How artificial intelligence is taking industrial IoT to new heights

Among the technological breakthroughs of the past decade, the combination of artificial intelligence and the Industrial Internet of Things has had an impact on industry that few technologies have achieved.

Before we delve into this topic, let’s hear what expert researchers have to say about both technologies:

1. By 2025, the field of artificial intelligence will become an industry worth US$190 billion. (Source: Market & Market)

2. In 2019, 40%’s digital transformation plans are all driven by artificial intelligence. (Source: IDC)

3. By 2025, the number of IoT devices will exceed 64 billion, up from 10 billion in 2018. (Source: Business Insider)

4. By 2020, business investment will account for more than 50% of all IoT expenditures. (Source: PwC)

5. By 2025, the Internet of Things is expected to create an economic value of US$4 trillion to US$11 trillion. (Source: McKinsey Global Institute)

We can continue to delve into more statistics about AI and IoT, but these should be enough for now. As technological ideas from decades ago, the re-emergence of AI and IoT at the right time and place has disrupted traditional industry norms—this time for the better. It ushered in a digital revolution that would have only appeared in the works of science fiction writers HG Wells, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, or other science fiction film masters. It will lead the classical industrial revolution in the 18th century into the Industry 4.0 technological revolution in the 21st century.

Early supporters and experts of both technologies are ecstatic about the transformative possibilities that combining AI and IoT can have. We are witnessing the increasing popularity of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things in the industrial sector, and these two technologies are called IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things). So, how is the Industrial Internet of Things different from traditional industrial forms? How will artificial intelligence improve its performance? We will discuss it further.

Industrial Evolution: The Industrial Internet of Things Era and Previous Industrial Era

We all know that the Industrial Revolution began in Britain at the end of the 18th century. This era is called Industry 1.0, and people saw mechanical manufacturing for the first time in history. These primitive manufacturing machines were powered primarily by steam and water, a respected technology at the time. In the early days of commercial industrialization, textiles were the major industrial sector. In 1721, the world's first water-powered silk factory was opened in Derby, England.

Fast forward two centuries and we have entered an era of electrification of industrial machines - the Industry 2.0 era. Although this industrial age began in the late 19th century (around 1870), its impact was not far-reaching until the late 19th century until the electrification of industrial machines spread from Britain to the United States and other parts of the Western European world in the early 20th century.

The introduction of electricity into the industrial sector was indeed a major catalyst for Industry 2.0, directly laying the foundation for modern industry and operations. The significant efficiency and automation factors brought about by electricity have greatly increased the speed and demand for innovation. After 70 years of history, the world entered another industrial era, called Industry 3.0.

The Industry 3.0 era is an era in which electricity is enhanced by the arrival of information technology (IT). In this era of microchips such as integrated circuits and transistors, industrial efficiency is rapidly improving, and industrial machinery is smarter, more reliable, more efficient, and more independent (automated). The advent of the programmable logic controller (PLC) in 1968 was a major innovation in the vigorous development of Industry 3.0 and the transformation to 4.0. Industrial processes in manufacturing and production can now be controlled remotely via a programmable logic controller.

Industry 4.0 originally started with telecommunications technology and the World Wide Web in the early 1990s, and it is also an era of revolutionary breakthroughs that we are currently experiencing in the industrial field. One of the main highlights of Industry 4.0 is the Internet, from which we see huge breakthroughs, such as the Industrial Internet of Things itself. Thus, with the merging of the real and virtual worlds, man and his industry are no longer limited to physical or geographical boundaries. But what exactly is the role of Industrial IoT in the Industry 4.0 era? Before we explore the extraordinary relationship between Industrial IoT and Artificial Intelligence, let’s take a brief look.

How is industrial technology changing the industrial sector?

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is a branch of Internet of Things (IoT). The term Internet of Things was first proposed by Kevin Ashton in an official speech of the British Procter & Gamble Company in 1999. However, the idea of adding smart sensors to objects first emerged in the 1980s, 10 years before Kevin Ashton.

This idea is also simple in the industrial field: let industrial machines be smarter than humans in analyzing data in real time, and form the basis for faster and better logical decision-making. Interconnected machine systems with this capability ensure that management can identify errors or inefficiencies in the system and develop better solutions to resolve them faster.

Using the Industrial IoT can make industrial processes smarter while also bringing huge environmental benefits: better quality control, eco-friendliness, sustainability and better industrial waste management. Industrial IoT also helps with supply chain management, the entire process of converting raw materials into products and their maintenance from the point of production to the point of consumption.

In the industrial sector, predictive maintenance and analytics will not be possible without the appropriate industrial IoT infrastructure, enhanced asset tracking and energy management. Industrial IoT manages and controls these processes through a system that integrates smart devices, allowing for the best possible maintenance and management, reducing reliance on human behavior.

This is why no industry can survive the massive digital transformation brought about by Industry 4.0 without the help of Industrial IoT. But how will the combination of artificial intelligence and industrial IoT make the technology better serve industrialists? Let’s find the answer in the final chapter of artificial intelligence and industrial IoT.

Artificial Intelligence and Industrial IoT Technologies: How the Combination of These Two Technologies Can Take Industrial Processes to the Next Level

 Now, the focus we have been waiting for is: How can artificial intelligence greatly enhance industrial IoT processes and ultimately bring industrial processes to a new level of efficiency and sustainability? In the era of Industry 4.0, many industries rely on operational technology (OT) and its proficiencies: manufacturing, supply chain, energy management, and human resources. Now, through the combination of artificial intelligence and the Industrial Internet of Things, these operational processes can be enhanced and reach a whole new level of precision. How to do it? Let’s find out!

In an industrial network, what is the largest thing produced? It is undoubtedly data. Today, data is everywhere and everything runs on it, whether it’s an industrial process or a home managed by smart monitoring devices. While smart homes may be less complex to manage, the landscape across the industry is very different. In order to manage the large amounts of data generated in industrial networks and better manage the entire industrial IoT ecosystem, industrialists currently lack skilled talent and reliable tools to effectively utilize industrial big data. This is where artificial intelligence is coming to the rescue!

Artificial intelligence has the ability to independently and intelligently manage itself and its applications. This means that the potential for utilization and optimization missed due to a lack of skilled talent or tools will be made up for by AI. This is highly beneficial for the OT industry that uses tools or software to collect, process and analyze data generated by industrial machines. These types of industrial organizations face thorny issues with software legacy, which in turn greatly hamper interoperability factors.

By integrating artificial intelligence algorithms into industrial IoT infrastructure, entire mechanical equipment can be trained and automated so that it can be managed and operated intelligently. Data flowing from devices in the Industrial IoT ecosystem into AI-driven analytical models can significantly enhance entire industrial processes, not just what is commonly referred to as the manufacturing sector.

epilogue

In the era of Industry 4.0, the dependence and reliability presented by the combination of artificial intelligence and the industrial Internet of Things cannot be ignored. This is a stage of transformation and upgrading that the industrial sector must go through, and only those who benefit the most from this change will survive.

Original author: Parlacom™ Telecommunications

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