Remote IoT

IoT (a.k.a. Industrie 4.0) promises to revolutionise manufacturing across every conceivable application and industry, facilitating the control and monitoring of your entire operation via the cloud and any PC, laptop, tablet or…

b-connect-2IoT (a.k.a. Industrie 4.0) promises to revolutionise manufacturing across every conceivable application and industry, facilitating the control and monitoring of your entire operation via the cloud and any PC, laptop, tablet or smart phone.

Unlike a Local IoT deployment, a Remote IoT application may have no local IT infrastructure, so no LAN or WiFi available to connect our IoT gateway to; or perhaps it does, but you lack permission to access that local network infrastructure.

Remote IoT applications require a cellular enabled IoT Gateway. DSL’s answer is the B-Connect IoT Gateway from Bacsoft, which is simple to deploy.

It interfaces with any PLC, sensor or proprietary device through standard interfaces such as Serial RS-232/485, Ethernet, digital, analog, PT100 or relay outputs.

It additionally includes built-in support for Modbus and Melsec and can be easily adapted to work with literally any proprietary protocol, binary or ASCII.

At a glance they provide real time (and historical) graphical representations, showing analog or digital states of environmental or machinery conditions worldwide – through cellular tracking these can even be shown on a map.

Wait…before we start show me some case studies of IoT actually benefiting applications

See how the power of IoT has transformed

Energy (Water, Gas, Electricity) and Agricultural (LivestockSilos, Ethanol) industries.

1. We’ll need to access the raw data. How?

Whether integrating modern or legacy sensors, the B-Connect IoT Gateway sports a vast array of inputs to instantly connect them such as Serial (RS-232/485), Ethernet, digital, analog, PT100 or relay.

2. We’ll need to establish what it means. How?

We observe the states of those input lines for the conditions we wish to monitor (i.e. On/Off,  ‘Cycle Complete’, temperature readings etc) and configure the B-Connect IoT Gateway to recognise them.

If those signal lines and states are already documented – even better!

3. We’ll need to process the data. How?

Within the B-Connect IoT Gateway, an integrated cellular connection with multi-roaming SIM card transmits sensor data to the cloud as regularly as you desire.

To reduce cellular data usage requirements, we process as much of that data as possible within the B-Connect IoT Gateway itself prior to transmission.

Our software (in real-time) monitors that incoming sensor data – both retaining the latest data and logging to enable historical review of past states.

4. We’ll want to see the data, and easily interpret it. How?

We create a customised dashboard around those variables to provide real time (current) and historical monitoring to give you the data you need to run your business more effectively.

This could be anything from direct machine data (completed cycles, on/off times, failure warnings, etc) to external sensors gathering environmental data (temperature, humidity) or any combination therein.

The GUI is presented via a purpose-built dashboard, so can be viewed on any authorised device anywhere in the planet. This can be as basic or as complex (even animated) as you desire.

5. We might want to control as well as monitor. How?

Why stop at monitoring? Our solution equally supports control, particularly effective in minimising visits to remote sites to undertake work that can be done from the comfort of an office, or a sofa!

6. How secure is this? I can’t risk hackers opening a dam in Peru!

The B-Connect IoT Gateway provides end-to-end security. Communication between the Bacsoft Smart Communications Controllers and the Bacsoft IoT Cloud are secured with SSL 3.0 encryption, along with the option to install private, self-signed certificates.

The Smart Controller manages the connection with the PLC or sensor, so it is never queried over the air. To further increase security and eliminate the need for a fixed IP address, the controller identifies and verifies the server during each connection.

7. What if I don’t have a local (reliable) power source?

For areas where the power grid is either unavailable or unreliable, the controller is available in a low-power model that provide up to seven years of autonomous operation. Small and lightweight, this variant is housed in a robust IP68 enclosure and is easily installed in any location from a remote pipeline to an electrical tower.