Mobile Internet of Things (IoT) is an integrated, scalable, end-to-end solution consisting of hardware and software. The hardware maintains the dialogue between the machine and the cloud software, where the information from networked machines is held centrally. This enables users to pinpoint the status and location of a machine at any time and facilitates the implementation of software updates by means of the mobile IoT cloud. The technology enables the digitalisation of mobile machines and can be used in a variety of applications.

Technology solutions company ifm provides sensors, controllers, software and systems for industrial automation and asserts that the process of digitalising mobile machines is straight forward. It says that the first step is the selection of an appropriate mobile IoT gateway and connection option. The mobile IoT gateway is tailored to the machine architecture is required. The gateway communicates with the mobile IoT suite or the DataPortal. For machine-to-machine communication, a CANwireless module can also be used. The device is then activated online, and a suitable data and/or service contract is selected.

The company explains that mobile IoT allows individual components, complex machines or even an entire fleet to be managed and individually configured.

Features of ifm's offering include:

• Wireless connection: mobile IoT enables a fast, simple and secure remote connection to the machine.
• Tailored: the hardware and cloud solution are matched and enable simple implementation of the entire system.
• Clearly structured and centralised: the mobile IoT DataPortal allows all relevant machine data to be collected, analysed and visualised cyclically.

Mobile IoT enables needs-based, planned maintenance and remote access for updating or changing software, parameters and configurations. The technology can be applied in a range of settings, including remote access to machines, intelligent fleet management, machine maintenance and updates, and data management.