Abstract
Abstract. “Industrie 4.0” or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are two terms for the current (r)evolution seen in industrial automation and control. Everything is getting smarter and data generated at all levels of the production process are used to improve product quality, flexibility, and productivity. This would not be possible without smart sensors, which generate the data and allow further functionality from self-monitoring and self-configuration to condition monitoring of complex processes. In analogy to Industry 4.0, the development of sensors has undergone distinctive stages culminating in today's smart sensors or “Sensor 4.0”. This paper briefly reviews the development of sensor technology over the last 2 centuries, highlights some of the potential that can be achieved with smart sensors and data evaluation, and discusses success requirements for future developments. In addition to magnetic sensor technologies which allow self-test and self-calibration and can contribute to many applications due to their wide spectrum of measured quantities, the paper discusses condition monitoring as a primary paradigm for introducing smart sensors and data analysis in manufacturing processes based on two projects performed in our group.
Highlights
“Industrie 4.0”, branded the fourth industrial revolution, is more of a political vision than a new technical paradigm: it is the continuing progression of achieving better knowledge and control over the entire production process that has been ongoing since industrialization made efficient mass production possible
The main benefit of this new way of looking at things is the chance to establish new business models. This is expressed better by the Anglo-Saxon term Industrial Internet of Things or IIot (Industrial Internet Consortium, 2018) because it hints at transferring successful business models of the new economy to industrial application; even more indicative are terms like digitalization or, short and pithy, Googlification
This paper addresses the importance of sensors, instrumentation, and measurement science for Industry 4.0 and discusses potential and trends; it is based on two conference presentations addressing smart sensors, their relevance for Industry 4.0, as well as the requirement for an expanded uncertainty evaluation (Schütze, 2015; Schütze and Helwig, 2017); a shorter German version was recently published elsewhere (Schütze and Helwig, 2016)
Summary
“Industrie 4.0”, branded the fourth industrial revolution, is more of a political vision than a new technical paradigm (see Plattform Industrie 4.0, 2018; Hightech-Strategie: Industrie 4.0, 2018; Dossier: Digitale Transformation in der Industrie, 2018): it is the continuing progression of achieving better knowledge and control over the entire production process that has been ongoing since industrialization made efficient mass production possible. The relevance of modern sensors and instrumentation is reflected by the economic data which show a continuous growth of more than 6 % CAGR in turnover from 2005 to 2015 and a steady increase in jobs of almost 40 % over the same period, compared to stagnation in the industry as a whole (based on an analysis by AMA). The companies in this field invest an average of 10 % of their turnover in research and development and are attractive employers for young engineers and physicists
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