Choosing the right IoT gateway can be a confusing and daunting task for plant owners and manufacturers. The right gateway will enable manufacturers to harness the potential of IoT and other Industry 4.0 applications in their processes.
As such, this article reviews the ten key steps involved in choosing the right gateway for your industrial needs.
10 Key Considerations for Choosing an Industrial IoT Gateway
1.What is the goal of the gateway?
The first phase of an IoT gateway implementation involves evaluating the key objectives and features required for the gateway. This should be the primary guide for the selection process.
Let's consider two examples to illustrate this concept.
A factory owner may want to schedule preventive maintenance on machines on the factory floor to prevent machine breakdowns and costly repairs. To accomplish this, sensors must be installed on the machine to measure general performance. The gateway chosen in this case must be able to collect this data securely and have built-in alerts to notify the plant owner if a machine is overheating or about to go offline.
The gateway will then transmit the performance data to an analytical processing unit in the cloud. The analytics processing unit will evaluate trends in performance over time across all machines and be able to see which machines are experiencing performance issues. As a result, the plant owner can schedule preventive maintenance on machines experiencing performance issues when needed.
In another scenario, a farmer may want to increase his crop yields and automate irrigation on his farm. In this case, the farmer must install multiple sensors on his farm to measure environmental factors such as soil moisture, light, temperature, and humidity. The selected gateway model must be able to collect data from the sensors, filter the data and send only the needed data to the irrigation system for automation. In addition, the gateway must transmit all data to an analytical processing unit in the cloud. The analytics processing unit will then evaluate trends and the farmer can see which factors are affecting his crop yields and determine the necessary remedies.
As is clear from the example above, the ideal gateway will vary depending on the end goal and desired functionality.
2.How much data does the gateway need to collect from the sensors?
Some scenarios may involve deploying hundreds of sensors, while in other cases there may be more than 10,000 sensors at a single location, each acquiring a series of 30 readings per second. Analyzing the amount of data required is the next important step in the gateway selection process.
Additionally, depending on the amount of data required, manufacturers may choose to install multiple gateways, so this is another key factor to consider.
3.Does data collected from sensors need to be filtered?
Data from sensors can be collected and then sent directly to an analytic processing unit in the cloud. However, in many IoT projects, not all data from sensors is required, or the gateway may have to perform some pre-processing operations on the data obtained from sensors before it is sent to the analytics processing unit.
As a result, a manufacturer may need to purchase a gateway to extensively filter data from sensors and perform more than one preprocessing operation on the data.
A gateway that is capable of performing these advanced preprocessing and filtering operations is referred to as an edge analytics-enabled gateway.
4.Where is the gateway installed?
The gateway may need to be installed in an HVAC unit or at high altitude, so it needs to be rugged and able to operate in extreme conditions.
Some gateway models are designed to operate in harsh conditions with a temperature range of -30° C to 70° C, an altitude range of 15 m to 5000 m, and allow for high shock and vibration conditions. Plant owners need to make sure they select the right gateway for their operating environment.
5.What connectivity options, protocols and interfaces does the gateway offer?
Many IoT platforms utilize proximity connectivity options such as Bluetooth and Ethernet, as well as Wi-Fi and wireless LAN for longer range connectivity needs. More and more manufacturers and plant owners are choosing to use their smartphones to remotely monitor their plant's operations. The IoT gateway model does lend itself to a wider range of connectivity options, such as GSM/GPRS and LTE-M based.
Not all IoT gateways are equal in this regard, and in general, the cheaper the gateway, the fewer connectivity options it offers, which is an important factor to consider.
Gateways should support standard protocols such as TCP/IP and HTTP, as well as Modbus, MQTT and OPC UA. In addition, multiple serial interfaces, LAN interfaces, and USB ports should characterize gateways used in industrial environments.
6.How much data can a gateway store?
Industrial gateways deployed in factories typically collect multiple sensor readings per second. However, situations such as network failures may occur, so the gateway needs to store this data while the network problem is fixed.
Most gateway models on the market today have storage capabilities, but gateways installed in typical industrial environments need to be able to store large amounts of data and for longer periods of time. Therefore, it is recommended to invest in a gateway that allows for expanded storage and additional micro-SD slots so that the gateway can store at least 20 GB of data.
7.Does the gateway have built-in security features and options?
Protecting the gateway is critical to the security needs of the entire IoT platform. While most modern gateways have built-in security options, it's still worth checking the encryption standards used by the gateway, whether the gateway offers an authentication process, and whether the gateway can detect tampering.
8.Is the gateway certified?
Gateway models should be FCC/CE/IC certified for the standard compliance required for electronics. There are also additional certifications such as Mobile PTCRB/GCF and safety certifications that are worth mentioning.
9.Is there a need to integrate any existing equipment, machinery and legacy devices into an IoT platform?
Many factories and manufacturers often have older equipment and machinery with a long lifespan. Upgrading these devices to connect directly to the cloud is often not economically feasible or possible. In these cases, the gateway chosen should support existing equipment and be able to connect to legacy devices to ensure that all data from the plant is integrated.
10.Does the plant owner or manufacturer require any additional customization options?
Manufacturers may require additional customization options such as power saving options and LTE support. Therefore, it is important to be aware of any additional customizations and configurations and search for models that can accommodate these customizations.
Conclusion
IoT gateways have a significant impact on the successful deployment of IoT solutions. A large percentage of IoT projects face implementation and scalability issues due to poor gateway selection.
Therefore, manufacturers and plant owners are advised to carefully evaluate the selection criteria to help them choose the right gateway that can handle, process and stream their industrial data in real-time to help make critical decisions.