July/August 2020

NEWS n 5 Global group aims to link location-tracking technologies A GLOBAL GROUP of 60 industrial companies, led by the machine-tool maker Trumpf, and including Siemens, Sick and Pepperl+Fuchs, is devising a new positioning technology standard for tracking movable items such as workpieces, people and AGVs. The consortium, called Omlox, had planned to unveil the technology at the 2020 Hannover Fair but, following the event’s cancellation, it recently launched it online instead. Omlox was chosen as the winner of Hannover’s annual Hermes technology award which was presented digitally for the first time this year because of Covid-19. The consortium has handed the project over to the Profibus user organisation, Profibus International, which will promote the standard globally. “Like USB, which has become indispensable in the office, we are now enabling different positioning solutions to communicate for the entire industry worldwide,” says Profibus CEO, Karsten Schneider. An Omlox logo on products will guarantee that they comply with the standard. Every manufacturing site contains many moving objects, such as materials, tools, people and transport systems. Omlox’s aim is to create a standards-based digital representation of these items at a reasonable cost that will allow interoperability and will help to secure future investments. The standard will link tracking technologies such as RFID, 5G, GPS, BLE (Bluetooth Low-Energy) and UWB (ultra-wideband), to determine the location of objects with accuracies measured in centimetres. To date, it has not been possible to connect location technologies from different suppliers. The new standard aims to change that, making it possible to connect and combine devices from different vendors in a similar way to USB and Bluetooth in consumer applications. “The goal of the initiative is to make it easier for industrial customers to use hardware and software from different vendors. This saves the end-customer time and money,” explains Thomas Schneider, managing director of research and development at Trumpf. Omlox plans to build a bridge between hardware manufacturers and infrastructure providers on the one hand, and suppliers of applications such as navigation and asset-tracking on the other. To make this a practical reality, the location engines, data hubs and applications will need open interfaces. Data from different localisation systems will be merged and handled in a multi-layer architecture. Users will be able to customise their location systems in a vendor- independent way. Any Omlox device from any vendor can be located by any Omlox infrastructure, and any location application that meets the Omlox specification can be connected to any Omlox hub. Once the Omlox standard is adopted widely, the consortium believes, even devices with low additional value for location services will use it because it will be affordable and familiar. New services – such as transparent multi-tier supply chains – will proliferate. Any manufacturing site could implement Omlox, adding the new infrastructure to existing location technologies. Extra hardware and applications could be added later, if required. As Omlox becomes more widely adopted, it could replace expensive technologies in use today. For example, Omlox tags could be embedded in employee badges to replace existing building access and attendance-monitoring technologies. Eventually, factory designs will change to incorporate smart location-based services, and Omlox will then help to implement real- time location-based services. https://www.omlox.com www.drivesncontrols.com July/August 2020 The omlox standard will help to keep track of people, and mobile equipment such as AGVs. THE UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD has won funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to support the creation of a £13m centre that will house robotics and manufacturing labs, teaching space and an automotive laboratory. The North of England Robotics Innovation Centre will serve as a hub for the University’s robotics and automation specialists who plan to work with SMEs around the UK to provide development, design and testing services, and to validate digital innovations. Planned areas of activity include: robotics for intelligent infrastructures; digital automation and supply chain improvement; and health, well-being and care technologies. Professor Steve Davis, recently promoted to the post of Professor in Advanced Robotics at the University, is researching a new generation biologically- inspired“soft”robots that could work alongside humans in homes and healthcare facilities. As the UK recovers from the Covid-19 crisis, the centre will help businesses as they look to new technologies to tackle the industrial challenges presented by the pandemic. The Robotics Innovation Centre is part of a 240-acre regeneration scheme costing £2.5bn, aimed at driving economic and social prosperity for Salford over the course of a 10-15-year programme. Construction work on the Robotics Centre is due to start next month. Salford University attracts European funding for £13m robotics centre