IOT IN THE LABORATORY

MARK AUTYMARK.AUTY@UNILEVER.COM

UNILEVER RESEARCH

CONTENTS

Introduction to IoT.

Description of Unilever automation.

Deployment of system status & analytics toolkit.

Future development.

Other telemetry systems in use.

Conclusion.

IOT IN THE WORLD

• Term first used in 1999 by Kevin Ashton with reference to RFID

• Extension of M2M covering a much wider scope.

• Things can be ‘anything’

• Things cannot exist in isolation

• Growing industry

• Many Players at all scales

https://www.b2bmarketing.net/resources/blog/infographic-week-internet-things-iot

Component manufacturers

Tools & Protocols

Visualisation

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a computing concept that describes a future where

everyday physical objects will be connected to the Internet and be able to identify

themselves to other devices. The term is closely identified with RFID as the method

of communication, although it also may include other sensor technologies, wireless

technologies or QR codes.

The IoT is significant because an object that can represent itself digitally

becomes something greater than the object by itself. No longer does the object

relate just to you, but is now connected to surrounding objects and database data.

When many objects act in unison, they are known as having "ambient

intelligence."https://www.techopedia.com/definition/28247/internet-of-things-iot

SO WHAT IS IT?

SO WHAT IS IT?

IoT - is the network of physical objects that contain embedded

technology to communicate and sense or interact with their

internal states or the external environment.

(https://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/internet-of-things/)

The IoT links smart objects to the Internet. It can enable an

exchange of data never available before, and bring users

information in a more secure way. (Cisco.com)

Definitions are generally vague and verbose.

SO WHAT IS IT?

http://iot-analytics.com/internet-of-things-definition/

UNILEVER APPLICATION OF LAB AUTOMATION

Many automated platforms with differing levels of complexity.

Many locations on a single site.

Several sites.

Not all the same network.

Large group of users spread across several locations.

Range of user experience.

Small team of automation experts.

Anton PaarChemspeed

QUESTIONS OFTEN ASKED…

Management:

Utilisation of the asset –How much, when, by whom, what for?

Reliability of the asset – failure modes

Process bottlenecks – what is interfering with the process?

Do I need to replicate or dispose of this asset?

Operators:

Is my run finished? When will it finish?

Can I load my samples?

Is the machine in working order?

Maintenance and system builders:

How much has it been used?

Has a run failed? When? Why? What? Who? – Did they report it?! Who used it previously?!

Is it free to do some work on it?

What is it doing right now?

SEVERAL WAYS TO GET THE REQUIRED DATA

Manual interrogation of logs (either paper or system logfiles).

Human reporting of utilisation / errors.

LIMS or booking system reports.

Automated reporting from the device:

» Current operation.

» Study details.

» Faults.

» Overall status.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

• Machine can communicate with the outside world.

» via public or private network.

• Clearly defined message structure sent from devices.

• Processes automated where possible.

• Reliable.

• Information presented graphically to the user.

• Information is easily accessible to all users.

• Other systems can access the data.

http://iot-analytics.com/5-things-know-about-iot-platform/

MORE PRINCIPLES

• Define what you want to get from the data.

• Ensure that the devices can provide the information.» If they can’t provide it, can you find another way?

• Define key terms:• Uptime

• Downtime

• Available

• Utilisation

• Error, Critical Error etc.

• Unix philosophy "Do One Thing and Do It Well." .

• Follow existing standards wherever possible, or have a good reason not to.

?Dashboard

Analytics

Sensor logs

System Status

Teamviewer

Conceptual Schematic of Unilever lab Automation IoT

Email or IM

Cloud / web services

SOFTWARE STACK

Automation manufacturer’s software or bespoke code (eg autoit)

• Dweet.io

• Freeboard.io Dashboard

• Node-Red

• Google Sheets

• Pushbullet

• Internal dashboards

• In house analytics

DWEET.IO

Selected because it is easy & requires no infrastructure.

Works across sites and networks.

Sending a message is easy:

http://dweet.io/dweet/for/MyThing?Message1=Status1&Message2=Status2{"this":"succeeded","by":"dweeting","the":"dweet","with":{"thing":"MyThing","created":"2016-03-01T12:07:12.681Z","content":{"Message1":"Status1","Message2":"Status2"},"transaction":"ec938160-c130-48ae-83db-d8902cd337b1"}}

Reading a Dweet:

http://dweet.io/get/latest/dweet/for/MyThing{"this":"succeeded","by":"getting","the":"dweets","with":[{"thing":"MyThing","created":"2016-03-01T12:07:12.681Z","content":{"Message1":"Status1","Message2":"Status2"}}]}

SOFTWARE STACK

Automation manufacturer’s software or bespoke code (eg autoit)

• Dweet.io

• Freeboard.io Dashboard

• Node-Red

• Google Sheets

• Pushbullet

• Internal dashboards

• In house analytics

FREEBOARD

Simple dashboard tool.

Hosted on Freeboard.io, or locally hosted

Hosted version has advantage that the same board is visible at multiple sites.

• Boards can be generated for different

user groups.

• Optimised for mobile.

SOFTWARE STACK

Automation manufacturer’s software or bespoke code (eg autoit)

• Dweet.io

• Freeboard.io Dashboard

• Node-Red

• Google Sheets

• Pushbullet

• Internal dashboards

• In house analytics

NODE-RED

Flow based software tool

Takes dweet and processes it.

Some pre-processing of data

Saves standardised data to a google

sheet.

Ability to notify via pushbullet

SOFTWARE STACK

Automation manufacturer’s software or bespoke code (eg autoit)

• Dweet.io

• Freeboard.io Dashboard

• Node-Red

• Google Sheets

• Pushbullet

• Internal dashboards

• In house analytics

Raspberry Pi Foundation

SOFTWARE STACK

Automation manufacturer’s software or bespoke code (eg autoit)

• Dweet.io

• Freeboard.io Dashboard

• Node-Red

• Google Sheets

• Pushbullet

• Internal dashboards

• In house analytics

Raspberry Pi Foundation

Dweet.io

Dashboard

s

Analytics

Sensor logs

System Status

Teamviewer

Schematic of Unilever Automation use of IoT

Email or IM

Freeboar

d

Google sheets

Node

-Red

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ebse

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ANALYTICS

Several ways to interrogate the logfile:

» By Date.

» By Device.

» By Function.

» By Study.

» By Failure.

Uptime, failure rates, utilisation etc.

Enhance with data from other internal systems.

DEVELOPMENT

• Analytics fully automated.

• More detailed analytics….

» Detect impending failure.

» Prompting for service based on usage.

» Reliability of components.

• Database brought in house (SQL / Mongo) eliminates Google.

• Break through firewall so everything can be locally hosted. Extend services.

» (Alternatively pay money and run it all from an IOT platform).

• In house MQTT* broker to replace Dweet, or posting updates to a server.

• (Lightweight message protocol formerly called MQ Telemetry Transport)

• Increase quality of messages sent – more details of activity.

• Latency – display all data, but does everything need to be stored?

TELEMETRY IN THE LAB

Appropriate logging from other devices.

Lab facilities:

» Gas supply pressure.

» Oven, fridge, freezer, incubator temperatures.

» Alerts when out of range.

Off the shelf solution.

Option for bespoke ‘telemetry net’ on top of existing automated systems

» Instrument stock solution / waste levels.

» Otherwise inaccessible systems.

Testo.com

MICROCONTROLLERS

Easy to program.

Many digital and analogue inputs / outputs.

Robust & reliable.

Sensor network with wireless comms.

Reporting data to a hub for processing.

Upgrade / enhancement to an existing system?

If the Arduino fails, nothing stops running.Sparkfun Electronics CC BY 2.0

CONCLUSION

IoT of complex bespoke kit is easy & relatively cheap.

Many services available to help. Lots of information available.

Limited only by capability of existing instrumentation or using bespoke code.

Even existing systems can be monitored.

Information gained on the fleet of automation is highly useful.

Maturing of IoT.

Development of standards (preferably open).

Telemetry ready instrumentation out of the box (currently on new bespoke builds).

Off the shelf kit?

THANKYOU

MARK.AUTY@UNILEVER.COM