In the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT), the edge node is the sensing and measurement entry point of interest where computational data analytics meets and interacts with the physical world. In this first article in a two-part series from Analog Devices, the edge sensor node is explored within the larger makeup of the IoT, including sensing, measuring, interpreting and connecting data as well as power management and security.
In this article, as each part of the functional importance of the edge node is explored, so are each of the individual challenges. Beginning with sensing, a good majority of the data a sensor acquires occurs when it wakes from sleep mode. This is when valuable information connects the node to the cloud for predictive or historical processing for an actionable event. This is also when measurements take the sensed information and translate it into a value such as pressure, displacement, or rotation. This signal chain presents many opportunities for critical information to be accepted or rejected as soon as the data is available. In addition to these steps, data security is another important factor for an industrial IoT system. The data must be secure within the edge and access to the network gateway needs to also be protected from malicious intent. Learn more about each of these steps, as well as their challenges, in this detailed and informative exploration of the edge node.