SMi 2014 M2M Conference, London

摘要

The 2014 SMi Machine to machine (M2M) conference held in London earlier this year kicked off with a presentation from Shell's Berry Mulder on 'frontier automation,' a.k.a. the 'latest and greatest' in process automation. Frontier means remote working, wireless, video and robotics applied to distant sites for situational awareness and operations. Robots are of particular interest to Shell as they improve safety and reduce production downtime. Use cases include flare stack inspection with drones, tank inspection with the EU-sponsored 'Petrobot' (see below) and robotic drill pipe handling. M2M requires connectivity across multiple devices from field to office leveraging WiFi, 4G, LTE, and internet in what Mulder dubs 'X2X' communications. Workable X2X means good bandwidth and low latency, sometimes across hundreds of kilometres, and reliable means of managing software licenses, authentication and security.