What sensing technologies are available in the industrial sector

The empowering role of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for industrial enterprises is becoming increasingly evident, and it has become a strategic choice for the future development of industrial enterprises worldwide. How do things collaborate to create value in industrial scenarios? This inevitably leads to the discussion of the IIoT. It is through the sensing technologies of the IoT that external information is acquired and identified, forming the foundation of IoT applications. The IIoT system collects the sensed information and transmits it to a central backend via the network, thereby providing industrial enterprises with various digital value-added services.      

  There are many sensing technologies in the IIoT, among which RFID industrial identification technology is particularly important. It can assign a unique identity to all objects in the industrial field, including "people, machines, and materials," through electronic tags, thus serving as the basis for identification. In other words, everything in the industrial field can be identified and connected. Besides RFID technology, any technology that can perform automatic sensing can be incorporated into the IoT sensing technology system, such as sensor technology, automatic identification technology, and indoor and outdoor positioning technology.         RFID Technology        For manufacturers, accurately grasping information at each stage of the production process is of great significance for subsequent production planning. By installing RFID readers at various points on the production line, continuously reading the RFID tags attached to pallets or products, the real-time operation of the production line can be monitored, providing a data source for visualized industrial production.        "Reducing costs and increasing efficiency to achieve flexible just-in-time production" is the goal pursued by every industrial manufacturing enterprise. On mixed-flow production lines, RFID readers identify different product models. When different models of products enter the processing point, the RFID tag reader automatically identifies them and sends the products to the correct production line. For today's demand for multi-variety, small-batch production, RFID industrial identification solutions are undoubtedly the optimal choice.        For food and beverage manufacturers, a supply chain that can accurately track and trace product information is a standard feature of the digital industrial age. Recent vaccine and food safety incidents serve as reminders that "tracking" is necessary and "traceability" is essential. With RFID, information about food products during procurement, shipment, and transportation can be obtained in a timely manner. If quality issues arise later, manufacturers can quickly find the production date, contract number, raw material source, production process details, etc., of the problematic products.        Automatic Identification Technology        Automatic identification technology integrates computer, optical, electrical, communication, and network technologies, combining them with the Internet and mobile communication technologies to achieve global tracking of objects and information sharing. This endows objects with intelligence, enabling communication and dialogue between people and objects, and between objects themselves. RFID is one type of automatic identification technology; others include: IC card identification technology, barcode identification technology, optical character recognition technology, biometric identification technology, image recognition technology, and magnetic card identification technology.        Sensing Technology        The sensing technology of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) senses the "changes" in various phenomena such as heat, pressure, temperature, humidity, sound, light, electricity, vibration, biological, and chemical phenomena, converting them into processable digital signals according to certain rules. This provides the original information source for industrial digital systems. It generally consists of a sensing element and a conversion element. The sensing element directly senses or responds to the object being measured, while the conversion element converts the measured information sensed or responded to by the sensing element into an electrical signal suitable for transmission and measurement.        Indoor and Outdoor Positioning Technology        In the industrial sector, especially in manufacturing enterprises, most operations are indoors. Satellite positioning faces challenges such as weak signals and the inability to penetrate buildings. Therefore, indoor positioning technology serves as a supplement to satellite positioning. Indoor positioning typically employs a combination of technologies, including wireless communication, base station positioning, inertial navigation, and motion capture, to monitor the location of people and objects. Other common indoor wireless positioning technologies include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, infrared, ultra-wideband, RFID, ZigBee, motion capture, and ultrasound.