is io-key actually used in a manufacturing company?
The io-key is used whenever operating data and system statuses need to be monitored and processed online or autonomous alarms and switching processes are required when limit values are exceeded. It brings practically any form of sensor data into a wide variety of cloud and software environments, regardless of the measuring principle, and the technical requirements are low. This means that the range of potential applications is virtually unlimited. In practice, however, the io-key is often used where no PLC is available, for example for the central monitoring of temperatures or fill levels in decentralized silos or tanks. But there are also users who transfer PLC data to the cloud via the io-key and thus record the throughput of their machines for production planning, for example.
With which established technology on the market can io-key be most closely compared and what added value does io-key offer compared to this technology?
The io-key is a universal key for the IIoT, so it is not comparable. Related technologies such as proprietary sensor-to-cloud solutions only represent a small part of the possibilities. The complete io-key package consists of a gateway, SIM, cloud platform with integrated dashboards and graphical programming interfaces as well as a wide range of interfaces based on open standards - all things that have to be integrated with considerable effort and high costs in conventional methods, if this is possible at all in individual cases.
The sensor data is in the cloud. What's next and how can Autosen and its sales partners provide support?
The first step is recording, monitoring and archiving data in the cloud - a quantum leap for many users. However, the io-key's range of functions goes much further. It can also carry out alarm and switching processes. With an unchanged basic configuration - the io-key receives sensor data via IO-Link and transmits it to the cloud via mobile radio - the user now also has the option of initiating alarm and switching processes in the connected io-keys. Once activated, these can also take place independently of the cloud or the transmission interval of the sensor data in real time. In this self-sufficient, highly responsive application, even critical processes can be monitored reliably and securely. Even entire process chains can be defined without any significant programming effort, for example from the sensor technology to the business software to merchandise management. Admittedly, our customers are more advanced than we are in terms of applications - our focus is on the further development and provision of universal io-key technology and the necessary interfaces, in close dialog with the io-key community.
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