Automation Control Products (ACP) recently introduced Relevance, a new mobile software solution for the industrial sector that is powerful enough to run the factories of the future. Provided as a layered technology to its ThinManager thin client management platform, Relevance offers a more secure and sensible solution than other common mobile applications.
No app required
ThinManager Relevance provides the ability to deliver existing applications to mobile devices without any data or information being stored on the mobile device. Just as ThinManager delivers applications and information to thin clients, Relevance delivers these same applications to mobile tablets – eliminating the need to write a custom mobile app.
Relevance goes a step further by allowing every managed device to operate based on its location. By ‘resolving’ the location of the device, plant managers can determine the delivery of applications and information based on a user’s current location. It would not be proper just to give access anywhere as that could allow for improper use of sensitive data and possibly lead to an industrial accident. Mobile access to industrial workflows has to be provided to the right person, at the right time and in the right place.
Relevance offers multiple ‘resolver actions’ that allow for increased visualisation. These work in conjunction with location resolving technologies such as GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC and QR Codes. Once a device’s location is known to the system, applications can be delivered, shared, or even transferred from other terminals already running in the environment. ThinManager Relevance provides this powerful feature set by building its mobile strategy on location-based mobile management, not just a simple access anywhere approach.
Security
Security is one of the greatest concerns when deciding how to implement a location-based technology. Relevance addresses this by using a technique called ‘fencing’. To create a mobile fence the user simply combines two or more resolvers. For instance, a QR code could be used to resolve a mobile device to a specific work location, like a filling and capping machine in a bottling facility. That QR resolver will allow an operator to gain access to the HMI that runs the fill and cap machine by scanning it with his mobile tablet. To prevent the HMI from being used away from that machine, or the HMI being accessed in an unauthorised area, Relevance would be set up to take away the HMI if the operator is not on the Wi-Fi network. This way, even if the operator had a copy of the QR code for the fill and cap machine, he could not use it to access the HMI outside of the Wi-Fi enabled area. Other combinations of resolvers work in a similar fashion.
Another security concern is mobile devices being stolen. While this might occur at some point, no data is ever stored on the mobile device when used within the Relevance framework. Relevance is simply delivering visualisation of applications and content via Remote Desktop Protocol and not actually downloading data into the tablets memory.
A versatile solution
The thing that sets Relevance apart from other purely mobile solutions is that the ThinManager platform that runs Relevance also supports delivery of applications and content to existing PCs and thin client devices. Not every industrial operation will be able to jump into the mobile future all at once. ThinManager allows companies to begin delivering applications to whatever devices they may have on hand now, and then to integrate mobility into their workflow at a point that makes sense from an operating perspective.
Lastly, because ThinManager Relevance delivers existing applications and content, there is no need for manufacturers to go through the time and expense of writing custom mobile applications. This is not only expensive, but multiple applications have to be maintained for each platform used. ThinManager Relevance delivers the applications the workforce already knows how to use to devices they already know how to operate.
Currently, Relevance works with Apple iPad and iPhones. The next update, due in Q3 2014, will also support Android mobile tablets. Relevance works with both iOS 6 and iOS 7 versions of Apple’s mobile operating system. Supported Android OS version(s) will be announced upon the next release of ThinManager.
For more information contact Tom Jordan, ACP, [email protected], www.thinmanager.com/relevance
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