TW202135508A - Smart industrial automation data acquisition module and internet of things erection method - Google Patents

Abstract

A smart industrial automation data acquisition module and an internet of things erection method are provided. The smart industrial automation data acquisition module includes a plurality of device communication interfaces, a processing unit and a plurality of service communication interfaces. The device communication interfaces are used to connect at least one sensing device. The communication types of the device communication interfaces are not the same. The processing unit is connected to the device communication interfaces. These service communication interfaces are connected to the processing unit. These service communication interfaces are used to connect a backend service. The communication types of the service communication interfaces are not the same. The processing unit selects one of the device communication interfaces to connect to the sensing device according to a device communication setting configuration. The processing unit further selects one of the service communication interfaces to connect with the backend service according to a service communication setting configuration.

Description

Intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device and Internet of things erection method

This disclosure relates to a data acquisition device and an Internet of Things erection method, and in particular to an intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device and an Internet of Things erection method.

Generally speaking, the Internet of Things can be divided into three layers: sensors, communication networks, and applications. The first layer includes sensors and similar devices. For various applications, sensors or other devices collect information. The second layer consists of the communication network. There are many ways to communicate between sensors and cloud or back-end services. Developers must consider communication distance, signal coverage, data planning, battery life, etc. to make choices. Different locations and different environments require different solutions, so flexibility is very important to design.

The third layer is composed of applications. After the information is sent to the cloud or back-end service, the user interface will display the results or perform more information analysis. There are many application programming interfaces (APIs) between cloud/backend services and applications. Developers can follow the defined application programming interface to control information.

Generally, it may take six months to a year to develop an IoT object to plan and set up the design of the first, second, and third layers of the IoT. This development method is time-consuming and cannot cope with the rapid changes in technology.

This disclosure relates to an intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device and a method for setting up the Internet of Things, which can quickly set the communication interface of the programming device and the service communication interface to achieve intelligent connection.

According to the first aspect of this disclosure, a smart industrial automation data acquisition module (Smart IDAM) is proposed. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device includes several device communication interfaces, a processing unit and several service communication interfaces. These device communication interfaces are used for connecting at least one sensing device. The communication types of the communication interfaces of these devices are not completely the same. The processing unit is connected to the communication interfaces of these devices. These service communication interfaces are connected to the processing unit. These service communication interfaces are used to connect to a back-end service. The communication types of these service communication interfaces are not completely the same. The processing unit selects one of the device communication interfaces to connect with the sensing device according to a device communication setting configuration. The processing unit further selects one of these service communication interfaces to connect with the back-end service according to a service communication setting configuration.

According to the second aspect of this disclosure, a method for setting up the Internet of Things is proposed. The method for setting up the Internet of Things includes the following steps. Provide an intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device includes several device communication interfaces and several service communication interfaces. The communication types of the communication interfaces of these devices are not completely the same. The communication types of these service communication interfaces are not completely the same. Obtain a device communication setting configuration with a graphical user interface. Obtain a service communication setting configuration through a graphical user interface. According to the device communication setting configuration, one of the device communication interfaces is selected to connect with a sensing device. Select one of these service communication interfaces to connect with a back-end service according to the service communication setting configuration.

In order to have a better understanding of the above and other aspects of the present disclosure, the following examples are specially cited, and the accompanying drawings are described in detail as follows:

In order to shorten the development cycle of the Internet of Things and reduce complexity, while maintaining flexibility and ensuring the stability of communication between each platform and interface, this implementation has proposed a smart industrial automation data acquisition module (Smart Industrial Automation Data Acquisition Module, Smart Industrial Automation Data Acquisition Module, Smart Industrial Automation Data Acquisition Module). IDAM) 100, which can quickly set up the communication interface with the programming device and the service communication interface to achieve intelligent connection.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a schematic diagram of an intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 according to an embodiment. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 includes a plurality of device communication interfaces 110, a processing unit 120, a plurality of service communication interfaces 130, an encryption unit 140, and a storage unit 150. The device communication interface 110 is used for connecting at least one sensing device 700. The sensing device 700 is, for example, a wireless camera, a smart water meter, a smart lamp, a sweeping robot, etc. The communication types of the communication interfaces 110 of these devices are not completely the same. The device communication interface 110 includes at least two of a Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter/Blue tooth (UART/BT), a LoRa interface (LoRa P2P), or an RS485 interface.

The processing unit 120 is connected to the device communication interface 110. The processing unit 120 is, for example, a chip, a circuit board, and a circuit having functions of data operation, signal processing, and control. The service communication interface 130 is connected to the processing unit 120. The service communication interface 130 is used to connect to a back-end service 900, so that users can read or manipulate information through the dashboard 500. The service communication interface includes at least two of a LoRaWAN interface, a WiFi interface, a LET 4G interface and an NBIoT interface.

The back-end service 900 includes a presentation layer state transition application programming interface (Restful Application Programming Interface, Restful API) 910, a message queue telemetry transmission interface (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport Interface, MQTT Interface) 920, a LoRaWAN network server 930, and a database server 940, web server 950, and MQTT broker 960. The service communication interface 130 is connected to the LoRaWAN network server 930 through the LoRaWAN Gateway 800. The communication types of these service communication interfaces 130 are not completely the same.

The processing unit 120 selects one of the device communication interfaces 110 to connect with the sensing device 700 according to a device communication setting configuration C1, and the processing unit 120 further selects one of the service communication interfaces 130 according to a service communication setting configuration C2 and The back-end service 900 is connected.

For example, by connecting the sensing device 700 through RS485/ModBus, a SCADA-like system can be set up by using the graphical user interface 600 to complete the configuration of the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 within a few minutes. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 supports technologies such as WiFi, NBIoT, LTE 4G, LoRaWAN, etc. for uploading data. If users need to use Wi-Fi, NB-IoT, or 4G, the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 can provide data through the presentation layer state conversion application program interface (Restful API) 910 or the message queue telemetry transmission interface (MQTT Interface) 920 . If the user is LoraWAN, the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 can send the payload to the LoRaWAN gateway 800, and then let the LoraWAN gateway 800 transfer the data to the LoRaWAN network server 930.

If the user wants to use GPS, motion detection and other functions, I2C or UART can be used to connect more types of sensing devices 700.

In addition, the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 may also support a custom API to upload data to a dedicated platform. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 can use an I2C interface to connect the encryption unit 140 and the storage unit 150 to enhance data security functions and data backup. The encryption unit 140 is, for example, a chip, a circuit, or a circuit board with an encryption function. The storage unit 150 is, for example, a memory or a hard disk with a data backup function.

Please refer to Figure 2, which illustrates the operation of the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 as an example. The sensing device 700A is, for example, a PM2.5/PM10 sensor, the sensing device 700B is, for example, a pressure sensor, and the sensing device 700C is, for example, a carbon monoxide sensor. After the sensing devices 700A, 700B, and 700C collect the data, they are transmitted to the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 then uploads the data to the back-end service 900 through the LoraWAN gateway 800 or the base station 400.

Please refer to FIG. 3, which shows the system setting page 610 of the graphical user interface 600 according to an embodiment. After installing the software on the computer, if the user connects the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 to the computer through the USB interface, the graphical user interface 600 will automatically pop up. The graphical user interface 600 includes a system setting page 610. The system setting page 610 is used to set the service communication setting configuration C2.

In the system setting page 610, the user needs to select the desired upload method. In the "DEVICE NAME" field, its content will be uploaded to the back-end service 900 for display on the dashboard 500.

In the "SERVER IP ADDRESS" field, the user fills in the back-end service network address.

In the "UPLINK TYPE" field, the user can choose LoRaWAN, WiFi, LET 4G, NBIoT and other upload methods.

In the "DEVICE UUID" field, the user fills in the universal unique identification code (UUID) of the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which illustrates the serial communication protocol (Modbus) setting page 620 of the graphical user interface 600 according to an embodiment. The graphical user interface 600 further includes a serial communication protocol setting page 620. "MODBUS POLLING INTERVAL" is used to set the polling interval, "MODBUS POLLING TIMEOUT" is used to set the polling timeout, and "MODBUS CYCLE INTERVAL" is used to set the cycle interval. Among them, different devices may have different polling timeouts, and the user needs to set the maximum value of all polling timeouts.

Please refer to FIG. 5, which illustrates the sensor setting page 630 of the graphical user interface 600 according to an embodiment. The graphical user interface 600 includes a sensor setting page 630. The sensor setting page 630 is used to set the device communication setting configuration C1. In the sensor setting page 630, the user can add the sensor device 700 through the following steps.

1. Click "Add Device" to add the sensing device 700.

2. Set the serial communication protocol account, baud rate and device name through "Modbus ID", "Baudrate", and "Device Name".

3. Click "+" to add a new variable to the sensing device 700.

4. If the sensing device needs more variables, you can click "+" multiple times.

5. Modify the variable name, ModBus address, variable type, maximum value, minimum value, and scale through "Name", "Address", "Type", "Max Value", "Min Value", "Scale", "Unit" ,unit. Among them, if the value obtained from Modbus is 523 and the scale is 10, the value will become 52.3.

6. Click "Download Device Info" to download the device communication setting configuration C1 to the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100.

As mentioned above, the installation of the Internet of Things can be successfully completed through the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100. Please refer to FIG. 6, which shows a flowchart of a method for setting up the Internet of Things according to an embodiment. In step S110, an intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 is provided. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 is, for example, the content of Figure 1 and related paragraphs.

In step S120, the device communication setting configuration C1 is obtained through the graphical user interface 600. In this step, for example, the device communication setting configuration C1 is obtained through the sensor setting page 630 in FIG. 5.

In step S130, the service communication setting configuration C2 is obtained through the graphical user interface 600. In this step, for example, the service communication setting configuration C2 is obtained through the system setting page 610 in FIG. 3. The above steps S120 and S130 can be exchanged in order.

In step S140, one of the device communication interfaces 110 is selected to connect with the sensing device 700 according to the device communication setting configuration C1. In step S150, one of the service communication interfaces 130 is selected to connect to the back-end service 900 according to the service communication setting configuration C2. The above-mentioned steps S140 and S150 can be executed in an exchange order or simultaneously.

In addition, in the aforementioned LoRaWAN gateway 800, the LoRaWAN gateway 800 collects data from each sensing device 700, and then sends it to the cloud or back-end service 900. This is a good solution for developers who want to build a private cloud. The LoRa coverage can range from 1 km to 10 km, depending on the environment and altitude where the LoRaWAN gateway 800 is located.

Not all sensing devices 700 can support radio frequencies, so developers can use the smart industrial automation data collection device 100 to connect the sensing device 700 to the cloud or back-end service 900.

Please refer to FIG. 7, which shows a schematic diagram of a LoRa sensor circuit board 400 according to an embodiment. In some environments, it may not be possible to directly connect the sensing device 700 to the intelligent industrial automation data collection device 100 using a cable. At this time, it can be matched with LoRa sensor circuit board 400, which can convert UART, I2C or RS485 (Modbus) signals into LoRa. Then, the LoRa sensor circuit board 400 can communicate with the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 through the LoRa interface. The intelligent industrial automation data collection device 100 can then send data through Wi-Fi, 4G-LTE or NB-IoT. Therefore, the developer can flexibly install the sensing device 700.

In addition, power may not be available in some cases. At this time, solar panels can be used to generate energy. The solar energy can be converted into 12V or 24V electric energy, and the electric energy is stored in the battery. The solar panel 300 (exemplified in Figure 8) can be connected to the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 through an RS485 interface. The developer can display the power status on the dashboard 500 after acquiring data from the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100.

Various application scenarios of the present invention are further explained below. Please refer to Figure 8, which shows the application scenario of the real-time weather monitoring system. The real-time weather monitoring system is an important tool for monitoring the climatic conditions of the farm. Farmers can receive real-time warnings of extreme weather conditions through the real-time weather monitoring system to save time and money. When the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 is applied to a real-time weather monitoring system, the sensor device 700 that can be used is, for example, an ambient light sensor (Ambient Light Sensor), a wind speed sensor (Wind Speed Sensor), and a wind direction sensor ( Wind Direction Sensor, Air Humidity/Temperature/Rainfall Sensor, Soil Humidity Sensor, NH3 Sensor, PH Sensor For Soil), PM2.5 sensor, PM10 sensor, carbon dioxide sensor, ozone sensor, oxygen sensor, atmospheric pressure sensor, etc.

Please refer to Figure 9, which illustrates the application scenario of the smart water quality monitoring station according to an embodiment. Monitoring water quality is a complicated and time-consuming process. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 can quickly build an intelligent water quality monitoring station. When the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 is applied to an intelligent water quality monitoring station, the sensor device 700 that can be used is, for example, a pH sensor, a DO sensor, an EC sensor, a temperature sensor, and a turbidity sensor. , Dissolved oxygen sensor, ORP sensor, salinity sensor, chlorophyll sensor, COD sensor, BOD sensor, TSS sensor, cyanobacteria sensor, NH3 sensor, NH4 sensor Detector and so on.

Please refer to Figures 10A and 10B, which illustrate an application scenario of an intelligent building according to an embodiment. LoRa is a communication technology with high signal strength, long data transmission distance and low power consumption. Since LoRa does not require a license, users can develop their own high-security private network without having to pay for data transaction fees. Many users have used LoRa to develop wireless systems for houses, warehouses and factories.

However, all the sensing devices 700 used in smart buildings can support LoRa, and some sensing devices still have battery life issues. To solve these problems, developers can use the intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device 100 of the present invention to connect these sensing devices 700.

Figure 10A is an embodiment of a smart home, and Figure 10B is an embodiment of a smart factory. In the smart home in Figure 10A, each smart home can install many sensing devices 700. In smart homes, SOS buttons can be installed for elderly residents. If they need help, they just need to press the SOS button. Through these sensing devices 700, insurance companies, security agencies, and community committees can manage the safety of each resident. They can also provide services to residents, allowing them to remotely control curtains, thermostats and power plugs. Once the intelligent industrial automation data collection device 100 collects data from each household, it can use LoRa technology to send the data to the LoRaWAN gateway 800, which can be located in the center of the community or on the roof of a building.

In the smart factory in Figure 10B, the smart industrial automation data acquisition device 100 can support the development of Industry 4.0. By monitoring the current, you can easily identify whether the machine is running. In addition, by analyzing the temperature and vibration status, the operating conditions of each machine can be simplified. The intelligent power monitoring system can also monitor the power consumption and power supply in each area of the factory to ensure that there is always a stable power supply.

Please refer to Figure 11, which illustrates an application scenario of a smart water meter according to an embodiment. Governments of various countries hope to invest in smart water meters, but the biggest challenge the government faces is the issue of budget. In addition to purchasing new meters, there are installation and operating costs. To solve this problem, a sensing device 700 with intelligent reading function can be directly added to the existing water meter, and the water level value can be captured and sent to the cloud or back-end service 900 through the intelligent industrial automation data collection device 100 of the present invention. In this way, the government does not need to purchase new meters, nor does it need to pay to install them.

To sum up, although the present disclosure has been disclosed as above through the embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present disclosure. Those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which this disclosure belongs can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of this disclosure shall be subject to the scope of the attached patent application.

100: Smart Industrial Automation Data Acquisition Device (Smart IDAM) 110: Device communication interface 120: processing unit 130: Service communication interface 140: encryption unit 150: storage unit 300: solar panel 400: LoRa sensor circuit board 500: Dashboard 600: Graphical user interface 610: System Setting Page 620: Serial communication protocol setting page 630: Sensor setting page 700, 700A, 700B, 700C: sensing device 800: LoRaWAN gateway 900: backend service 910: Presentation Layer State Transition Application Programming Interface (Restful API) 920: Message Queue Telemetry Transmission Interface (MQTT Interface) 930: LoRaWAN network server 940: database server 950: web server 960: MQTT message transfer station (MQTT Broker) C1: Device communication setting configuration C2: Service communication setting configuration S110, S120, S130, S140, S150: steps

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of an intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device according to an embodiment. Figure 2 illustrates the operation of an intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device. FIG. 3 shows the system setting page of the graphical user interface according to an embodiment. FIG. 4 shows the serial communication protocol (Modbus) setting page of the graphical user interface according to an embodiment. FIG. 5 shows the sensor setting page of the graphical user interface according to an embodiment. Fig. 6 shows a flowchart of a method for setting up the Internet of Things according to an embodiment. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a LoRa sensor circuit board according to an embodiment. Figure 8 shows the application scenario of the real-time weather monitoring system. Figure 9 shows an application scenario of the smart water quality monitoring station according to an embodiment. Figures 10A and 10B illustrate an application scenario of an intelligent building according to an embodiment. Figure 11 shows an application scenario of a smart water meter according to an embodiment.

100: Smart Industrial Automation Data Acquisition Device (Smart IDAM)

110: Device communication interface

120: processing unit

130: Service communication interface

140: encryption unit

150: storage unit

500: Dashboard

600: Graphical user interface

700: sensing device

800: LoRaWAN gateway

900: backend service

910: Presentation Layer State Transition Application Programming Interface (Restful API)

920: Message Queue Telemetry Transmission Interface (MQTT Interface)

930: LoRaWAN network server

940: database server

950: web server

960: MQTT message transfer station (MQTT Broker)

C1: Device communication setting configuration

C2: Service communication setting configuration

Claims (16)

A smart industrial automation data acquisition module (Smart IDAM), including: A plurality of device communication interfaces are used to connect to at least one sensing device, and the communication types of the device communication interfaces are not completely the same; A processing unit connected to the communication interfaces of the devices; and A plurality of service communication interfaces are connected to the processing unit, the service communication interfaces are used to connect to a back-end service, and the communication types of the service communication interfaces are not completely the same; Wherein, the processing unit selects one of the device communication interfaces to connect with the sensing device according to a device communication setting configuration, and the processing unit further selects one of the service communication interfaces according to a service communication setting configuration One connects to the back-end service. The intelligent industrial automation data collection device according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit further provides a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface includes a system setting page, and the system setting page is used to set the service communication setting configuration. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit further provides a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface including a serial communication protocol (Modbus) setting page, the serial communication protocol The setting page is used to set a polling interval, a polling timeout, and a cycle interval. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit further provides a graphical user interface, and the graphical user interface includes a sensor setting page, and the sensor setting page is used for setting The device communication settings configuration. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device described in claim 1, further including: An encryption unit is used to encrypt a received information. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device described in claim 1, further including: A storage unit for temporarily storing a receiving information. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device according to claim 1, wherein the communication interfaces of the devices include at least one of a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART), a LoRa interface, and an RS485 interface two. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device according to claim 1, wherein the service communication interfaces include at least two of a LoRaWAN interface, a WiFi interface, a LET 4G interface, and an NBIoT interface. A method for setting up the Internet of Things, including: Provide an intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device. The intelligent industrial automation data acquisition device includes a plurality of device communication interfaces and a plurality of service communication interfaces. The communication types of the communication interfaces of these devices are not completely the same, and the communication types of the service communication interfaces State is not exactly the same; Obtain a device communication setting configuration through a graphical user interface; Obtain a service communication setting configuration through the graphical user interface; Select one of the device communication interfaces to connect with a sensing device according to the device communication setting configuration; and According to the service communication setting configuration, one of the service communication interfaces is selected to connect with a back-end service. The method for setting up the Internet of Things according to claim 9, wherein the graphical user interface includes a system setting page, and the system setting page is used to set the service communication setting configuration. The method for setting up the Internet of Things according to claim 9, wherein the graphical user interface includes a serial communication protocol (Modbus) setting page, and the serial communication protocol setting page is used to set a polling interval and a round Polling timeout and cycle interval. The method for setting up the Internet of Things according to claim 9, wherein the graphical user interface includes a sensor setting page, and the sensor setting page is used to set the device communication setting configuration. The Internet of Things erection method described in claim 9 further includes: Encrypt a received information. The Internet of Things erection method described in claim 9 further includes: Temporarily store a receiving information. The method for setting up the Internet of Things according to claim 9, wherein the device communication interfaces include at least two of a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART), a LoRa interface, and an RS485 interface. The method for setting up the Internet of Things according to claim 9, wherein the service communication interfaces include at least two of a LoRaWAN interface, a WiFi interface, a LET 4G interface, and an NBIoT interface.

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