Loops and Noise and Power (oh my!)

We love to look forward. It's exciting to see what is possible that a few years ago was only sci-fi.

With that in mind, I would encourage you to remember that 1. we are still operating in the real world and 2. we still have to deal with physics. A few 'pro tips' that seem basic that we find people forget every day. Think the IoT is magic? It is! But physics. Still. Applies. Sorry!

Well, I can't offer chocolate as a consolation over a blog, but I can offer a few tips to soothe the reality check blues:

We are still dealing with different grounds. We have to keep the basic laws of electricity in mind even as we are going wireless and are able to read our data in the cloud as well as locally. Don't forget that our signals are still originating from a machine that is tied to its own earth potential, and it doesn't matter how IoT-enabled your plant is - if you have ground loop issues, that fancy cloud data is inaccurate. Read about ground loops here.



Wireless creates a different kind of noise. The more wireless devices we have, the more electronic 'noise' we might see interfering with machinery, sensors, or other devices in your factory. Important not to forget this factor as we troubleshoot new IoT gear.

Everything needs power. Seems simple. It's not. As we move towards more IoT-enabled equipment, we need to keep in mind that everything needs power, and our infrastructure has to expand to meet those new power demands on all levels. An IoT-enabled sensor requires more power to send a data stream to one more outlet, while all along the data path we must transmit said data. Battery-powered IoT devices really expose this weak spot.

Data compression can help as can reducing monitoring during down-times, but we also need to demand efficiency and low-power solutions as we investigate IoT solutions - it will help in the long run.