Not every temperature measurement application needs to be wireless, but for some locations, IIoT wireless connections may be the only practical choice
July 22, 2020
Time was when your wired control network, either a proprietary DCS or more modern Ethernet-based system, could easily accommodate that extra temperature monitoring point you needed to add in your process to improve the quality of, for example, your baking or drying process. That is, provided you had a cable drop where you needed to add in a sensor, and the control software you were using would easily accommodate it.
NIST’s Nenad Ivezic provides a more detailed view of the progress made in standardizing data communications in the food supply chain—including sensors and IIoT at the farm and industrial levels
While much of the work involving the standardization of communication in the overall food supply chain is finished, there is still work needing to be done regarding the standardization of IIoT sensor data. I asked Nenad Ivezic, leader of the Process Engineering Group in the Systems Integration Division of the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Engineering Laboratory, to fill us in on the particulars.
Food manufacturers and distributors are beginning to attach IoT sensors to shipping containers to track critical information about the temperature and humidity of the product plus ongoing location and shipper information.
The Sentinel system uses cloud technology to provide supervised 24/7 remote monitoring of temperatures inside industrial food refrigerators and freezers and other environmental conditions that can affect the operation of cold storage units.