Implementation of a WSN-based IIoT Monitoring System within the Workshop of a Solar Protection Curtains Company

Nowadays, the implementation of automated manufacturing processes within a wide variety of industrial environments is not understood without the Industry 4.0 concept and the context-aware possibilities given by the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). In this sense, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) play a key role due to their inherent mobility, ease of deployment and maintenance, scalability and low power consumption, among others. However, in complex industrial scenarios where a lot of obstacles as well as metallic objects are present, the radio propagation can be severely affected. In addition, specific machinery (such as laser or soldering machines) can cause potential interferences on the wireless radio channel. This work proposes the deployment and optimization of a WSN in the facilities of Galeo Enrollables Company, located in Navarre (Spain), in order to optimize the manufacturing processes. The company is specialized in the manufacturing, design and innovation of technical and solar protection curtains. The company is in the process of integrating a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to control and monitor manufacturing times, the stock of the warehouse and administrative tasks, leading to the calculation of operating costs. In this way, the company is interested in deploying WSNs in order to acquire real-time data provided by the workshop machinery with the aim of including it in the new ERP system. For that purpose, radio propagation measurements as well as 3D Ray Launching simulations have been performed in order to characterize the wireless channel of this harsh industrial environment. Low cost sensors and actuators have been selected to prepare different wireless motes corresponding to the different machines present within the scenario. The information gathered by the motes is then transmitted to a central node, which conditions the data for input into the ERP system.