Development of an IEEE 1451 Plug-and-Play Module for Smart Transducers in Industrial Environments

The use of Sensors and Actuators is ubiquitous in an industrial environment. The advent of the Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) and the 4th industrial revolution demands new, more intelligent and more efficient ways to be able to connect, read and control transducers at the plant floor level. Newer control and data science techniques also largely benefit from structured information endpoints available at the edge of the network. The IEEE 1451 standard presents architecture and methodology to solve these problems with the usage of smart transducers, introducing into edge devices concepts such as self-identification and standardization of data communication. In this work, a transducer interface module is developed using the IEEE 1451 standard focused on flexibility, ease of integration and plug-and-play features. Furthermore, a system architecture, based on IEEE 1451.0 is presented, and development and implementation features are explained. This system is then released as an open-source platform to help and motivate the usage of smart transducer systems. At last, the system is tested, results are collected, and a methodology and metrics are defined for comparison between different smart transducer systems.