IoTin the Oilfield - Emerging Distributed IoT Technology vs Centralized Processing Systems

Emerging Distributed IoT technology vs. Centralized Processing Systems In 2015 we began looking at ways to measure fluid in real time and in any container (tanks, ponds, pipe, hose, etc.). The collected data needed to be accessible anywhere in the world on fixed or mobile devices without high upfront and maintenance costs. All the legacy systems required centralized processing systems resulting in high costs, difficulty in acquiring and disseminating data and a stagnate fixed structure. To overcome these shortfalls we began to develop systems that used the distributed IoT architecture which allows systems to grow with increased usage, easily change with new requirements and provides redundancy across all operational fields The IoT architecture has four main sections: sensors/actuators, edge computing/storage, cloud processing/storage and user interface. Each section can be functionally optimized for individual processes and/or overall processes and include redundancy which is a natural innate part of the architecture This paper will explore some of the options for each section and how it compares to traditional central process architectures.