A generic interface and a framework designed for industrial metrology integration for the Internet of Things

Abstract

Industry 4.0 promotes the advance of several key areas in manufacturing. Industrial metrology, and associated activities such as Quality Assurance are receiving constant pressure to enhance integration, interoperability, and availability of measurement information to other operations. This promotes a trusted Internet of Things (IoT) or Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) environment where reliable measurement data is accurate and available to different stakeholders This work addresses the integration of measuring devices in an IoT architecture using open standards. It provides a framework, based on IEC 62264 for Quality Operations Management (QOM) and ISO 23952:2020 - Quality Information Framework (QIF) to describe the activities of Quality Assurance and Quality Control and provides a generic interface using OPC UA to receive and send information to the QOM activities, enabling the integration with upper systems such as an ERP and the creation of quality oriented Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). An experimental scenario in the steel manufacturing industry is provided, demonstrating, how the generic interface can support custom software applications by using metrology data to support, reducing product and process defects leading to Zero-Defect Manufacturing (ZDM).