Digitizing Legacy Systems by Simply Retrofitting Standardized Digital IO-Link

Although many system designers continue to use conventional analog sensors for ease of use, reliability, and long service life at low cost, the rapid digitalization in the industrial and commercial world is driving them toward smart sensors. In this data-driven digital environment, legacy analog sensors are in need of improvement for industrial automation systems.

In this Top Tips, we discuss digitizing analog sensors by integrating them with IO-Link standards using solutions such as STEGO’s IOC 074. This transforms them into a modern-era, future-proof industrial automation solution, with scalability and digital communication that keep pace with the latest technological developments. In short, smart sensors with integrated analog-to-digital IO-Link converters enable self-calibration, device parameterization, decision-making through real-time data processing, risk reduction via predictive maintenance, and autonomous monitoring.

Consequently, the ability to process environmental conditions in real time, automatically configure, and predict failures before they occur is driving smart sensors in large OEM systems like Tesla gigafactories, Industrial IoT (IIoT) and infrastructure, and automotive manufacturing factories, to name a few. Designed for operational efficiency through automation and standardized IO-Link communication, integrated smart sensors facilitate faster, error-free set-up for advanced diagnostics, reduced EMI, and improved performance monitoring without replacement.