SENSOR KITS FOR MONITORING AND MANAGING INDUSTRIAL SETTINGS
A sensor kit that is configured for monitoring an industrial setting includes an edge device and a plurality of sensors that capture sensor data and transmit the sensor data via a self-configuring sensor kit network. At least one sensor can capture sensor measurements and output instances of sensor data, generate and output reporting packets, and transmit the reporting packets to the edge device via the self-configuring sensor kit network in accordance with a first communication protocol. The edge device receives reporting packets from the plurality of sensors via the self-configuring sensor kit network and transmits sensor kit packets to a backend system via a public network, wherein the sensor kit packets are based on a compressed block of media content frames indicative of the sensor data.
1 . A sensor kit configured for monitoring an industrial setting, the sensor kit comprising:
an edge device; and
a plurality of sensors that capture sensor data and transmit the sensor data via a self-configuring sensor kit network, wherein the plurality of sensors includes one or more sensors of a first sensor type and one or more sensors of a second sensor type, wherein at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors comprises:
a sensing component that captures sensor measurements and outputs instances of sensor data;
a processing unit that generates reporting packets based on one or more instances of sensor data and outputs the reporting packets, wherein each reporting packet includes routing data and one or more instances of sensor data; and
a communication device configured to receive reporting packets from the processing unit and to transmit the reporting packets to the edge device via the self-configuring sensor kit network in accordance with a first communication protocol;
wherein the edge device comprises:
a communication system having:
a first communication device that receives reporting packets from the plurality of sensors via the self-configuring sensor kit network; and
a second communication device that transmits sensor kit packets to a backend system via a public network; and
a processing system having one or more processors that execute computer-executable instructions that cause the processing system to:
receive the reporting packets from the communication system;
generate a block of media content frames, wherein each media content frame includes a plurality of frame values, each frame value being indicative of a respective instance of sensor data;
compress the block of media content frames using a media codec to obtain a compressed block;
generate one or more sensor kit packets based on the compressed block; and
transmit the one or more sensor kit packets to the backend system via the public network.
2 . The sensor kit of claim 1 , further comprising a gateway device, wherein the gateway device is configured to receive sensor kit packets from the edge device via a wired communication link and transmit the sensor kit packets to the backend system via the public network on behalf of the edge device.
3 . The sensor kit of claim 2 , wherein the gateway device includes a satellite terminal device that is configured to transmit the sensor kit packets to a satellite that routes the sensor kits to the public network.
4 . The sensor kit of claim 2 , wherein the gateway device includes a cellular chipset that is pre-configured to transmit sensor kit packets to a cellphone tower of a preselected cellular provider.
5 . The sensor kit of claim 1 , wherein the second communication device of the edge device is a satellite terminal device that is configured to transmit the sensor kit packets to a satellite that routes the sensor kits to the public network.
6 . The sensor kit of claim 1 , wherein the edge device further comprises one or more storage devices that store a sensor data store that stores instances of sensor data captured by the plurality of sensors of the sensor kit.
7 . The sensor kit of claim 1 , wherein the edge device further comprises one or more storage devices that store a model data store that stores one or more machine-learned models that are each trained to predict or classify a condition of an industrial component of the industrial setting and/or the industrial setting based on a set of features that are derived from instances of sensor data captured by one or more of the plurality of sensors.
8 . The sensor kit of claim 7 , wherein the edge device is configured to perform one or more edge operations, the edge operations including:
generating a feature vector based on one or more instances of sensor data received from one or more sensors of the plurality of sensors;
inputting the feature vector to the machine-learned model to obtain a prediction or classification relating to a condition of a particular industrial component of the industrial setting or the industrial setting and a degree of confidence corresponding to the prediction or classification; and
selecting the media codec used to compress the block of media frames based on the classification or prediction.
9 . The sensor kit of claim 8 , wherein selecting the media codec includes: in response to obtaining one or more predictions or classifications relating to conditions of respective industrial components of the industrial setting and the industrial setting that collectively indicate that there are likely no issues relating to any industrial component of the industrial setting and the industrial setting, selecting a lossy codec.
10 . The sensor kit of claim 9 , wherein selecting the media codec includes: in response to obtaining a prediction or classification relating to a condition of a particular industrial component or the industrial setting that indicates that there is likely an issue relating to the particular industrial component or the industrial setting, selecting a lossless codec.
11 . The sensor kit of claim 7 , wherein performing one or more edge operations includes:
generating a feature vector based on one or more instances of sensor data received from one or more sensors of the plurality of sensors;
inputting the feature vector to the machine-learned model to obtain a prediction or classification relating to a condition of a particular industrial component of the industrial setting or the industrial setting and a degree of confidence corresponding to the prediction or classification; and
selectively storing the one or more instances of sensor data in the storage device of the edge device based on the prediction or classification.
12 . The sensor kit of claim 11 , wherein selectively storing the one or more instances of sensor data includes: in response to obtaining one or more predictions or classifications relating to conditions of respective industrial components of the industrial setting and the industrial setting that collectively indicate that there are likely no issues relating to any industrial component of the industrial setting and the industrial setting, storing the one or more instances of sensor data in the storage device with an expiry, such that the one or more instances of sensor data are purged from the storage device in accordance with the expiry.
13 . The sensor kit of claim 11 , wherein selectively storing the one or more instances of sensor data includes:
in response to obtaining a prediction or classification relating to a condition of a particular industrial component or the industrial setting that indicates that there is likely an issue relating to the particular industrial component or the industrial setting, storing the one or more instances of sensor data in the storage device indefinitely.
14 . The sensor kit of claim 1 , wherein the self-configuring sensor kit network is a star network such that each sensor of the plurality of sensors transmits respective instances of sensor data with the edge device directly using a short-range communication protocol.
15 . The sensor kit of claim 14 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors of the edge device to initiate configuration of the self-configuring sensor kit network.
16 . The sensor kit of claim 1 , wherein the self-configuring sensor kit network is a mesh network such that:
the communication device of each sensor of the plurality of sensors is configured to establish a communication channel with at least one other sensor of the plurality of sensors; and
at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors is configured to receive instances of sensor data from one or more other sensors of the plurality of sensors and to route the received instances of the sensor data towards the edge device.
17 . The sensor kit of claim 16 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors of the edge device to initiate configuration of the self-configuring sensor kit network, wherein the plurality of sensors form the mesh network in response to the edge device initiating configuration of the self-configuring sensor kit network.
18 . The sensor kit of claim 1 , wherein the self-configuring sensor kit network is a hierarchical network.
19 . The sensor kit of claim 18 further comprising one or more collection devices configured to receive reporting packets from one or more sensors of the plurality of sensors and route the reporting packets to the edge device.
20 . The sensor kit of claim 1 , wherein generating the block of media content frames includes:
for each instance of sensor data that is to be included in a media content frame, normalizing the instance of sensor data into a respective normalized media content frame value that is within of range of media content frame values that are permitted by an encoding standard corresponding to the media content frame; and
embedding each respective normalized media content frame value into the media content frame.
21 . The sensor kit of claim 20 , wherein each media content frame is a video frame comprising a plurality of pixels and the respective normalized media content frame values are pixel values.
22 . The sensor kit of claim 21 , wherein embedding each respective normalized media frame value into the media frame includes:
determining a pixel of the plurality of pixels corresponding to the respective normalized media content frame based on a mapping that maps respective sensors of the plurality of sensors to respective pixels of the plurality of pixels; and
setting a value of the determined pixel equal to the respective normalized media frame value.
23 . The sensor kit of claim 21 , wherein the codec is an H.264/MPEG-4 codec.
24 . The sensor kit of claim 21 , wherein the codec is an H.265/MPEG-H codec.
25 . The sensor kit of claim 21 , wherein the codec is an H.263/MPEG-4 codec.