Real-Time Material Flow Monitoring in SMART Automated Lines using a 3D Digital Shadow with the Industry 4.0 Concept

The article deals with the new approach to real-time monitoring of the production flow of products visualized in a 3D digital shadow according to concept Industry 4.0 standards for full digitalization. The data acquisition from the production to the digital shadow is realized through RFID gateways identification technologies, while the intermediate positions of the products are estimated from the speed of conveyor systems by incremental sensors. Correction of position is realized by RFID signal amplitude strength during the fixture movement with RFID tags. The experimental digital shadow can be provided as a streaming service to a web browser and with only read monitoring access to a customer for online production tracking.