However, Industry 4.0 is now changing the traditional path of data - and thus changing the tasks of sensors. Bernhard Müller, Head of Industry 4.0 at Sick, explains what these are.

Mr. Müller, what makes an ordinary sensor an Industry 4.0 sensor?
An Industry 4.0 sensor is one that provides an output for additional information in addition to the control outputs it needs for machine control - for example, switching or fieldbus outputs. This output is then connected to data processing systems such as databases or cloud services. Whether this output is physical or logical is irrelevant.

What type must the interface or interfaces to the data or software system be?
The sensor must first transmit the recorded data to both outputs in parallel and independently of each other. The interface to the data world must provide a secure protocol as used in the systems there - for example a protocol such as MQTT or OPC or others. Like most interfaces in this world, this interface is based on Ethernet-based hardware.

Both interfaces - the one to the machine control system and the one to the data world - must be made available so that there is backwards compatibility with existing systems.

Sick repeatedly talks about the 'disruptive' role of sensors. What does this mean?
For us, two parallel paths are crystallizing: the evolutionary and the disruptive. As sensors are by definition one of the most important sources of data, we at Sick are active on both paths. In addition to the traditional connection of sensors to the PLC, we offer configurable or programmable sensor units to solve complex requirements, for example via I/O-Link. For the evolutionary further development of business models, we also offer complex sensor data for the ERP level to increase efficiency in the company, but also, for example, with track-and-trace data in the company network.

The disruptive view of Industry 4.0 is based on an integrated data structure that eliminates the many structural breaks in today's industrial landscape and thus represents a genuine revolution. For many, this is an almost unimaginable challenge. But if Industry 4.0 really wants to go down in history as the fourth industrial revolution, it must and will happen. For Sick, this scenario offers another great opportunity to advance the idea of sensor intelligence. From physical raw data, we generate robust and reliable data for the entire industrial process chain with additional knowledge about the application and environment.

Which functions are important for future sensors?
First of all, the sensor of the future will have the aforementioned interfaces to the higher-level data systems to which it can transfer the data. In addition, the sensor may have to perform data reduction in order to only pass on relevant data or pre-processed data to the IT systems. At the same time, backwards compatibility must be ensured.

In the context of Industry 4.0, the sensor has to serve two worlds: on the one hand, the PLC world, so that the machine runs faultlessly, for example; on the other hand, it also has to provide the data that is generally available in the sensor.

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It's not just the path of the data that changes, but also its type and scope?
That's right. Since only pre-processed and relevant data should be passed on, future sensors must be able to include application-specific software so that they can fulfill this task. This means that the sensor itself must have a functionality that ensures adaptive and application-specific data pre-processing. Ultimately, intelligence is no longer permanently integrated into the sensor, but can be adapted to the application and therefore programmed for specific applications and modified during operation.

What happens to the data collected by the sensors? Who does it belong to?
The data is used to enable new services and functions in the overall production and industrial system. The added value lies in the fact that it can be combined with data from other systems to enable new business ideas.

To achieve this, the ownership and usage rights of the data must be technically and legally clarified. For this reason, Sick is a founding member of the 'Industrial Data Space' association. In its composition with partners from business, research and politics, this association is urgently needed for the sustainable design of a common data space for Industry 4.0. If the aim is for suppliers, manufacturers, logistics, sales, service providers and retailers to use the same network, everyone should be involved in the design. What's more, they should all pull together. This is the only way to create a standard in which everyone can work on the basis of a common data architecture, data language and rules. IDS e.V. gives us the opportunity to explore this common approach. After all, companies will only provide data for Industry 4.0 if they can have absolute confidence in the security of the data room.