What Is "Industrial IoT" and What Is Its Role in Industry 4.0?

Most industrial IoT systems can be split into five layers. Data travels up from the equipment to the people who run it, and commands travel back down. The examples below come from projects we built, described in more detail in industrial IoT examples.

1. Devices and sensors

The bottom layer is the equipment itself: sensors, meters, controllers, batteries, inverters, cameras. Most of it comes from different manufacturers, and much of it was installed long before anyone planned the software. In an airport lighting management system we built, Monster, each light's controller got its own IoT module, and the system replaced the legacy software at the airport.

2. Connectivity and protocols

Devices talk to the system through field protocols such as Modbus over RS-485, and send data onwards over wired networks, Wi-Fi or cellular links. Between devices and the cloud, lightweight messaging protocols such as MQTT are common, and factories often use OPC UA. On Zeronest's energy platform, a device reads the inverter over Modbus and sends its data to the cloud over MQTT on its own LTE link.

3. Edge computing

An edge device or local controller processes data on site and makes the decisions that cannot depend on a network connection. The energy management system (EMS) we built for Skyfri decides when batteries charge and discharge and keeps exports under the grid connection limit. It keeps controlling batteries and inverters when the connection drops, and the platform reaches the sites through Azure IoT Edge and Azure IoT Hub.

4. Platform and data

A cloud or on-premises platform stores the readings, combines them with outside data and runs the analysis. This is also where a digital twin lives: a model of the plant fed with live data. For Kyoto Group's thermal energy storage plant we built one that adds weather data and energy price analysis and lets engineers simulate plant performance.

5. Applications for people

The top layer is what operators and engineers use: dashboards, alarms, reports and control screens, often built on SCADA. Different people need different alerts, so the same event can reach the control room as a short warning and the maintenance team as a task with details.

IoT is the broader term. It covers consumer devices such as smart home sensors and wearables as well as industrial equipment. Industrial IoT is the part used in industry, where failure costs more: a failed smart home device means delay and inconvenience, while a failed industrial system can stop production or put people at risk. A breach in an industrial system can reach physical equipment, so security has to be part of the design. More in our article on cybersecurity in IoT systems.

Industrial IoT also differs from consumer IoT in three practical ways:

• Consumer IoT mostly means new devices with the maker's app and cloud. Industrial IoT connects machines and controllers that are already installed, often from several manufacturers, over industrial protocols such as Modbus.
• Consumer devices usually rely on home Wi-Fi and the maker's cloud. Industrial control has to keep working when the network drops.
• A consumer device serves one household. An industrial system serves operators, technicians and managers, each with their own role, alerts and procedures.

Industry 4.0 is the broader idea: the fourth industrial revolution, in which industrial operations run on automation, data analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and connected equipment. Industrial IoT is one of its technologies, the part that connects physical equipment to software.

Without IIoT, the rest of Industry 4.0 has little to work with. Analytics and AI need data from machines, and automation needs a way to send commands back to them. In the Skyfri EMS described above, data from batteries and inverters feeds the decisions on when to charge and discharge, and those decisions go back to the same equipment. The same kind of data is also used to track energy use and environmental impact, as in IoT for sustainable development.

Industrial IoT pays off in four ways:

• Operators see the state of equipment in real time instead of finding a fault on site. Monster's dashboard, for example, shows battery levels, power supplies, connectivity and the status of UPS devices.
• Readings collected over time show which equipment is wearing out, so maintenance can be planned before a failure instead of after it.
• Routine control decisions run in software, close to the equipment, such as the EMS described above deciding when a battery charges or discharges.
• Safety improves where people cannot see. ATOS, which we built with AP-TECH for one of Poland's main airports, combines data from induction loops and transponders into the real-time position of aircraft and airport vehicles, for operations in near-zero visibility.

Four things make industrial IoT projects harder than they look:

• Each make of equipment needs its own integration. A common protocol such as Modbus does not mean every device behaves the same way: Zeronest, a home solar and battery platform, had to be integrated inverter brand by inverter brand, 16 inverter brands in total.
• Writing a setting to a device does not guarantee the device applied it, so every write needs a check. On Zeronest, each configuration value is read back and an alert goes off when it does not match.
• Tools for a prototype and tools for production are separate decisions. A platform that works for tests and proofs of concept still has to be checked for years of operation before production control logic runs on it.
• Roles and permissions need planning early. Who sees which alerts and who may send commands to equipment is easier to define when a project starts than to add later.

What is industrial IoT (IIoT)?

Industrial IoT (IIoT) is the network of sensors, controllers and machines in industrial settings, together with the software that runs them. It collects equipment data in manufacturing, energy, airports and logistics, shows it to operators and sends commands back.

What is the difference between IoT and industrial IoT?

IoT is the broader term and covers consumer devices such as smart home sensors and wearables. Industrial IoT is the part of IoT used in industrial settings, where a failure can stop production or endanger people. It connects existing equipment from many manufacturers and has to keep working when the network is down.

How does industrial IoT work?

Devices and sensors on site send data over field protocols such as Modbus to an edge controller or gateway, which makes local decisions. A platform stores and analyzes the data, and operators work with it through dashboards, alarms and SCADA screens. Commands travel the same way back down to the equipment.

Where is industrial IoT used?

In factories, energy plants and storage, airports, logistics and utilities. Our own projects include airport lighting and aircraft tracking, a thermal energy storage plant and battery control on solar sites, described in industrial IoT examples.

Is industrial IoT part of Industry 4.0?

Yes. It is the part of Industry 4.0 that connects machines and other physical equipment to software.

We build the software layers of industrial IoT systems, from device integration and offline control to dashboards and digital twins. A project with us starts with a free discovery workshop that maps the hardware, the protocols and what has to keep working offline before any code is written. More on our industrial IoT services page.