New gateway brings data control to your fingertips

23rd October 2018

SICK (UK) LTD

Anna Flockett

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With the launch of its Telematic Data Collector (TDC) gateway system, SICK has unlocked the power of data collected by multiple sensors in automated production environments and delivered it to the fingertips of engineers for real-time monitoring, analysis and alarms. The SICK TDC is a simple-to-use, remote-access plant management tool for both operators and system managers, aiding condition monitoring and prognostics as part of Industry 4.0-enabled production environments.

The SICK TDC collects and processes sensor outputs and data in stationary and mobile machinery, together with GPS localisation information, and enables them to be displayed, monitored, recorded and analysed via a server or cloud system. By transferring data via mobile communications protocol (MQTT), a real-time overview of selected plant and processing parameters can be provided, and SMS text alarms can be configured.

The SICK TDC system enhances system transparency to SICK and third-party sensors compatible with Ethernet, CAN, RS232, RS485, 1-Wire and UART interfaces. It offers wider capability with more inputs per gateway controller than many other systems currently available. Output communications can be via cable, wireless signal or SMS.

“Sensors are the eyes and ears of automated production environments, so it is a logical next-step for SICK to bring Industry 4.0-ready transparency to production and logistics environments in a simple format that’s easy to access and use.

“SICK TDC enables plant data to be managed in a customised dashboard format that can be uploaded to the customer’s own server, or hosted by SICK on a customer-secure segment of the SICK Cloud.

“It offers a welcome addition to traditional SCADA control hierarchies, that can be accessed by mobile phone or laptop from the office, home – or, indeed anywhere in the world. The TDC system can respond to the incoming data and provide real-time outputs via IO-Links or alarms straight to your mobile phone.”

The SICK TDC-M100, B100 and E100 series each comprise hardware and firmware, on-board sensors and a wide selection of outputs. Each offers wireless communication and SMS text messaging and can be powered by a variety of sources with a voltage range between 10V and 36V, including vehicle batteries.

The SICK TDC-M100 features hardware: Micro Controller Unit with Message Queuing Telemetry Transport support; on-board sensors include GPS, accelerometer, thermometer and magnetometer; and interfaces include GSM and GPRS.

The SICK TDC-B100 and B200 feature hardware: MCU and MQTT support; on-board sensors include GPS, accelerometer, thermometer and magnetometer; and interfaces include GSM/GPRS, serial and CAN.

The Ethernet-based SICK TDC E100 and E200 feature hardware: dual Core CPU and M4 co-processor; software: Web based configuration, SOPAS runtime support, preinstalled Node Red and Custom Docker Container support; on-board sensors include GPS, Decawave, accelerometer, thermometer and magnetometer; and interfaces include Ethernet, WLAN and WPAN, 3G with on-board micro-SIM, IO-Link, serial and CAN.