Skip to main content

Edge Computing in IIoT and Why It’s Important

Industrial IoT has been around for a while now and more and more organizations are signing up for this technological marvel. Edge computing has also been nothing but a blessing to IoT computing. 

What Is Edge Computing?

You probably are already familiar with edge computing as a concept, the smart watch you have on now, for instance. 

Edge computing is all about the processing of data without the data having to be sent to a server or a processing hub. In simpler terms, it is the processing of data at the point closest to where the data was generated. 

Let’s get technical: edge computing is an architecture that enables data handling, analysis and management at the periphery of the network or better yet, on IoT edge devices. The bottom-line is the data gets processed and analyzed as close to the source as possible.

Edge computing wraps up reliability and local performance with minimal delays in one nice present, which is very important especially in IIoT settings.

IoT edge devices

Layers of Edge Computing

Edge computing involves three fundamental layers:

Sensors

This is where you find IoT edge devices with embedded microprocessors to collect information from the sensors they are connected to. A lot of information can be collected,  including connectivity and timestamps. 

Some of these sensors can operate autonomously, granted they have enough power and they can sync data in case connectivity is lost. With such guarantees, you know your data is safe even when connectivity is lost.

Edge Gateway

A typical IoT setting involves edge devices, the cloud, and a middleman. The edge gateway masquerades as the middleman. 

If you have been keeping up with what the scene is like in the IoT world, you probably have heard the term ‘LoRaWan gateway’ being thrown around so I’ll use that to explain what edge gateways do. 

Being the middleman, edge gateways facilitate all interaction between IoT edge devices and the cloud. Facilitating all interactions means they are in charge of allowing or denying any sort of interaction between the edge devices and the cloud. 

LoRaWan gateways essentially are a blend of hardware and software that link edge devices and you as the user, offering you better visibility in your IIoT network.

The Cloud

The cloud certainly needs zero introduction. Assuming it does, it is a network of virtual servers hosted on the internet for all your IoT data storage and processing needs.

Why Edge Computing is Important in IIoT

Edge computing has a plethora of advantages and applications in many scopes. With the focus being on IoT computing, let’s get started:

Real Time Monitoring

Edge computing is all about data being captured and analyzed right at the periphery of the network or IOT devices for that matter. The analysis of data will of course reveal any discrepancies or lack thereof. 

If a problem is noted, the sensors will transmit the particular data packet to the central server for a more detailed analysis. What happens to the other data packets, you ask? 

Well, all the other irrelevant data sets are simply discarded. With real time monitoring and reporting of issues in the network, you have an uninterrupted supply of real-time information about the performance of all your IoT devices and assets without any delays in information transmission.

Better Security

IIoT devices are essentially welcome signs for hackers. Lots of loopholes can be exploited by the hackers and we definitely don’t want this. 

With edge computing, computations are done much closer to the source, reducing the possible access points for parties with malicious intent. 

Also, IoT devices have to connect to the network a lot less frequently because calculations and computations are done on the periphery of the network rather than data having to be transported to the cloud for processing.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 Amazing AI Video Generators

As AI technology continues to develop, we are seeing more and more amazing applications for it. One area that has seen a lot of development in recent years is video generation. Several AI video generators are now available to create realistic and stunning videos. This blog post will explore five of the best AI video generators available. AI-Generated Videos There are many AI video generators that can create stunning videos. However, the best AI video generators can create realistic and lifelike videos. Some of the best AI video generators use GANs or Generative Adversarial Networks. These networks can generate realistic images by learning from real data. The generator creates real images while the discriminator tries to determine if the image is real or fake. One of the advantages of using a GAN is that it can create videos that are indistinguishable from reality. This is why many people believe that GANs will eventually be used to generate realistic movies and TV shows. So far, the b
Post a Comment
Read more

Understanding Safety in Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 has brought about a level of automation never seen before in manufacturing. With the entire picture still developing, industry 4.0 safety demands constant upgrades of safeguards and safety procedures.  The technological advances have no limit and the same translates to the required safety procedures. When you hear industry 4.0, you think automation. As such, it is plausible to think safety is not that big an issue, which certainly isn’t the case. Safety in an industry 4.0 platform is usually geared towards facilitating safe interaction between humans and machines.   Why Industry 4.0 Safety Is a Tricky Affair To be fair, most of these machines come pre-equipped with an array of safeguards in their control systems.  The challenge comes in the sheer amount of education that these systems require. The owners and employees need to take in a lot of information about these machines and how to use them.  The rule is that all users should be well informed, trained, and continuousl
Post a Comment
Read more

Getting the Most Out of Your B2B Referral Program

Referral marketing is when you get your customers to tell their friends about you, it’s that simple. Before you even get any qualified referrals , you of course need to satisfy your current customer base to a certain extent.  Only then will they be confident enough to recommend you to their associates. As we are dealing with B2B businesses, the fact becomes a tad trickier because B2B is a lot less personal vis a vis B2C businesses.  How do you encourage your customers to recommend you? First stay in touch with them and have great products and customer service - of course. Why B2B Referral Marketing Works Any B2B referral marketing blog you read heaps praise upon praise on just how effective B2B referral management is and here is why: Referrals are Cheap Granted, it takes some time to get an effective B2B referral marketing program running. But once it's off the ground, it's basically having someone advertise you for free. After it’s up and running, the only thing it costs you
Post a Comment
Read more