Sensor connection via IO-Link and Bluetooth Mesh

In many cases, implementing Industry 4.0 applications in existing plants used to require extensive additional cabling involving high costs and effort. The elegant solution to this from now on is using a Bluetooth mesh, i.e. one of the new Bluetooth components from ifm. Hence the Y-path providing connection to the IIoT becomes wireless.

With the new EIO344 IO-Link Bluetooth adapter and the EIO404 Blue-tooth base station, ifm now offers an optimum solution for making sensor data available wirelessly for IIoT applications. These two accessories put an end to all interference with the control technology and the necessity to lay additional cables. The Bluetooth adapter which transmits the data to the base station via Bluetooth is integrated in the system between the IO-Link sensor and the existing line, thus forming a wireless Y-path. These new devices not only support a point-to-point connection, for example to the moneo|blue app, but also the configuration of a mesh network. This networking offers two crucial advantages. Up to 50 IO-Link devices can be connected to a base station. All that is needed to this end is a single adapter within the range of the base station. From the base station, the data is then transferred to the relevant moneo application via Ethernet.

Ideal for brownfield applications

The new components for connecting IO-Link sensors via a Bluetooth mesh enable implementation of IIoT applications even in existing plants at low cost. Wear monitoring, predictive maintenance or energy efficiency applications can be realised without having to lay additional cables. Thanks to the Bluetooth mesh technology, also large systems no longer pose a problem, for the maximum Bluetooth range of around 20 metres only needs to be maintained to the next Bluetooth adapter. The Bluetooth adapter configuration – the so-called pairing - can be done comfortably on a smartphone using the moneo|blue app. Alternatively, moneo config-ure can be used, too.

News release from ifm, 18/04/2023

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