Low Cost Monitoring on a Shoestring: Solutions for Digital Manufacturing

Abstract

Digital manufacturing is focussed on leveraging the availability of digital information to improve the effectiveness of manufacturing activities. One of the digitalisation pathways for manufacturing is monitoring, which can be challenging due to the high costs of industrial monitoring solutions and the difficulty in justifying their return on investment. This study examines whether the introduction of low cost technologies can address the monitoring needs of digital manufacturing. In particular, we consider the role non-industrial, “off-the-shelf” technologies can play. The main aim of this paper is to present blueprints for low cost monitoring of industrial operations and identify candidate low cost technologies which can contribute effectively to the implementation of these systems. Related work on low cost monitoring and commercially available technologies are analysed and evaluated. Low-cost monitoring blueprints and candidate technologies are proposed based on the results of the analysis. An example implementation of a presented blueprint indicates the potential of integrating non-industrial, off-the-shelf technologies into low cost monitoring solutions.