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Communication and data exchange are growing rapidly in today’s highly interconnected world. In 2016 the global data traffic of mobile devices grew by 63 % and reached 7.2 exabytes per month with 429 million new devices and connections being added, and it is expected that in 2021 the mobile data volume will reach 0.5 zetabytes. 

Many countries with significant business within the manufacturing industry have declared IoT as a high-tech strategy, however targeting a commonly agreed concept for communication of networked systems on a global level does not yet exist. In contrast, well-established branches of industry such as the automotive sector, or developers of enterprise application software, have started to define their individual IoT concepts. Therefore the metrology and agreed concepts for the communicating measurement data via the IoT concepts is urgently needed. 

New interfaces, standards and metrological guidelines for the fully digitized factory of the future 

Two European research projects as part of the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) with a total EU funding of 3.6 M€ will develop a formal framework for the transmission of metrology data on the basis of the SI and a coherent metrology infrastructure for reliable evaluation and communication of quantitative data and its quality in IoT networks worldwide. The 3 year (May 2018 - June 2021) projects are

• SmartCom – with its central mission to establish a secure, unambiguous and unified exchange of data in all communication networks where metrological data is used. The principal investigator of SmartCom at Aalto University is professor Petri Kuosmanen. 
• Met4FoF – aiming at the development of a metrological framework for the evaluation of measurement uncertainties for the complete lifecycle of measured data in industrial IoT networks. 

In the IoT era, missing or incomplete metadata, ambiguity and incorrect interpretation and evaluation of data quality represent a significant risk for future investments in IoT technologies. The two EMPIR projects will mitigate this risk in a joint effort and with an international consortium. 

The projected early impact of these joint research projects is

• Improved NMI calibration facilities for sensors with digital-only output
• Proof-of-principle “Smart Traceability” sensor communicating data quality in real-time
• Common interfaces for the exchange of metrological data based on SI
• Design and provision of digital calibration certificates to be integrated in file management and cloud systems suitable for automated manufacturing processes. 
• Methods for the evaluation of uncertainty in machine learning for industrial IoT
• Selected industrial IoT test beds improved by a consistent metrology infrastructure 

In the long term, the outcomes of these projects are expected to speed up the development of new interfaces, standards and metrological guidelines for the fully digitized factory of the future. 

Contact:

Professor Petri Kuosmanen