Toward the Future—Upgrading Existing Remote Monitoring Concepts to IIoT Concepts

The futuristic idea of smart factories should take into account existing industrial facilities and the practical application of IIoT in them. The greatest benefits from the implementation of IIoT concepts are expected in the modification and modernization of complex technical systems. The modification of existing concepts of multiparameter monitoring systems into IIoT concepts is one of the hot issues of IIoT. This article deals with the practical aspect of this issue and provides an overview of two procedures for transforming existing three monitoring system concepts into IIoT concepts. The first system consists of three wayside hotbox monitoring systems that are installed in three distant locations. This system plays an important role in keeping railway safety, preventive maintenance, and accident avoidance, and thus provides reliable transport and accumulation of coal in two thermal power plants. The second one is useful for monitoring the presence of the vessels in the lock gate zones and controlling water traffic through the river lock. The third system is useful for infrared temperature measuring and detecting of overheated water-cooled rotor poles of hydrogenerators in the hydropower plant. The existing concepts of three remote multiparameter monitoring systems, as well as their novel IIoT concepts and multilayered frameworks, are described in detail.