ADI builds key strategic partners in five steps to overcome the common anxiety about the implementation of Industry 4.0

Obviously, this is a race for technological change. Driven by both policies and the market, major manufacturers around the world have vigorously developed intelligent manufacturing technology to accelerate its implementation. However, just like the F1 track, if you lack sophisticated technology, you will be too hasty, and those who follow the wait-and-see approach are destined to be eliminated early.

" Is it the right time to invest now? Can the existing system be upgraded, or must all new systems be installed? Will today's investment really pay off ... This is a common confusion faced by companies as Industry 4.0 is about to be implemented." At the 8th Annual China Electronics ICT Media Forum and 2019 Industry and Technology Outlook Seminar , ADI China Industrial Automation Industry Marketing Manager Roger Yu pointed out in his speech " Accelerating Towards Industry 4.0 ".

Roger Yu, Marketing Manager of Industrial Automation Industry in China, ADI: ADI helps accelerate the move toward Industry 4.0

The general "anxiety" faced by the implementation of Industry 4.0

Anxiety arises because the trend is clear but decisions are difficult to make. However, in fact, some leading companies have already stepped out of the initial anxiety and invested in the tide of implementation. A survey by PwC showed that 72% of respondents expected their companies to reach advanced levels in integration and digitalization by 2020, and more than 85% of respondents expected their advanced digitalization projects to reduce costs and increase revenue. "The most reliable advice to solve this confusion is to find one or more professional partners and establish a partnership committed to achieving common goals and achieving common success." Roger said.

He believes that this partner needs to have rich and in-depth expertise in hardware, software, security and system-level design, and also needs to understand your commercial/business challenges and technical challenges, and help you adopt a system-level approach to solve all challenges. "This partner needs to be able to: seek solutions to system-level challenges; provide pre-tested reference designs to speed up time-to-market solutions; pre-certified solutions that support all major connection protocols; and flexible solutions tailored to design resources and purchase and construction needs. " Roger pointed out.

Of course, when it comes to strategic partners for the implementation of Industry 4.0, ADI is an industry giant worth mentioning. In its 54-year development history (founded in 1965), ADI has long been engaged in the field of high-performance analog technology, and the industrial field accounted for more than half of its total revenue of US$6.2 billion in 2018. ADI's technology has been widely recognized and applied in the industrial field - from front-end detection including various sensors and signal conditioning circuits, to subsequent measurement, data analysis, and microprocessor, DSP-based edge computing and RF wireless/Ethernet connections, covering the complete signal chain.

ADI Industrial Solutions Provide Full Signal Chain Technology Coverage

In his speech, Roger mentioned that ADI has further expanded its full signal chain solution capabilities through a number of forward-looking and strategic acquisitions in recent years: after the successful merger with Linear Technology , high-performance power supplies have become a very advantageous competitor in industrial applications. In addition, SmartMesh low-power wireless network technology with a reliability of more than 99.999% is also a key choice for industrial edge connections; the acquisition of Hittite has enabled ADI's wireless products to cover RF and microwave solutions from DC to 100GHz; through the acquisition of Innovasic , a leading supplier of deterministic Ethernet semiconductors and software solutions, ADI has acquired a complete set of multi-protocol industrial Ethernet solutions based on the fido5000 REM series switching chip ; the successful acquisition of Germany's Symeo company introduced innovative RADAR technology for the industrial and automotive markets...

At this seminar, Roger's speech mainly talked about ADI's methodology to help people get on the fast track of Industry 4.0 from five aspects. In summary, there are five "accelerations": accelerating software-configurable systems; accelerating edge-to-cloud connections; accelerating device health monitoring; accelerating system-level security; and accelerating robot integration.

At present, the physical layer of industrial automation or process control systems has a large number of IO interfaces, including analog and digital inputs and outputs. Once production changes, the cost of re-arranging the production system may be very high and the risk is very high. "In response to this, ADI has launched a new generation of software-configurable technology, which makes each IO software-configurable, greatly improving the flexibility of industrial system configuration." Roger revealed. Software configurability will bring the following advantages: the plug-and-play capability of equipment is improved, thereby greatly improving flexibility and efficiency; the implementation speed is increased, and equipment upgrades and process reconfiguration work only takes minutes instead of hours or days; from field equipment to control, factories, enterprises and clouds, more seamless and complete analysis and more flexible automated control can be achieved. This will achieve the advantages of mass customization, and the ability to quickly switch production assets between products will make small-batch production as efficient as large-scale production.

Industrial Internet of Things is the fundamental support for realizing intelligent manufacturing. Only connected machines and equipment can realize intelligent analysis and intelligent control. ADI has widely deployed SmartMesh embedded wireless sensor networks, making it practical to deploy wireless edge access in the most challenging industrial environments. The data reliability of >99.999% and the battery life of >10 years have solved the challenges of reliability and low-cost maintenance of wireless access at the edge of the Industrial Internet of Things. From edge to cloud connection, industrial Ethernet is undoubtedly the mainstream choice, but there are many industrial network standards and complex models, and it is often difficult to connect new and old devices or devices with different connection standards. To this end, the real-time Ethernet switching chip fido5000 series launched by ADI creatively supports different industrial network standards through a chip, realizes the connection between devices of different architectures, and will support the next generation of industrial Internet standards. Fido supports 100Mbps time-sensitive network (TSN) and plans to develop 1Gbps TSN technology to meet the real-time requirements of big data application scenarios in industrial applications.

Solve the connection from edge to cloud and accelerate the implementation of industrial Internet of Things

According to a survey by ARC Advisory Group, 5% of production losses in North America are caused by unplanned downtime. As an indispensable part of Industry 4.0, machine health monitoring can effectively reduce the frequency of factory shutdowns and improve equipment efficiency. "ADI's low-latency, condition-based monitoring solution (CbM) combines precise sensor perception with embedded algorithms to perform real-time monitoring with minimal additional processing, and extremely reliable real-time data and communications to prevent production interruptions, improve safety, increase throughput and reduce costs." Roger pointed out that he also explained on site the solution for machine health monitoring based on the combination of MEMS vibration sensors with its precision converters, linear, isolation and power supply technologies, and the SmartMesh wireless network.

ADI wireless machine condition monitoring solution makes industrial health controllable

Openness is an important driving factor in the promise of Industry 4.0, but it also brings unprecedented vulnerability. Security is a fundamental consideration when planning Industry 4.0 strategies, assessing implementation readiness, and moving forward. "ADI has always attached great importance to security, especially functional safety. The functional safety standard IEC 61508 for integrated circuit design used in industrial applications is used to expand ADI's already very strict new product development process to ensure that the additional security plans, security analysis, verification and confirmation required by IEC61508 are implemented." Roger said. In addition, he also detailed ADI's other security strategies: ADI provides a new hardware-based identity solution to achieve security at the edge of the network within the factory control loop; by combining security functions with TSN features, ADI has achieved the most advanced field device communication solutions at the edge of the industrial network; all traffic in the SmartMesh network is protected by end-to-end encryption, message integrity checks, and device authentication, etc.

The popularity of industrial robots provides ADI with multiplying market opportunities

The efficiency and flexibility achieved through Industry 4.0 are largely due to the use of robots, collaborative robots and other advanced machines. "Robots are integrating more sensor technology and communication technology: for example, detecting the shaking of the arm itself under heavy load; collaborative robots work closely with workers to ensure safety; robot parameters are uploaded to the cloud..." Roger pointed out, "These new needs and new technology orientations have more than doubled ADI's opportunities." In fact, the robot itself is a complete system. ADI's key industrial technologies, such as sensing, power supply, connection, signal processing and safety technology, which are known for their high performance, are the key to the realization of robot functions and performance. For example, ADI's customized product AD7380, a super-small dual-channel synchronous SAR ADC system for robot applications, has an area of ​​only 3 mm x 3 mm and an accuracy of 16 bits. More and more high-precision robotic arms, especially joint links, require very small analog-to-digital converters to achieve high-precision control. Through AD7380, customers can achieve fine motion control of robot joints that was previously difficult to achieve.

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