Tag: Hardware

New Eyes for Precision Machining

Posted on by Joe Lin

The convergence of physical and digital worlds is giving rise to the smart factory and a new generation of industrial machinery. Known as Industry 4.0, this new era is connecting the Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber-physical systems to streamline manufacturing and business processes, improve versatility and precision, and reduce lead times and waste.

Turning a traditional factory into a smart factory to achieve these advantages, however, presents multiple challenges. These include:

  • Accommodating the sheer variety and size of the machinery involved
  • Managing the complexity of distributed control systems that can include hundreds of control nodes
  • Connecting and integrating the multitude of sensors and legacy devices on isolated factory networks

This article describes a PC-based IoT controller that runs on-machine vision solutions and performs IoT gateway services. We look at how this controller delivers new levels of performance and agility to machine vision. We explain the role of real-time industrial Ethernet technologies in ensuring the smooth coordination of multiple control nodes. We discuss how open standards and pre-integrated CODESYS SoftMotion CNC RTE and NEXCOM NexECM software accelerate the development and deployment of multi-function machinery. And we investigate how the performance capabilities of the 6th generation Intel® Core™ processor product family enable a single IoT controller to perform so many tasks.

The Demand for More Versatile Machine Vision

Machine vision systems identify faulty incoming work pieces, guide the positioning of work pieces, and inspect finished parts for quality control. Isolated from the chain of automated control, older, traditional purpose-built machine vision systems lack motion control APIs. They can deliver little more than pass/fail determinations and require programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to handle control functions (Figure 1). Because data often goes uncollected in these systems, correlating variables, spotting trends, and implementing predictive maintenance is difficult, if not impossible.

Many of today’s machine vision systems work in isolation from the automated control chain.
Figure 1. Many of today’s machine vision systems work in isolation from the automated control chain.

A New Generation of Machine Eyes

Modern pressures to increase efficiency, yield rate, and capacity have created demand for a new generation of machine vision systems. IoT industrial controllers that incorporate machine vision are now coming online – literally. These sophisticated and versatile systems offer IoT connectivity and massive increases in compute and image processing, as well as data storage (Figure 2). Their on-machine vision enables greater precision and coordination.

Industry 4.0 modernizes operations with solutions such as IoT industrial controllers that integrate machine vision and cloud connectivity.
Figure 2. Industry 4.0 modernizes operations with solutions such as IoT industrial controllers that integrate machine vision and cloud connectivity.

Modern web services and dashboards allow factory management personnel to remotely view machine vision data from these integrated machine vision/IoT controller systems. Sharing this data with supply chain partners makes it easier to identify issues and comply with reporting requirements for customers. Images can be streamed to cloud services for analysis with other manufacturing data to help find root causes of lower-than-expected quality or yield rate. Image data also enables closer monitoring of machining processes so that more timely adjustments can be made to maintain quality.

Recipe for Precision and Capacity

A modern IoT controller providing on-machine vision needs to deliver three capabilities: 1) high-speed imaging and analysis, 2) control and monitoring, and 3) IoT gateway functionality (Figure 3).

An integrated IoT controller and on-machine vision system combines high-speed analysis, highly synchronized control and monitoring, and IoT gateway functionality.
Figure 3. An integrated IoT controller and on-machine vision system combines high-speed analysis, highly synchronized control and monitoring, and IoT gateway functionality.

High-speed imaging and analysis is critical to production time. The shorter the time period there is between image capture and analysis, the shorter the cycle time.

Control and monitoring ensures quality output production quickly and repeatedly. Based on complex calculations, modern industrial controllers must coordinate control nodes and data exchange in near-real time for in-process modification and correction. To be versatile, these controllers must also support the high-mix, low-volume production required to meet modern demands for mass customization. They should be agile enough to quickly switch from performing one machining process on a material to performing a different machining process on something else. At the same time, they must readily accept auxiliary functions and enable remote management to avoid costly manual interventions, particularly in clean rooms or dangerous environments. Finally, to support human-machine interfaces (HMIs), these controllers must include graphics capabilities.

IoT gateway capabilities are important for greater transparency in factory operations. To provide the necessary IoT connectivity, industrial controllers must provide all the necessary protocols and operations for the connection of legacy devices to the cloud.

A Smart Factory, PC-Based Machine Vision IoT Controller and Gateway

To accelerate the rollout of Industry 4.0, NEXCOM developed the NIFE 300, an on-machine vision IoT controller solution that bolts onto industrial machinery. Its open architecture delivers the high interoperability necessary to enable the consolidated functionality of Industry 4.0 systems (Figure 4).

The NEXCOM NIFE 300 provides the consolidated functionality required for an Industry 4.0 IoT controller.
Figure 4. The NEXCOM NIFE 300 provides the consolidated functionality required for an Industry 4.0 IoT controller.

Intended for large machinery and distributed control systems with hundreds of control nodes, the NIFE 300’s PC-based open architecture and EtherCAT I/O enable extensive expandability and flexibility compared to PLCs. Equally important, its support for real-time industrial Ethernet makes the NIFE 300 a ideal fieldbus for providing:

  • High-speed transmission and high synchronization for control nodes via a distributed clock approach
  • Synchronization latency to within a tenth of millisecond
  • Easy addition of extra function and control nodes

To address high-mix, low-volume production needs, the NIFE 300 meets PLCopen* specifications. For industrial machine manufacturers who adhere to IEC 61131-3 standards, the NIFE 300 facilitates control programming via CODESYS SoftMotion CNC RTE software. Using libraries of reusable logic and motion functionality, developers can more easily create control schemes for fast design of SoftPLC, SoftMotion, and SoftCNC functions.

For machine manufacturers that program with C/C++ languages, NEXCOM offers its NexECM software pack. This pack lets industrial machine manufacturers reuse assets, adapting existing motion-control functions onto IoT controllers to save development time and cost. NexCAT’s EtherCAT configurator allows developers to employ real-time industrial Ethernet motion control without extensive knowledge of EtherCAT.

To facilitate management, the NIFE 300’s HMI software, JMobile Suite, provides a graphical overview of machining processes and system status. Factory operators can access this view through a local HMI station or remotely through mobile devices and a web-based HMI. They can check settings, operations, and progress nearly anywhere at any time (Figure 5).

The NIFE 300’s JMobile Suite is an HMI solution enabling local control and remote monitoring.
Figure 5. The NIFE 300’s JMobile Suite is an HMI solution enabling local control and remote monitoring.

Powerful, Flexible Machine Vision Platform

Intel’s newest wave of 14 nm processors, the 6th generation Intel Core processor family, makes the PC-based NIFE 300 a powerful machine vision platform. The built-in Intel® HD Graphics 530 deliver up to 30 percent better graphics performance over previous-generation graphics. These integrated graphics free up CPU resources while executing machine vision tasks so the NIFE 300 can perform high-resolution image analysis with extreme precision.

The NIFE 300 supports both the GigE Vision and USB3 Vision interfaces commonly used for the connection of high-performance industrial cameras. Front PCI and PCIe interfaces make adding and connecting cameras to frame grabber cards easy for the acquisition of uncompressed images and lossless image compression.

A Versatile IoT Gateway

To bridge the gap between physical systems and the enterprise, the NIFE 300 functions as an IoT gateway providing fieldbus, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), and 4G/Wi-Fi connections. These connections support two-way communications between the factory floor, manufacturing execution systems (MESs), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, giving “make to order” manufacturers greater agility. Manufacturers can also use the gateway functions to collect manufacturing statistics and other data for process optimization and predictive maintenance.

An Industrial-Strength Processor Family

The NIFE 300 IoT controller offers a choice of the Intel® Core™ i7-6700TE, i5-6500TE, and i3-6100TE processors. These 6th generation Intel Core processors deliver a leap in performance, power efficiency, and image processing. What’s more, their faster DDR4 memory support and the additional high-speed I/Os enable next-generation industrial applications.

Intel® Core™ processors offer the multicore architecture required to consolidate systems and deliver real-time, deterministic performance. They enable the NIFE 300 to handle complex integration logic and motion-and-kinetics control tasks in parallel, commanding hundreds of axes or processing hundreds of thousands of I/O tag data. Further increasing multitasking responsiveness, the processors’ Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology enables two processing threads per physical core.

The combination of EtherCAT technology and the ability of multicore Intel® processors to support higher channel density and greater multitasking significantly reduces the number of controllers required. The NIFE 300 makes full use of the processors’ support of fast DDR4 2133 DRAM and high-speed interfaces. Machine manufacturers can order the controller with up to 16 GB DRAM. PCIe 3.0, USB 3.0, and SATA 3.0 ensure smooth performance of complex control schemes and image capture.

The processors’ high-powered graphics engine brings dynamic real-time 3D simulation of machining paths – as well as Ultra HD 4K graphical display capabilities – to machining information and HMI applications. Intel® HD Graphics 530 supports the latest graphics APIs, including DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.5, for energy-efficient rendering of 2D and 3D vector graphics. Hardware-accelerated video codecs enable fast transcoding.

Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions 2 (Intel® AVX 2) ensures efficient processing of image data. With newly optimized 256-bit integer instructions and new fused multiply-add (FMA) instructions for floating-point computations, Intel AVX 2 doubles the number of double-precision floating point operations per second (FLOPS) per clock cycle. This performance boost improves performance on robot guidance, positions and measurements of work pieces, and surface inspection.

Making Today’s Factories Smarter with Vision-Equipped IoT Controllers

In a global economy of fast-shifting markets and price competition, manufacturers face mounting pressure to optimize operations and address new opportunities. To help businesses attain these goals, the next generation of industrial machinery must be smarter, more agile, and more flexible. As a combined IoT controller and machine vision system, the NEXCOM NIFE 300 provides a true Industry 4.0 solution. Tapping the performance of the latest Intel Core processors, the NIFE 300 can help increase manufacturing quality and capacity, accommodate mass customization, and catalyze the fusion of physical factories and business systems for greater insight and process optimization.

Extreme Conditions Call for Extreme Signage

Posted on by Dwight Looi

Digital signage is proliferating at incredible speed as its popularity in banking, hospitality, airports, and other markets continues to grow. Expanding its use in transit and outdoor applications is the next frontier. Digital signage on commuter trains, buses, and taxi cabs delivers large captive audiences that can be segmented broadly by boarding location and destination. Outdoor locations catch people traveling through metropolitan areas and stopping at transit shelters, kiosks, and drive-in restaurants.

This article explores the requirements for digital signage media players to thrive in transit and outdoor environments. We consider the need for 24-hour operation while withstanding heat, cold, dust, and vibration. We look at two media players, one designed for outdoor use and the other for the bumps and grinds of the road and rails. We then look under the hood of these players at the performance capabilities of the 5th generation Intel® Core™ i7 processors that make their media and graphics so compelling.

It’s a Digital Signage World

As digital signage pops up in nearly every indoor sign location, the days of traditional transit and outdoor posters appear numbered. Static images do not capture the attention of today’s visually savvy consumers and information seekers. Accustomed to constant Web access and surrounded by fast-paced digital imagery on televisions, smartphones, laptops, and tablets, people expect similar visual stimulation from signage. Seeking better advertising results, today’s advertisers demand it.

For sign owners, digital signage is more convenient. Advanced content management systems such as the Intel® Retail Client Manager (Intel® RCM) make advertising campaigns easy to create, post, and change frequently. Centrally located staff can create compelling visuals and text, and then distribute it to thousands of networked media players. They can even update content in an instant for flash sales of overstock or seasonal opportunities.

The Extreme Environment Opportunity

Outdoor public spaces and transit offer countless opportunities to reach captive audiences eager for information and advertising. In these spaces, digital signage attracts and entertains while people are sightseeing, commuting, waiting in line, or traveling to their next destination (Figure 1).

Outdoor digital signage reaches audiences on the go or lingering in public spaces
Figure 1. Outdoor digital signage reaches audiences on the go or lingering in public spaces

Vehicle-mounted digital signage also provides unique opportunities. Media players equipped with geolocation technology can cue advertising based on the vehicle’s location and time of day.

Welcome to the Cruel Outdoors

The growing availability of higher definition electronic billboards and outdoor displays presents tough challenges. Higher resolutions and dynamic content require higher performance media players. Outdoor locations require rugged housing to ensure a long life and wireless connectivity for locations without wired Ethernet.

Depending on the installation’s location, players must also sustain sub-zero temperatures or blazing heat. In many climates, a system must operate in both. The player must be reliable and sturdy enough to function in places where a service technician may not inspect it for months or years. Similarly, the player must support remote content updates to save the cost of dispatching service crews.

An Even Harder Life on the Road

While facing the same unforgiving exposure to extreme temperatures and need for remote manageability, in-vehicle digital signage must also overcome the following additional challenges:

  • Shock and vibration. Media players must withstand the frequent shocks and constant vibrations typical of a public bus or train.
  • Limited power. High-resolution digital signage can require considerable power to run all the electronics, but in-vehicle displays and players have to share battery power with critical vehicle systems.
  • Input voltage variances. Buses and trains generally operate on 24/28VDC power, while taxi battery voltages typically fluctuate between 9V and 14V.
  • Power control. Players must incorporate ignition-sensing power control systems so signage operates only when the vehicle is running and does not drain the battery when garaged. Equally important, media players need a sequenced shutdown so when the vehicle is turned off, the operating system does not crash and introduce errors in the software.
  • Wireless connectivity. Remote manageability and content management require wireless connectivity for vehicle connection anytime, anywhere.

Players Designed for Harsh Environments

With a background in industrial PC products, IBASE saw an opportunity to use the advanced features and graphics capabilities of the 5th generation Intel Core i7 processor family to create rugged media players for these use cases. The resulting players include the IBASE SE-92 Extreme Environment Digital Signage Player and SE-602 Extreme Environment In-Vehicle Digital Signage Player.

A Media Player for the Urban Outdoors

The SE-92 is designed specifically for extended duty cycles in outdoor environments like bus shelters, railway platforms, busy street corners, parking lots, highway rest areas, and outdoor information kiosks (Figure 2). The fanless system is unaffected by dusty environments, and it starts and operates continuously at ambient temperatures ranging from a frigid -40 °C to a scorching 75 °C.

The IBASE SE-92 meets the requirements for extended duty cycles in outdoor environments.
Figure 2. The IBASE SE-92 meets the requirements for extended duty cycles in outdoor environments.

The SE-92 operates off any DC power source between 7V and 36V, allowing it to tap the common 12V, 24V, and 36V power rails that power high-intensity LED arrays. For energy-efficient operation, IBASE’s iSMART green technology enables power on/off scheduling and power-resume functions.

The integrated dual DVI-I interface supports either DVI-D or VGA displays and includes a built-in extended display-identification data (EDID) emulation function. EDID enables the player to recognize and make optimal use of display capabilities. The player’s two dual-channel DDR3L-1600 sockets support up to 16 GB of memory.

The SE-92 includes dual Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, and an optional 64 GB mSATA SSD drive for fast system boot and low heat emissions. M.2 and Mini PCI Express* slots and an accompanying SIM card slot enable expansion, including LTE wireless networking, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth*.

The extruded aluminum and coated steel housing has a rust-proof thermal frame that serves simultaneously as the entire system’s structural backbone, thermal radiator, and EMI shield. The system’s graceful blend of form and function combines the soft aesthetics of rounded rectangles with the utility of rugged integral mountings and dust-resistant passive cooling. The design won a 2015 iF Design Award.

A Media Player for the Road

The SE-602 is a sister product to the SE-92. Externally identical but outfitted for vehicular deployment, the SE-602 includes an ignition-aware (7VDC to 36VDC) vehicular power-management solution. This solution enables the SE-92 to autonomously power on when the vehicle starts and perform a graceful shutdown when the vehicle shuts down. The ignition-aware vehicular power-management solution protects software against possible errors from sudden shutdowns. It also safeguards the vehicle from deep battery discharges that could strand it.

To meet the needs of specific applications, the SE-602 can include a CAN bus interface, GPS receiver, and 3G/LTE communications module. The combination of extended operating temperatures with a rich set of features specific to transportation environments makes the SE-602 a rugged platform for digital signage on the move.

Connecting Where Wired Connections Cannot Go

A system that survives and operates in a harsh environment is useless if you cannot communicate with it, deliver content, and manage it remotely. In outdoor installations and vehicular deployments, running a physical Ethernet cable to the system is difficult or impossible.

For wireless connectivity, both the SE-92 and SE-602 can include an internal 3G or LTE wireless module, an 802.11 Wi-Fi adapter, and a GPS receiver. This flexibility enables configuration for mobile wireless or Wi-Fi-based depot updates. It also allows the system to offer timely location-based advertising and information.

Unlimited Graphics Possibilities

The SE-92 and SE-602 represent a new tier in extreme environment media player made possible by advanced Intel® processors. Until now, makers of rugged outdoor devices relied mostly on processors that delivered low power consumption over performance and high-quality graphics. The 5th generation Intel® Core™ i7-5650U processor eliminates the need for such tradeoffs. These processors combine the performance and features expected of an Intel® Core™ i7 processor into a power-sipping 15 W package complete with powerful integrated graphics. Systems using it can deliver the same stunning Ultra HD 4K graphics as leading indoor systems while consuming far less power.

Based on Intel’s new 14 nm technology using 2nd generation 3D tri-gate transistors, the 5th generation Intel Core i7-5650U processor combines a powerful dual-core CPU and platform controller hub (PCH). This single multi-chip package delivers PC-class performance, HD graphics, and high-quality sound for space- and power-constrained embedded applications (Figure 3). Combined with architectural enhancements, the new process technology enables 5th generation Intel® Core™ processors to deliver stunning graphics performance and faster video conversion compared to the previous generation.

A single multi-chip package, the 5th generation Intel® Core™ i7-5620U processor delivers PC-class performance, HD graphics, and high-quality sound for space- and power-constrained embedded applications.
Figure 3. A single multi-chip package, the 5th generation Intel® Core™ i7-5620U processor delivers PC-class performance, HD graphics, and high-quality sound for space- and power-constrained embedded applications.

The integrated Intel® HD Graphics 6000 engine provides an improved architecture and an additional VDBOX unit (multi-format video codec). The combination delivers smoother visual quality, extremely fast media transcode performance, and outstanding HD media playback. Intel® Clear Video HD technology and Intel® Quick Sync Video 2 add visual quality and color fidelity enhancements for video quality that captivates viewers. Codec support includes VP8 and HEVC/H.265. As for the latest APIs, the processor supports DirectX 11.2 and OpenGL 4.3.

Remote Manageability and Security

The Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT) built into the Intel Core i7-5650U processor gives these systems an advantage in remote management. Intel AMT enables operating system-absent manageability and down-the-wire security even when the system is powered off, the operating system is unresponsive, or software agents are disabled. Technicians can roll back firmware images with Intel’s remote management and maintenance capabilities and ease provisioning of the media player via remote host capabilities.

The processor provides a host of advanced security solutions to protect media players against malware intrusions and running unauthorized software. These security features include Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT), Intel® OS Guard, and secure boot support.

Time to Go Extreme

Extreme environments call for extreme digital signage players. These IBASE solutions offer digital signage manufacturers a way to expand their markets to in-vehicle and outdoor locations in harsh weather conditions. Powered by the 5th generation Intel Core processor, these players bring the graphics performance of today’s leading digital signage solutions to places where only static signs once dared to go.