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Proceedings of Engineering and Technology Innovation , vol. 2, 2016, pp. 06 - 07 

6 

The Sensor Collaboration Structure of Industrial 4.0 

Hao-Ting Lin
*
 

Department of Mechanical and Computer-Aided Engineering, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan. 

Received 02 February 2016; received in revised form 15 March 2016; accept ed 05 April 2016 

 

Abstract 

As informat ion and technology grow up 

globally, the business should look for the opt i-

ma l productivity effic iency and add smart  

manage ment to ma intain the co mpany’s inte r-

ests and value. In order to achieve the smart  

productivity, vast businesses pay lots of atten-

tion to invest in industrial 4.0 and change their 

business model. In this research, the sensor 

collaboration structure will be  proposed and 

established to connect the information base and 

thing base. Human can ma ke decisions and 

communicate between the physical domain and  

the cyber domain. In the physical doma in, the  

sensors can gather the data from the machine, 

the production line, the factory and the  product. 

By sensor collaboration, the signals and info r-

mat ion can transfer quickly and simu ltaneously 

in the cyber domain. Through the networking  

between information base and thing base, dec i-

sion make rs can easily predict, judge and handle 

the tasks. As a result, in formation base, thing  

base and decision makers can beco me a  triangle  

system to achieve the vertical integration and 

level contact. 

Ke ywor ds : industrial 4.0, sensor collaboration, 

physical domain, cyber domain 

1. Introduction 

Nowadays, the pursuing goal for the manu-

facturing industry is to establish the smart fac -

tories. The first industrial revolution is to exe -

cute machines instead of human to conduct 

large-scale p roduction. The second industrial 

revolution is to add the concept of assembly line  

for improving production effic iency. In the third  

industrial revolution, with ele ments of elec-

tronics  and informat ion technology, the produc-

tion costs  are declined. With the development of 

globalization, the factory must be supplemented 

with intelligent manage ment to facilitate more  

rapid changes in the industry pulsation. Co m-

bining with the advantages of three previous 

industrial revolution, the industry 4.0 is coming  

to search for the highest effic iency of production 

resources and to achieve the purpose of the in-

telligent production. In this paper, the sensor 

collaboration structure will be proposed for the 

smart factory.  

The concept of industrial 4.0 has been pop-

ular in Eu rope, especially  in  Ge rman manufac-

turer industries. Smart mach inery can contin u-

ously share inventories, problems info rmation  

and demands through the internet, so the pro-

duction process and lead time  can be fle xib ly  

adjusted. Cyber-Physical Production Systems 

(CPPSs) can not only connect machines with  

each other, but also create the whole  values of 

the stages in the product life cycle. Sensors and 

control ele ments make the machines, factories, 

transportation, internet and humans together [1]. 

Fig. 1 shows the history of the industry revolu-

tion. 

 
Fig. 1 History of the industry revolution  

2. The Architecture of Industrial 4.0 

The architecture of industrial 4.0 which has 

the vertical integration of the s mart  production 

system, the horizontal integration of the ne t-

works, through engineering interaction, and  

exponential technologies. 

2.1. The Vertical Integration of the Smart Pro-

duction System 

CPPSs ma ke  the factories vary their inven-

tories and demands fle xibly. Smart  factories 

*Corresponding aut hor. Email: haotlin@fcu.edu.t w 



Proceedings of Engineering and Technology Innovation , vol. 2, 2016, pp. 06 - 07 

7 Copyright ©  TAETI 

establish customized and personal production 

through data integration and smart sensing 

techniques. CPPSs a lso pro mote the automation  

manage ment, ma intenance manage ment and 

resource connection. 

2.2. The Horizontal Integration of the Network s 

The horizontal integration which is an o p-

timized real-time  networks can create the higher 

value and mo re fle xib le for proble m solving. 

The internet based production system can pro-

vide the integrated platform for logistics, in-

ventories, production, marketing and sales b e-

tween in-house and outsourcing. 

2.3. Through Engineering Interaction 

Industrial 4.0 has a cross -disciplinary through 

engineering to connect overall supply chain from 

products to customers. Data and information can 

be obtained in each stage of the product life cycle 

to establish the model fro m the prototype to the 

end product. 

2.4. Exponential Technologies 

Artificia l intelligence (AI), advanced robot 

and sensing technology can make the production 

personalized and fle xible. AI can not only an a-

lyze  big data, design the more  fle xible  path for 

the automated guided vehicle (A GV) and save 

costs of the supply chain management (SCM), 

but also enhance the cooperation between h u-

man and machinery. In addition, the 3D p rinting  

provide the new solution for the production 

mode to reduce inventories and lead time  for the  

firm. 

3. Conclusions 

In this paper, the proposed architecture of 

industrial 4.0 has the vertical integration, the  

horizontal integration, through engineering and 

e xponential technologies. The sensor collabora-

tion for industrial 4.0 can collect and interact 

with hu man and machinery. Managers can co r-

rectly ma ke  a decision by the cyber-physical 

system. 

Acknowledgement 

This research was sponsored by Ministry of 

Science and Technology, Taiwan under the  

grant MOST 104-2218-E-035 -017. 

References 

[1] X. Yue, H. Cai, H. Yan, C. Zou, and K. Zhou, 

“Cloud-assisted industrial cyber-physical 

systems: an insight,” Microprocessors and 

Microsystems , vol. 39, no. 8, pp. 1262-1270, 

2015.