Laying the Foundation for a Digital Ecosystem

We expect products to work together seamlessly, to save us time and effort. We take for granted that the email application works with the word processor application, spreadsheet application, and the slideshow presentation application. The smart phone, tablet, computer, digital media player, app store, and digital media store should all work together with each other and the Cloud. These are digital ecosystems. Most of us have bought into one of these digital ecosystems; Microsoft, Apple, Android, maybe others. Like me, you may be old enough to have used Eudora, WordPerfect, Lotus 123, and Harvard Graphics, and remember that they did not integrate with each other, not even when they moved to Windows, because they all came from different manufacturers. Microsoft Office integrated Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint together and they all interoperate making our work easier, saving us time. Similarly, to make life easier and to save time manufacturers go to great lengths to make our phone, tablet, computer, media player, watch, online store, and Cloud work together seamlessly within the same digital ecosystem. Digital ecosystems exist in the world of automation as well and are taking on growing importance, particularly with the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Years ago it was hard to articulate to an automation engineer what a “digital ecosystem” is. Today it is very easy because you can just make an analogy; it’s just like Apple. A few years ago this analogy didn’t exist so most people didn’t see it. Here are my personal thoughts:

In the world of analog devices such as first generation mobile phone (cell), portable audio cassette players, and cameras etc. there is no ecosystem, only rudimentary functionality. Same goes for 4-20 mA and on-off signal devices.

Digital devices are different as has been seen with all the new possibilities created around the digital cameras, smart phones, tablets, media players, smart watches, and all their accessories even changing the way we take and share photographs, communicate, read news, listen to music, and watch movies etc.

Underlying this digital device revolution are enabling standard Information and Communications Technology (ICT) such as GSM, Wi-Fi, USB, Bluetooth, and HTML etc. These provides the base level of interoperability between products that enables digital capabilities like taking a photo and instantly storing it in the cloud or sharing it on social media, find answers on the web from anywhere, navigate everywhere, have 1,000 Songs in your pocket, download even more, and listen to them in a wireless headset, message and email, download applications for anything, and upgrade firmware etc. With all-digital devices the possibilities are virtually endless. The first generation of these products was not so easy to use because every manufacturer did it differently. Digital ecosystems now make all of these easier to use because the devices and software have been specifically designed to work better together, saving time and effort.

Keep in mind that devices part of a digital ecosystem are still standards compliant and fully interoperable with third-party systems. For instance, you can call a Samsung phone from an Apple phone over an Ericsson exchange.

Just like for office suite software, DCS vendors have developed software suites of applications for control strategy configuration, operator graphics, alarm management, historical trending, reporting, auto-tuning, model predictive control, batch, and simulation etc. working better together than individual applications from different vendors, making work easier and faster.

Similarly, standard Industrial ICT (IICT) such as FOUNDATION fieldbus, WirelessHART, PROFIBUS, various industrial Ethernet application protocols, and EDDL etc. provide a base level of interoperability between products that enables digital capabilities like connecting more than 30 instruments with almost 100 real-time I/O signals in a single card, using all real-time control and feedback signals in an MOV over a single pair of wires instead of 16, intelligent on-off valve with diagnostics, real-time position feedback on all valves and instantly detect performance degradation, custody transfer grade two-wire radar tank gauging system, 8-sensor temperature transmitter, 8-variable remote indicator, time-synchronized virtual controller in valve positioner, virtual flow computer in transmitter, virtual marshalling connecting devices to the junction box without adding home run cable or I/O cards, virtual remote seals using cable instead of capillary tubes or impulse lines, and upgrade firmware etc. With all-digital devices the possibilities are virtually endless. A digital ecosystem can make these easier to use when devices, control system, and Intelligent Device Management (IDM) software part of the Asset Management System (AMS) are specifically designed to work better together, reducing the time and effort required to get our daily tasks done.

IICT standards and interoperability testing go far to enable digital devices from different vendors to be mixed and matched working together. It is sufficient to get the job done. However, as in the case of other digital products, products of the same digital ecosystem work better together, to make it a little bit easier, reducing the time required to complete tasks.

Again, keep in mind devices designed to be part of a digital ecosystem are fully interoperable with third-party systems, and a control system designed to be part of a digital ecosystem is fully interoperable with third-party devices, yet together the devices and system designed to part of the same digital ecosystem provide more functionality than third-party devices, even over and above international standards. The reason is twofold; implementing options and more standards. Standards like 4-20 mA / HART, FOUNDATION fieldbus, PROFIBUS-DP, and WirelessHART have mandatory features and optional features. Many vendors implement only the mandatory features in their products; a bare minimum to meet the standards. As a result only basic functionality is achieved. Some optional features may be implemented in products, but here is the catch; features in a device require corresponding capability in the host system to work. With system and devices from multiple different vendors there may be a mismatch between the optional features implemented such that all the basic functionality works, but the optional features are not there in case the same features are not supported in both the devices and the system. Inconsistent capabilities between devices from different vendors will also be seen; a feature supported in some devices may not be supported in another vendor’s device.

On the other hand, a digital ecosystem development team routinely also implements many of the optional features, resulting in greater capability; saving time and effort day after day. But most importantly, a digital ecosystem development team ensures consistent implementation of optional features across all elements of the digital ecosystem such that the system and all the devices support the same options thereby enabling the plant to take advantage of these features get greater functionality and consistency from their automation solution.

In addition to international standards like 4-20 mA / HART, FOUNDATION fieldbus, PROFIBUS-DP, and WirelessHART, a digital ecosystem development team internally also develop supplementary specifications and guidelines to ensure all the products in the ecosystem behave consistently and work better together. This may include for instance graphical display, pre-configuration, instrument diagnostics alarm management, and auto-tuning etc. Optional features and enhancements do not prevent interoperability with third party product. These systems and devices still work perfectly well with third-party devices and systems.

Such a digital ecosystem development team is easily formed within a company but would be a challenge to form between different manufacturers simply because each has their own way of doing things.

As can be seen from digital products used in our personal lives, time and effort can be saved by using products part of the same digital ecosystem. The same concept also applies to digital automation systems. Yet since the digital ecosystem is built on standards, there is no single vendor lock-in. Where the digital ecosystem is incomplete, third-party products can still integrate to complement the solution and third-party replacement parts can be used in the future if need be.

Well, that’s my personal opinion. If you are interested in how the digital ecosystem is transforming process automation click “Follow” below my photo above. Let me know what you think by providing your feedback below.