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How Edge Computing Influences Modern Industrial Operations?

Embedded Advisor | Monday, December 16, 2019

Industries are incorporating edge computing for better operational efficiency as well as to optimize the pressure on their network.

FREMONT, CA: Edge computing is swiftly entering the industry verticals as the internet of things (IoT) devices become more commonplace. The industrial manufacturing sector offers one of the most promising edge computing use cases where new technologies can result in massive productivity gains. Edge computing can significantly offset the complexity of interconnected systems, making it simpler to collect as well as analyze data in real-time. It can also enable devices to gather crucial information in remote sites where network connectivity may not be consistent or cost-effective.

Edge computing equips the industrial equipment to make autonomous decisions without the need for manual intervention. Sensor data monitors the condition of machinery and optimizes the usage by speeding up or slowing down operations. Smart factories enabled with temperature, motion, and climate sensors can adjust cooling, lighting, and other environmental controls resulting in optimal usage of power. Further, industries can avoid the expenses of keeping high-capacity cloud servers and high-volume data exchange capabilities with the help of edge computing that distributes processing as well as storage capabilities.

Another major advantage of implementing edge computing for industrial applications is the minimization of network latency. Network latency refers to the time needed for a request to travel to the data center, the processing of data by the data center, as well as the response to travel back to the endpoints. With edge computing, the most frequently required processing modules are close to the network endpoints, thereby significantly reducing latency. Such a change in architecture makes industrial computing more responsive to changes. Such systems can also periodically upload logs and other critical information to the centralized cloud servers for processing and other complex business applications.

Edge computing contributes to the reliability of a system, as well. The processing capability available onsite enables the distributed manufacturing units to become less dependent on constant connectivity with the central data center. Thus, lapses in communication would no longer affect manufacturing operations.

Edge computing offers enhanced operational capability to the network system with less dependency on centralized servers.