Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1437663
18 Enabling the Industrial IoT Revolution Smart Manufacturing: Design Trends 5G for Speed and Protocols Not surprisingly, 5G is emerging as a potential solution for supporting millions of devices at ultrafast speeds. Although 5G offers the potential to deal with multiple device protocols and affords low latency, it is not a panacea. Transitioning from 4G to 5G would require upgrades of all devices, which would be substantial in manufacturing environments and perhaps impossible. In addition, because some 5G signals cannot pass through hard surfaces, cell towers would be needed within factories, adding cost and taking up valuable physical space. Small, Dense Devices Another design trend is making devices more dense— adding capabilities relative to device size. In some cases, devices are miniaturized so that devices take up less physical space. Such devices can be difficult to protect, install, or maintain in harsh environments, however—for example, installing or inspecting solder joints on a tiny device or ensuring required distance from other devices. Having too many signals or different types of signals running through a tiny device can also decrease signal quality and add signal noise, thus compromising the integrity of the device. In other cases, devices are becoming more dense, with added capabilities. For example, inputs/outputs might be added to an existing device to accommodate more data or additional types of data within a given form factor. Again, this trend addresses physical space challenges, but adding signal density can affect signal quality and overall device reliability. In general, power supplies are now being incorporated into Personal Communications Services (PCS) devices to limit the need for distributed power sources. Here, although Power over Ethernet (PoE) or Power over Data Line (PoDL) are helping address these needs, embedding power creates additional design headaches to maintaining signal quality and shielding components against electromagnetic interference (EMI). Legacy and Other Protocols Finally, another trend relates to addressing the numerous legacy automation protocols that are still widely used—and highly successful—in many industries. Because communication protocols are what enable communication from device to device and from system to system, they can be complex. In retrofitting existing industrial environments, designers might aim to reduce the number of protocols to minimize the number of communication transition points across the entire production network. In other cases, designers might use software to accommodate protocols. Neither solution, however, addresses the fact that the legacy protocols are not going away any time soon. Connectivity Is Key Reliably delivering high volumes of data in real time across complex systems in harsh environments is the cornerstone of smart manufacturing—and a tall order for manufacturing designers. This notion remains constant whether adding intelligence to a single device, automating " Manufacturing environments have made headway toward this goal by digitizing machinery, connecting infrastructure, expanding the use of robotics, and applying artificial intelligence (AI) to processes."