Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1442838
32 ST/Industrial Sensing Solutions Sensor Data Processing Gets Edgy & Smart: AI on the Factory Floor By Paul Golata, Mouser Electronics Introduction The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has taken hold in smart factories. Industrial sensors are the crucial means of enabling industrial factory data to be collected and sent in for processing. Industrial sensors are allowing data processing to happen at the appropriate locality for maximum efficiency, lowest latency, and highest effec- tiveness. AI warrants its increasing attention because it will enable the efficient processing of ever-increasing amounts of data collected from industrial sensors to happen at the network's edge. Sensor data processing on the network edge will simplify some of the tasks and extract the nec- essary information that can then be sent to the cloud to gain the knowledge that will be required to make the final decisions (Figure 1). Industrial Sensors: Providing Data for Processing Smart factories employ industrial sensors to collect and send electronic data about various equipment, products, and processes upstream for further processing. The reason large amounts of data must get collected is that a smart factory and AI computationally process measured sensor data to monitor real-time aspects of a productive and safe factory (Figure 2). A key technology that has enabled industrial sensors to flourish is Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS). MEMS technology provides a platform to integrate spe- cific configurations of miniaturized electronics, sensing structures, and actuators into a semiconductor package. These high-performance and cost-effective MEMS sensors have been packed with powerful embedded features to become essential building blocks in the smart factory. " AI enables much more efficient end-to-end solutions when data analysis from industrial sensors is moved away from the cloud and closer to the edge nodes where the sensing and actions are taking place. "