Reliable and affordable data acquisition is crucial in industrial applications and critical infrastructure monitoring. However, common low-cost sensors with an I2C interface have limited range and low resistance to interference, which limits their deployment in demanding conditions. This study aimed to design and verify a universal module that bridges the I2C communication interface with the robust RS-485 industrial bus. A hardware module was designed and constructed to serve as a gateway. The core of the system is an STM32F0x1 microcontroller, which controls communication between the local I2C bus, designed to connect a wide range of sensors, and the RS-485 industrial interface. The design emphasizes robustness, including multi-level protection of power and communication circuits. The functionality of the proposed solution was verified by testing the prototype in real conditions. The module, equipped with a combined SHT30 temperature and humidity sensor, was deployed on the premises of the University of Žilina, Slovakia near transport infrastructure. The data collected from two weeks of continuous operation, recorded at ten-minute intervals, confirmed its reliable and error-free functionality. The result of this work is a modular and scalable platform that enables the easy integration of inexpensive sensors into robust industrial networks. This solution significantly reduces the cost and complexity of building distributed monitoring systems in areas such as transportation, industrial automation, and environmental monitoring.

Currently, industrial engineers are witnessing a rapid development of innovation in modern industry and the integration of critical elements of Industry 4.0 into production processes in order to remain competitive. Such changes are characterized by a large amount of effort and financial resources. To successfully deploy these changes requires not only the purchase of hardware and software but also the training of employees and the modification of the company’s organizational structure. The main objective of the article is to propose a framework for the modernization of SMEs to a level close to the Smart Factory by using the necessary attributes of Industry 4.0. The framework design is based on the initial state of a standard SME and consists of the design of fitting new IoT devices for efficient data collection, the design of a data warehouse for storing process data using Hadoop, and the integration of process- and operational-level data into the prepared data warehouse. The resulting design is developed in the form of a methodology and is generalized for use in manufacturing enterprises. The universal design is independent of the initial state of the enterprise.

In all industrial sectors where the material is stored in rolls of material on spools, whether it is, for example, paper, printing, textile, or rubber industry, we encounter the problem of the curling of the material roll. In the rubber industry, in the production of automobile tires, where the rubber is processed, i.e., a flexible material that has shape memory and is often a rubber composite with materials such as nylon, aramid, or polyester fibers, or, in the case of materials that require increased strength, steel wires, the problem is even more pronounced. As the placement of the material during tire winding significantly affects the quality of the final product - the green tire - the guiding of materials is a fundamental process, especially in automated production where there is a desire to limit quality control to human workers even with ever-increasing demands on quality. This paper deals with guiding rubber and rubber composite materials in producing passenger car tires on automated tire building machines (TBM).

Microcontrollers are reaching into our lives from all sides and, over time, have replaced mechanically and electrically complex solutions, rendering them obsolete. They find their place in solutions ranging from the simplest handheld devices to advanced solutions for homes and professionals to highly demanding industry, science, and technology applications. They also have an indispensable place in automated control, from the most straightforward sensors, through actuators and actuators, to programmable logic controllers and control panels. Microcontrollers can be programmed using several familiar techniques. Assembler is suitable for handling the lowest registers, peripherals, and routines. For standard designs, the C language is used. For rapid prototyping, several solutions are available such as Micropython, Circuitpython, and similar. For this publication, Micropython has been chosen as an implementation of the higher-level Python language for selected microcontrollers. A problem with a PID controller was chosen as an example of rapid device prototyping. It is broadly used in industrial automation, and its control algorithm is one of the most used in industry. The purpose of the PID controller in this example is to control the output value according to the desired setpoint so that the system’s output is achieved as accurately as possible. When selecting the type of controller, it is necessary to determine the transfer function of the controlled system and take them into account.

The concept of Industry 4.0 currently represents the first choice according to which industrial equipment is designed and implemented. There are visible trends in integrating open-source solutions into the industry. At the same time, the advancement in science and technology development has decreased prices for sensing, processing, and sharing technologies. Retrofitting existing equipment brings additional opportunities for incorporation into factory automation. In this contribution, the focus was put on upgrading an older climate chamber to meet current requirements utilizing the Node-RED solution. The solution fully replaces the legacy control system while providing options for low-cost additional hardware and software extensions.

This research addresses the long-term measurement of environmental data in geographically remote areas and an energy-optimized method of storing data on a storage medium. For this purpose, we have developed our measurement module Advanced Data Logger (ADL). In terms of connectivity, the module operates in three modes: 1) offline-when measured data is primarily stored on the storage medium; 2) Internet of Things (IoT) ready-measured data is stored on the storage medium and sent to the remote server in defined batches; and 3) online mode-when measured data is preferably sent to the remote server immediately after measurement. The design aims to minimize the module's power consumption so that the autonomous operating time is close to one year. As part of the design, the Simple File System (simpleFS) software module is designed for the role of a simple file system (FS) optimized to minimize I/O operations. Its other feature in data storage is the automatic normalization of the data transmitted from the attached sensors. The last part of the design is the AdlReader software solution, used to configure the hardware (HW) module and to retrieve the measured data files. We verified the correct operation of the ADL module along with nine sensors built in a vertical soil temperature profile probe in experimental installation and operation for two months. According to the requirements for our solution, the expected operation time of the ADL module is 9-12 months.

For the experimental measurements, we needed to solve design of the power supply of the amplifier for the piezoceramic transducers used for sound sensing. A special operational amplifier with FET transistors at the input was used in the setup. A minor drawback is the necessity for a symmetrical 4.5 V power supply, which can be solved with a plate (9 V) battery and a virtual ground, where we ran into the problem of how to protect the device from accidental reverse polarity when connecting the battery. In this paper, the parameters of several standard semiconductor diodes and transistors are compared and based on the results, we have selected a component for an energy-optimal solution. With only minimal modification of the circuitry and a slightly higher cost of the component, a better utilization of the energy stored in the primary battery can be obtained. Also, for a device with high demands on the supply voltage level, this is solvable by wiring it with the right type of FET transistor. The proposed circuit was also tested and used to measure the piezo acoustic signal as an output from a real experiment with the coating process used in improving the surface properties of the magnesium alloy sample.

Industrial systems for the collection of environmental data play an important part in the production processes and also in storage facilities. When storing large volumes of bio-materials such as wood chips (wood pellets) or different silage, problems arise with dangerous self-heating of the stored material. This paper deals with the design of an autonomous system for collecting such data. In the view of the needed measurements, there were designed and developed measuring probes with wireless data transmission. The proposal includes an information system for archiving and evaluation of measured data.

In the field of energy efficient sensors, 1-wire is well known standard. Sensors on the bus do not require any external power supply, as they use the bus voltage at idle state for their power. This is known as a parasitic power supply. Several devices were developed for 1-wire standard, such as indentificators, EEPROM, RAM, ROM, A/D converters, temperature sensors, etc. Sensors for measuring the environmental parameters such as humidity, atmospheric pressure, sunlight intensity, UV index and similar are not available in the list of existing 1-wire devices. This paper is dealing with proposal of a universal, non-volatile slave device for 1-wire bus, built on STM32L0 microprocessor. Proposed modul is fully compatible with 1-wire standard and can be used together with existing 1-wire devices.

Usage of inercial sensors is widespread in many areas, especially in aueronautics. Another field of use for such sensors is capturing and recognizing gestures from sensors placed on human body parts, for example hand or shoulder. This article is dealing with a proposal of weareable sensors, capable of detecting simple gestures such as rotation, elevation, movement etc. System will be based on STM32 platform, which will guarantee low energy consumption and sufficient performance to evaluate the captured motions. Multilayer neural network capable of recognizing the elementary gestures was designed to detect movements such as hand rotations, hand vertical and horizontal movements.

Communication systems are the fundamental building block of almost all industrial applications. In process control nowadays, the mutual communication between different parts of the system a must. System type and environmental conditions determine the communication protocol suitable for the particular purpose. Various communication protocols differ in their robustness, complexity and deployment options in the area of interest. One of the protocols that excels in its simplicity, implementation options and their univesality is the MODBUS protocol. MODBUS protocol was designed in 1979 with a focus on the control of programmable logic blocks (PLC).