Digital Factory: IoT Hub Device Management

Project description

The main goal of our project is to develop a cloud application for Omron customers to manage their devices in the factory. This is done by expanding on the Azure IoT hub. These improvements will mainly focus on making it more intuitive for clients to visualize the data and modify devices.
The end product of the project should be a web application that is deployed on the cloud. The web application should contain some kind of a dashboard based on the data from the devices. It should be possible for clients to save, edit, apply and delete configurations on devices in a less complicated way. The data should be updated at least every 5 minutes, but ideally it should be real time.

Context

Omron is a company that develops technology for industrial automation, healthcare, inspection systems and electronic components. They are even the market leader in medical equipment and leading manufacturer of advanced industrial automation products and application expertise. They manage various devices in factories. These devices can be configured using a complicated JSON configuration file.
Omron wants to make it easier to manage and modify the configurations for devices with an external web application.

Results

Device Management Efficiency:
The system allows users to view, add, edit and remove configurations. The users can also apply configurations to single or multiple devices through the direct method in Azure IoT hub. This could improve overall efficiency in managing devices and reduces the time needed to individually configure devices.

Data Accuracy and Timeliness:
The system can update data from devices in real time, which would ensure users have access to the most accurate and current information about their devices. This could improve decision-making processes and operational efficiency.

Configuration Backup and Deployment:
The system allows users to save, upload, and apply configurations, which could simplify the process of deploying standardized configurations across multiple devices. This could also help in situations where a device's configuration needs to be restored or replicated.

Device Lifecycle Management:
Users have the potential to remove and update devices, which could provide better device lifecycle management. We leverage the Azure IoT Hub for this.

Improved Security and User Management:
The system allows users to login via Azure Active Directory, providing a secure and efficient method for user authentication and authorization. We leverage this tool in an API Gateway. Which also makes development easier, since you don't have to mock tokens.

About the project group

The project group consists of 1 Software, 1 Infrastructure and 2 Technology students