IoT and IIoT: Challenges and Oportunities – Interview with Antonio Grasso

April 26, 2022

IDboxRT recently spoke with Antonio Grasso, a digital transformation expert with over 37 years of IT project experience.

Antonio is an entrepreneur, technologist, and CEO of Digital Business Innovation Srl, focusing on digital transformation and AI research. His ethical vision aims to promote emerging technologies for a better future.

In the interview, we discussed IoT vs. IIoT, their characteristics, and impact on manufacturing. Antonio shared future IIoT insights and readiness tips for the digital revolution.

IDboxRT: What is the Internet of Things (IoT) and how is it different from the Industrial IoT (IIoT)?

Antonio Grasso: The Internet of Things is a paradigm that describes a world of connected devices (devices that are connected to a network and exchange information) that make the concept of a cyberphysical world real. The main differences between the IoT and the IIoT are in the necessary requirements and expected features.

While IoT mainly refers to domestic devices and things that are used in a consumer environment (a connected car, a connected refrigerator or a smartphone are considered IoT), IIoT – as the name implies – are connected devices that are used in a manufacturing environment to automate production, monitor processes or collect and process data in close proximity to the device.

This infographic will help you understand the key differences between IoT and IIoT:

IDboxRT: How can the IIoT change the world of manufacturing? What are the main challenges and opportunities in this area?

Antonio Grasso: A major opportunity is collecting data for AI algorithms that exploit probabilistic capabilities. IIoT devices control signal transitions from the physical to the cyber world. They also collect data that generates new, previously unavailable insights.

“IIoT devices, in addition to controlling the transition of signals from the physical world to the cybernetic world, collect data that can then generate new types of insight not previously available.”

Beyond this undeniable advantage, there is also a multifaceted aspect of IIoT devices that can benefit both product development and process improvement. As the following infographic shows, IIoT is present in both scenarios.

IDboxRT:  To meet evolving customer expectations and support the growing demand for services, what key features should manufacturers be looking for in industrial IoT software?

Antonio Grasso: As devices in manufacturing are constantly growing in sophisticatedness, you cannot think to plug and play a device or software without thinking about the architecture. Designing the correct architecture helps you to implement devices and software in the right way.

Starting from considerations about what are my customer needs and what are my objectives could heavily accelerate the implementation. Just think about the layers you need to configure for a mid-sophisticated architecture, could give you a vision of it as you can note from the infographic:

Let me say that the right implementation strictly depends on your industry. For example, if you are in the logistics industry, you should start thinking about connecting your trucks. This is a simple model of what you can manage/gather when implementing IIoT for the logistics and transportation industries:

Thus, determining the right software is not easy. It is better to start with your business model, your strategy, and your goals, and then build a team – perhaps using external experts – to develop your implementation.

IDboxRT: How do the IIoT monitoring solutions benefit the industry?

Antonio Grasso: First, familiarize yourself with the basic concepts of the Internet of Things, as in this infographic:

It all starts with data. Your goal is to manage and interpret the data generated by hardware devices. So, in my opinion, the first thing to do is to define the IIoT operating system, which is just the beginning for managing the incredible flow of data generated by IIoT devices.

“It all starts with data. Your goal is to manage and interpret the data generated by hardware devices. So, in my opinion, the first thing to do is to define the IIoT operating system, which is just the beginning for managing the incredible flow of data generated by IIoT devices.”

Then you have to get to know machine learning in order to analyze the huge amount of data and create insights useful for making business decisions.

The benefits are enormous and tend to be related to your business model. If I have to list some significant ones, I think the ones mentioned in this image are the right ones:

IDboxRT: In conclusion, what does the future hold for industrial IoT technologies, could you give an approximation of what we should expect in the context of the manufacturing industry?

Antonio Grasso: Many technologies are coming together to create value for manufacturing. Imagine infusing AI and Edge Computing into IoT devices would bring intelligence to perform inference locally, without transferring data to servers or the cloud. Many have coined a new term: AIoT to refer to the strict interconnectivity between the two.

But watching communications closely, I think 5G private networks will boost connectivity like never before. Low latency, extreme bandwidth, and increased security will revolutionize production with augmented and virtual reality.

The Digital Twin will evolve into an Intelligent Twin, enabling virtualization of complex devices like engines. This will achieve unprecedented simulation capabilities, improving products and services.

Manufacturers should consider the financial ROI before upgrading their manufacturing process. Here’s interesting information on the expected ROI from IoT projects.

We would like to thank Antonio for taking the time to have a conversation with us at IDboxRT.  We certainly learned a lot and hope this information helps our community as well.

You can find more information about the protagonist of the interview and his work in the digital field here:

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