NEXCOM IoT Controller Solution Brings Intelligence to Manufacturing
Whitepaper
To increase competitiveness, improve the bottom line, and anticipate trends, manufacturers are looking to big data and the Internet of Things (IoT). To this end, NEXCOM has developed the IoT controller NIFE 100 to help manufacturers remove the significant barrier in gaining access to field data to tap the power of big data and ad-hoc analysis.
To make the data flow, NEXCOM IoT controller NIFE 100 uses the Intel® Gateway Solutions for the Internet of Things (Intel® Gateway Solutions for IoT). The NIFE 100 delivers an open-architecture solution for providing cross-protocol communication capabilities, lifting the communication barriers among these field devices and connecting them to the Internet.
The NIFE 100 supports PROFINET, PROFIBUS, EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet, EtherCAT, CANopen, and Modbus and can act as a fieldbus contractor, providing the last-mile connection for field devices. The NIFE 100 also supports LAN, Wi-Fi, and 3G/4G networking to enable the upstream data traffic.
Some control and analytic workloads are delegated to edge devices such as IoT controllers and industrial gateways on the factory floor. To address the needs of computation, communication and control in the manufacturing sector, the NIFE 100 integrates Intel® Atom® E3800 processor product family, CODESYS SoftLogic, mobile HMI App JMobile, and NEXCOM Xcare™ 3.0 Suite.
The multi-core architecture of Intel® Atom™ processors equips the NIFE 100 with outstanding computing performance to collect and process input data and command field devices to take appropriate actions. The built-in soft logic programming tool CODESYS SoftLogic facilitates programming across multiple controllers and allows the NIFE 100 to adapt to different factory settings.
To simplify the management and maintenance of the Factory-of-Things operations, the mobile HMI App JMobile provides remote access to real-time monitoring and control of factory operation. This Xcare 3.0 supports remote hardware status checks, remote system restore, remote keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) operation, and remote configuration of the NIFE 100.
It is critical that factories include security mechanisms to protect operations and productivity. Intel Gateway Solutions for the IoT are the result of a collaboration with McAfee and Wind River and integrate technologies and protocols for networking, embedded control, enterprise-grade security, and easy manageability on which application-specific software can run.