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Mitsubishi Electric's Edge Computing Solution Powered by Wind River VxWorks
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Edge Analytics
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Edge Computing Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Marine & Shipping
- Renewable Energy
Applicable Functions
- Maintenance
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Edge Computing & Edge Intelligence
- Fog Computing
Services
- Hardware Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, a global leader in factory automation (FA) applications, identified edge computing as a critical component of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The company aimed to enhance device and data security, reduce data traffic to the cloud, and enable faster response to network or device issues. In 2018, Mitsubishi Electric launched its first line of industrial hardware products designed for edge computing, the MELIPC Series. The primary development goals for MELIPC were to support the type of edge computing promoted by Mitsubishi Electric and to introduce advanced vision technology for device control. The flagship computer of the MELIPC line, the MI5000, was designed to combine real-time equipment control with high-speed data collection, processing, diagnosis, and feedback in a single machine. However, the development team needed a real-time control platform that could seamlessly integrate real-time control with proven analytic and diagnostic applications.
The Customer
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
About The Customer
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is a leading supplier of electronic hardware for factory automation applications globally. The company is the market share leader in Asia in several FA categories, including programmable controllers and laser processing machines, and is one of the top three FA systems manufacturers worldwide. Mitsubishi Electric has long promoted a vision of value creation in the manufacturing industry through the use of IoT. The company is working to strengthen edge computing on an industrial scale and to empower customers to transform production, enhance value, and solve important business challenges.
The Solution
Mitsubishi Electric selected the VxWorks real-time operating system for the MI5000's control platform. VxWorks enabled the MI5000 to provide both real-time equipment control and edge computing in a single solution. The system could collect data from IoT devices while managing them in real time, and edge computing applications made it fast and easy to carry out data analysis. The MI5000 also incorporated Wind River virtualization technology built for real time. Mitsubishi Electric initially considered using its own software to build a virtualized platform, but ultimately chose Wind River for its proven reliability and quality. The company installed VxWorks and Windows as guest operating systems on top of the Wind River virtualization platform, which allowed them to integrate the functionality of both and verify which functionality was usable on a guest operating system.
Operational Impact
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