The Difference Between IoT for Industry (IoT4I) and Industrial IoT (IIoT)

Posted by on

We have written a lot about Machine-2-Machine (M2M), Machine Type Communications (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial IoT (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) (see related posts đŸ‘‡) but I can't remember having written about IoT for industry (a.k.a. IoT4I).

While IIoT and IoT4I both involve the application of IoT technologies within industrial contexts, IIoT typically refers to the integration of IoT in traditional industrial sectors with a focus on operational efficiency and automation. In contrast, IoT for Industries is a broader term that underscores the versatility and adaptability of IoT solutions across a wider range of industrial sectors, including those beyond the traditional heavy industries.

RCR Wireless explains this concept in an article titled 'Industrial 5G vs 5G-for-industry'

There is a crucial distinction to make between how IoT sensors are deployed in industrial processes, in the task of making or moving things, for example, and how they are used to bring environmental context to core business processes. This is the difference between ‘industrial IoT’ (IIoT) and ‘IoT for industry’, which might be (usefully/awkwardly?) acronymized as ‘IoT4I’ – as discussed previously, here. These terms (IIoT and IoT4I) are used interchangeably, but they describe fundamentally different applications in the Industry 4.0 space – which, on paper, employ different wireless technologies to deliver them. 

For that, one might read high-power industrial LTE and 5G for critical IIoT operations and straighter low-power wide-area (LPWA) IoT standards like LoRaWAN, Sigfox, and utility-focused WiSUN for IoT4I scenarios. The former (IIoT) is about volume, variety, velocity in big data, which (possibly, eventually) only 5G-IoT will deliver; the latter (IoT4I) is for more discrete IoT monitoring in industrial venues, and is well served also by a bunch of shorter-range indoor tech like BLE and Wi-Fi, plus of course cellular-based wide-area (LPWA) systems running on 2G and 4G, as well as 5G-RedCap. 

Mobility use cases, mostly for sensor-based IoT asset tracking, but also for orchestrating high-bandwidth mobile robots (AGVs, AMRs, and suchlike), are in fact an adjunct of the latter IoT4I category; they are not integrated process-bound IIoT functions. So too are industrial ODM applications, to provide machine monitoring as-a-service (as offered by machine makers to drive new revenues); so too, in fact, are the kinds of trendy remote AR assistance tools that are currently bringing new value to industrial workforces. 

Some of these IoT4I cases are propped up by public cellular infrastructure; many others are bankrolling new private LTE and 5G installations. Take Airbus, most busily rolling out private 5G infrastructure; the revelation for Airbus about private cellular has been to reliably and predictably connect an assortment of handsets, headsets, tablets, and robots. The list of its initial use cases goes like this: connectivity for mobile devices to link to the local manufacturing execution system (MES); augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) applications for remote assistance and inspections; robots, vehicles (AGVs), and “moving platforms” to transport aircraft parts.

These are all IoT4I applications; in terms of private cellular, they are served by a version of 5G-for-industry (5G4I, if you like), which leans mostly on its broadband (eMBB) and sensor (mMTC) capabilities. At root, they are not IIoT applications, which hinge completely on next-gen 5G – on industrial 5G, as it is delivered more forcefully with its vaunted URLLC capabilities in later 3GPP standards releases, starting in earnest with Release 17 in late 2023 / early 2024.

These Airbus applications, sprung by its private LTE /5G deployments, are in the IoT4I camp, and are decently served either by common LTE technologies, and even better by existing (Release 15 / 16) 5G systems – so long as devices are available. In the end, the reality is this: IoT4I covers a broader set of enterprise applications, many of which are already-familiar in the LPWA networking space, and many of which are gaining traction with new private LTE/5G networks; and IIoT, geared for industrial production and processes, and held up as the ultimate incarnation of Industry 4.0, is a gnarly mess of an ecosystem-play which will take years (2030/31) of tech and teamwork to come off.

There is also a webinar and report that is linked in the article here, for anyone interested.

Related Posts: 

Comments

Post a Comment