Regardless of the type of industrial data you want to capture, Factbird offers a way to get the data into the system. Here are some of the options that are used to capture data:
- Factbird hardware like Factbird Duo, View, or NX1
- Manual Inputs through the user interface
- Integrations to industrial connectivity solutions like Kepware, OPC Router, etc.
- Direct MQTT message integration
- API Integration
All of these options enable you to capture data, you decide how you want to capture data. At Factbird, we recommend starting with our plug-and-play solutions like the Factbird Duo to get started quickly.
Topology - Lines & Sensors
The typical measurement point is counting good parts going through the bottleneck of a manufacturing line. The measurement point is referred to as a sensor in Factbird, often representing a single physical sensor on the manufacturing equipment. A group of one or more sensors is referred to as a Line.
Sensors
A sensor is collecting time-series data from either a digital or analog sensor, and users can view the data live or historically. In the sensor configuration, we name the sensor and scale the signal,l allowing us to quickly find and read the data.
Lines
A line is a group of one or more sensors that together represent a manufacturing line. Here, a sensor is getting the context of whether it is a bottleneck sensor, scrap sensor, energy meter, or something third.
Tags
A tag is an event signal being sent from the line. Tags are often used in integrations with industrial connectivity solutions to send events like stop causes when a machine stops. Tags can be used to automatically register stops, start/stop batches, etc.
When you are ready, move on to the next section, How to collect data with Factbird.