Digi IIoT

Many Digi customers have highly demanding applications operating in extreme conditions such as mining and oil and gas, which are subject to a range of environmental conditions. Here are two such examples:

1) Oil and Gas Use Case

In this example, the customer is an oil and gas company that leverages the Digi WR31 on-board digital I/O. The company’s application involves a private radio communications network.

The private radio network occasionally freezes and becomes unresponsive under certain circumstances, and the cost of sending a resource onsite to re-power the system is considerable. This customer has resolved the issue by placing Digi WR31 routers at each radio site and connecting an inline relay to the Digital output to interrupt/re-enable power to the private radio units. When a radio become unresponsive, the customer can now send a command to the Digital I/O on the Digi WR31, cutting all power from the private radio, then re-enabling it – resulting in a hard system reset. This solution avoids repeated truck rolls to numerous distant sites each year, resulting in considerable cost savings.

2) Power Company Use Case

Involving a major power utility that installs Digi WR31 routers throughout the smart grid, using the on-board serial connection to monitor reclosers (power grid circuit breakers) and maintain a high degree of power reliability for more than four million customers. The Digi WR31 is installed outdoors in a utility box that also contains a battery backup, so the customer leverages both Digital interfaces on the WR31 as inputs to monitor two conditions: -Utility box door opens or closes -Router input power switches from line electricity to battery

Each time one of the above conditions is triggered or reset, the occurrence is denoted in a log file with a timestamp for further review and analysis by a company administrator. Condition detection and logging are achieved through the use of a simple Python program running directly on the router. The combination of an on-board programming environment and GPIO enable the customer to eliminate additional hardware while delivering a complete solution at the edge.

To withstand temperature extremes and unforgiving operating conditions in industrial IoT deployments, Digi IX14 is built with a die-cast aluminum enclosure that has been physically hardened with MIL-STD-810G certification for shock, vibration and temperature. With an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance, Digi IX14 is suitable for a wide range of industrial use cases that require secure, rugged and reliable connectivity to carry critical IoT communications.

Digi IX14 serves a range of high performance IIoT use cases:

•  Organizations such as utility companies must monitor high-value assets in the field, often in remote areas with wide temperature variations, dirt and moisture. At the same time, they need to thwart cyber attacks and therefore require solutions that are designed to reduce security vulnerabilities.
• Outdoor applications such as highway or municipality signage are also exposed to extreme operational factors, requiring a hardened and sealed industrial enclosure to maintain functionality. 
• Digital signage ecosystems can benefit enormously by simplifying infrastructure and expenditures and deploying hardened, low-cost Digi IX14 routers for local or remote connectivity.

Smart cities, transportation systems and industrial operations can now take advantage of machine connectivity to optimize efficiencies, improve user experiences and productivity, and boost outcomes and results. Whether deployed in outdoor digital signage, a financial services application with a distributed network of outdoor ATMs, or a utilities application managing data communication with remote SCADA sites, Digi IX14 provides outstanding connectivity and device monitoring through integration with Digi Remote Manager.

As the Internet of Things grows, and device networks and edge computing architectures become more complex, it is important to be able to manage all those devices across the network. However, the challenges of managing connected devices are many and varied.

Introducing the New AnywhereUSB Plus – the Next Generation of Secure Remote USB Hubs for IoT

The management of devices in connected environments continues to rapidly advance and evolve. At Digi, we are committed to being at the forefront when it comes to supporting users with cutting edge IoT solutions.

For many years, Digi International customers have loved the Digi AnywhereUSB® products for connectivity over IP – meaning the ability to connect USB peripheral devices anywhere on a local area network (LAN) without a locally-attached host computer. These products have supported thousands of customers who have needed to connect USB devices over the network in space-constrained or challenging environments.

With the roll-out of the Digi AnywhereUSB Plus family, customers now have a faster, more powerful product with many enhancements.