Moduino based on ESP32 can now be equipped with TECHBASE’s original mBus10/60/400 converter module. The converter operates as a M-Bus Master and allows user to connect up to 400 standard M-Bus receivers(Slaves) through M-Bus Master output or fewer devices at a higher M-Bus load over long distances. Moduino, as a fully capable Industrial IoT device, can now be used with every device equipped with M-Bus interface, e.g. heat meters, electricity meters, gas meters, executive modules, recorders, measuring instruments.
Wireless M-Bus support
TECHBASE has added high performance module for wireless M-Bus connectivity and multi-hop networking into Moduino series expansion options. The module is configured as an embedded micro system or simple data modem for low power applications in the metering specifically allocated band of 169 MHz or in the ISM band of 868 MHz. The device is can be configured for interoperability in a WMBus network for Industrial IoT applications.
The RF implementation guarantees best-in-class performance in terms of covered area and power consumption. The output power can be increased up to +30 dBmon the 169 MHz band (+27 dBm on optimized version for highest power efficiency) and up to +15 dBm on the 868 MHz band. The extremely reduced power consumption gives access to long lasting battery life requirement (up to 2 μA in sleep mode for wireless M-Bus module with an RTC clock running).
The Moduino devices can be provided with a W-MBus stack specifically developed by Embit for the platform that allows to integrate the module in the desired system without effort and simplify the interaction in WMBus networks.
The newest addition to TECHBASE’s Industrial IoT Ecosystem is a lightweight, but powerful energy-efficient and fully capable automation controller series, called Moduino – an industrial computer for remote data control and management, equipped with latest ESP32 compute module, wide range of serial, digital and analog inputs/outputs and wireless communication interfaces. This cost effective solution is perfect for end-point devices.
Moduino is powered by ultra-low power Dual-Core Tensilica LX6 240 MHz processor with 512KB RAM (up to 4MB) and 4MB SPI flash memory on-board. Integrated Wi-Fi/BLE modem and extra wireline/wireless interfaces make the Moduino micro-computer a versatile addition to Industrial IoT solutions offered by TECHBASE company. For more complex installations and for those, who need high integration capabilities, the Moduino devices can easily work remotely with existing ModBerry gateway for data accumulation and monitoring, to perform specific actions before sending the data to cloud services. The Moduino-ModBerry installation can work as standalone Ecosystem (for example via MQTT), providing fog-computing to any installation.
Wireless solution
Both Moduino X1 & X2 offer built-in Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.2 and support for LoRa, Sigfox, LTE cat. M1, NarrowBand-IoT (LTE cat. NB1) modems. Currently the support of ZigBee modems is under development. Moduino is equipped with standard U.FL (IPEX) external antenna connectors, allowing the device to reach up to 1km range (for Wi-Fi modem) and expanding the range for other wireless interfaces.
Battery and AC powered
Two multi-sized units X1 and X2 represent diversified approach to IIoT installations for remote data access & management. The main difference between Moduino X1 and it’s larger brother Moduino X2, apart from size, is a battery power support for X1 due to lower energy demand, making it independent from local power grid – perfect for remote installations and scattered objects monitoring. Both solutions can be powered by regular power supply with UPS support (LiPo & Supercapacitor batteries), offer wide range of serial, digital and analog inputs/outputs assisted with support of wireless communication interfaces.
Operating systems & software
Use of ESP32-WROVER compute module adds the support for real-time operating systems (compared to most Raspberry Pi based Linux and Windows OS versions), and openness of the Espressif’s platform to Moduino industrial automation controller. Thanks to enormous community of ESP32 and Arduino users and developers, the Moduino can now adapt existing software solutions, tools and programming environments, for example:
ESP-IDF (Espressif IoT Development Framework)
Zephyr Project (scalable RTOS)
Arduino (C++)
MicroPython
Mongoose OS
etc.
End-point sensors
The Moduino device is a comprehensive end-point controller for variety of sensors located throughout any installation. It fully supports temperature and humidity sensors and new ones are currently developed, e.g. accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, etc.
The main difference between well known Industry of Things (IoT) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is the place of application and approach to the role of user. IIoT focuses on increasing the profit, efficiency and safety of data used in any industrial application. Company’s main investment into IIoT is made to ultimately lower the global cost of bussiness activity and avoid any unnecessary maintenance costs.
The basic Internet of Things (IoT) objectives include management of facilities for User’s greater convenience and time saving. Smart homes, health monitoring and almost every aspect of human life is = covered more and more by IoT accessories and applications, but they mainly focus on end-user experience. The IndustrialIoT looks far beyond that and brings profits and savings to manufacturing and maintenance level.
The benefits of using IIoT devices and complex solutions improve bussines efficiency (e.g., improved uptime of systems and remote monitoring of parameters) through easy maintenance and cloud management.
The new means of control are called Ecosystems, entwining the whole structure of industrial installation and software platforms to unleash unimaginable powers of existing industries. Coexistance of human controlled, cloud management utilities and devices, result in unprecedented levels of productivity.
The IIoT is defined by Accenture as “a universe of intelligent industrial products, processes and services that communicate with each other and with people over a global network”. This connected web is becoming increasingly ubiquitous across a wide range of industries, from oil and gas, utilities and transportation through to the medical field.
While these devices can be very beneficial for organisations and consumers every day, even greater value may be derived by using analytics to generate insights from the vast datasets generated by IIoT.
We are proud to announce that our newest device ModBerry 500 M3 is now available to order. ModBerry 500 M3 is an upgraded ModBerry 500 industrial computer series, using latest Compute Module 3 from Raspberry Pi. Used module increase the device’s performance up to ten times, maintaining low power consuption and optimal price of this solution. ModBerry features industrial protocol support, e.g. Modbus, M-Bus, SNMP, MQTT and more. Read full specification in ModBerry 500 M3 datasheet below:
The Internet of Things (IoT), constantly develops in many fields, such as everyday objects, wearables, appliances, and vehicles in the cloud. The enormous growth is also expected for industrial applications. Industry 4.0 Ecosystems bloomed over last year, and upcoming 2017-2020 will be the years of further IoT expansion.
Increased sales of IoT processors and the expansion of IoT ecosystems fuel market growth in IoT analytics, which organize the information gathered from those devices into actionable data. Two key companies to watch in this field are networking giant Cisco and Amazon.
Cisco, one of the largest networking equipment companies in the world, started integrating analytics services into its hardware in 2014 through its “Connected Analytics for the Internet of Everything” initiative. Since then, the company has acquired numerous cloud and IoT companies to bolster that effort. In February, Cisco announced its intent to acquire Jasper Technologies, a leading IoT service platform for businesses and service providers.
The annual growth in IoT fields multiplies the number of IoT devices used. It might be a huge opportunity for IT companies, but also a massive challenge for fog and cloud integration of IoT ecosystems. The fast development of these solutions and it’s influence on the market carries potentially unimaginable benefits of using Internet of Things Ecosystems.
The above summary and forecast was made in 2014. Since then, the rate of growth has increased so rapidly, that current Intelpredicitons quadruples the number of connected IoT devices.
WHAT ARE INTELLIGENT SMART GRID SOLUTIONS?
Intelligent Smart grid solutions marry information technology with our current electrical infrastructure, helping us support the energy needs of our 21st Century society. Intelligent smart grid solutions are, in essence, an “energy Internet,” delivering real-time energy information and knowledge—empowering smarter energy choices.
Considering the energy challenges we currently face, we must find a way to do more with less—and quickly. Intelligent smart grid solutions allow us to do this which:
Enables the integration and optimization of more renewable energy (such as wind and solar) and plug-in electric vehicles.
Drives significant increases in the efficiency of our network.
Empowers consumers to manage their energy usage and save money without compromising their lifestyle.
Intelligent smart grid solutions technologies provide utilities and consumers with real-time knowledge and decision-making tools that will empower them to save energy, resources, money, and the environment. Intelligent smart grid solutions is not a product, but rather a collection of hardware and software that works together to make today’s grid, well, smarter.
Think about how you used computers before the Internet. They were useful, yes, but isolated. With the growth of the Internet, all the computers in the world could be easily linked, allowing for better communication, information sharing, and data transfer. The Internet turned a regular computer into a much more powerful tool.
The same is true of intelligent smart grid solutions. Overlaying the current power infrastructure with smart grid technology is like connecting the Internet to the computer, making an already useful machine much better and providing people with information to make intelligent decisions. Similarly, intelligent smart grid solutions, or the “energy Internet”, empowers consumers, businesses and utilities to make smarter energy choices.
Key Components of Intelligent Smart Grid Solution
Intelligent smart grid solutions will include automation software and intelligent electronic hardware systems that control the transmission and distribution grids. Intelligent smart grid solutions automation technologies — such as energy management systems and distribution management systems — help provide real-time knowledge and control over the distribution and transmission grids.
Energy Management
Most utilities today operate with a relatively smart transmission grid enabled by Energy Management Systems (EMS), which provide real-time information on the grid’s status, helping utilities automate various grid functionalities remotely. This automation technology helps utilities:
Choose the best, most affordable generation mix (known as economic dispatch), keeping costs lower for consumers and businesses.
Reduce losses and waste in the delivery of power to drive a more efficient system.
Maintain system reliability to help ensure a steady supply of power to customers
Distribution Management
Very few utilities in North America have a Distribution Management System (DMS), intelligent smart grid solution automation technology that provides them with real-time information about the distribution network and allows utilities to remotely control switches in the grid.
The DMS is the heart of a smarter distribution grid, enabling utilities to manage distributed renewable generation, support grid efficiency technologies, and control the isolation and restoration of outages. Without DMS, the utility gets very little real-time information about the distribution grid and can’t realize many of the benefits of a smarter grid solution.
Techbase is at the forefront of the intelligent smart grid solutions revolution. If you would like to know more, please visit our website or contact us today!
Techbase is a leading manufacture of intelligent smart grid solutions, an industrial smart grid is an evolved grid system that manages electricity demand in a sustainable, reliable and economic manner, built on advanced infrastructure and tuned to facilitate the integration of all involved.
Smart electricity – efficient power for a sustainable world
Electricity is the most versatile and widely used form of energy and global demand is growing continuously. Generation of electrical energy, however, is currently the largest single source of carbon dioxide emissions, making a significant contribution to climate change. To mitigate the consequences of climate change, the current electrical system needs to undergo significant adjustments.
The electrical power system was built up over more than 100 years. It is now one of the most effective components of the infrastructure on which modern society depends. It delivers electrical energy to industry, commercial and residential consumers, meeting ever-growing demand.
Most of today’s generation capacity relies on fossil fuels and contributes significantly to the increase of carbon dioxide in the world’s atmosphere, with negative consequences for the climate and society in general.
To satisfy both the increasing demand for power and the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, we need an electric system that can handle these challenges in a sustainable, reliable and economic way.
The future belongs to intelligent smart grid solutions:
Intelligent smart grids solutions will provide more electricity to meet rising demand, increase reliability and quality of power supplies, increase energy efficiency, be able to integrate low carbon energy sources into power networks.
Intelligent smart grids solutions possess demand response capacity to help balance electrical consumption with supply, as well as the potential to integrate new technologies to enable energy storage devices and the large-scale use of electric vehicles.
Electrical systems will undergo a major evolution, improving reliability and reducing electrical losses, capital expenditures and maintenance costs. A smarter grid will provide greater control over energy costs and a more reliable energy supply for consumers. Environmental benefits of a smarter grid include reduced peak demand, integration of more renewable power sources, and reduced CO2 emissions and other pollutants.
Techbase believes that intelligent smart grid solutions are the future for electrical systems, as it is designed to meet the four major electricity requirements of our global society: capacity, reliability, efficiency and sustainability.
If you would like to know more our intelligent smart grid solutions or other IOT devices, please do not hesitate to contact one of our sales consultants today!
