Let's say that you are looking for a way to
connect a new data source to your PI System, the data from
truck for example. You might've heard of the
term PI Connector as a possible
option. But for other data sources, you've been using
PI Interfaces to collect the data. So what
exactly are these PI Connectors?
They are a new line of applications
which like PI Interfaces
collect data from a data source and send it to the PI System where it
becomes available for you and your users.
PI Connectors are designed to scan a data source
periodically and then send the data they find to the PI
System. They can even automatically send
new data. For example if this
truck gets a new data stream, it could automatically be
collected. And if you add a new truck
to your fleet, when the new truck's data starts appearing
on your data source, it could also be collected.
PI Connectors make it easy to deploy
and manage data collection for large evolving data sets.
So what's the
difference between a PI Interface and a PI Connector?
First PI Interfaces
don't automatically discover data on a data source. When you first
setup your PI Interface, you need to create a PI Point
for each stream of data you want to store.
And whenever you want to add a new stream of data,
you have to manually create and configure a new PI Point.
For PI Connectors, when you first connect them
to a data source, they will automatically discover
all the data available. You as the administrator
can then choose the data you want to store.
The PI Connector will then create the PI Points,
Elements and Attributes needed to store all of the data you've
decided to collect. If new
data streams are added to your data source, these can
automatically be collected by the PI Collector.
This can be especially useful if new data
is often added at the source. For example
if you're monitoring a fleet of trucks and
data from new trucks are constantly being added to your
data source, the data from these new trucks can be
automatically collected. Other configuration
steps are also streamlined. For instance
while buffering needs to be configured manually for PI
Interfaces, PI Connectors have an automatic built-in
buffering mechanism. The type of data that
can be collected is also different. PI Interfaces
can only collect time series data which is sent
to a list of PI Points on the PI Data Archive.
PI Connectors can collect both time series
and meta-data, this is data that doesn't necessarily
change with time but provides additional context
about your data. Back in our truck example,
the data source might have information about the
manufacturer or the last date of maintenance.
The time-series data is saved to PI Points on the PI Data Archive.
And the meta-data is saved to Elements, Attributes,
and sometimes event Event Frames on the
PI Asset Framework.
Now that we've compared the two, let's
summarize the advantages of PI Connectors. They are
easy to configure. Configuration and management
is done through a web interface that you can use to
access your PI Connectors from any machine.
They automatically discovered data on the data source and
they automatically create PI Points in the System. You
simply connect to your data source and you let it do the rest.
They send data faster, their throughput can be up to
10x higher. And finally they are more secure.
PI Connectors are built on a modern software platform
with a strong focus on security.
So when should you use a PI Connector?
They could be a good fit for a couple of scenarios.
First if you are collecting from a brand new data
source, there is currently no way to migrate data from a PI
Interface to a PI Connector. If you are collecting from a
data source on which new data streams are often
added and if the data source contains meta-data
that you want to collect like in our truck example,
it's important to keep in mind that PI Connectors are not a
magical solution for creating models of your assets in the
PI Asset Framework. They simply replicate whatever
is on the data source. You will still need to put time and
energy to leverage the functionalities of the PI Asset Framework.
Finally they are a great resource for
security conscious organizations. If your data
collection scenario sounds like a good fit, it's time
to check if a PI Connector exists for your data source.
All the currently released PI Connectors can be
found in our PI System Roadmap on the Tech Support
website. To get there click on PI System
Roadmap under resources.
Then scroll down to PI Interfaces and PI
Connectors. We have the PI Connector for
UFL which collects data from JSON,
XML, CSV, TXT and other ASCII file formats.
It can even listen for data on a REST
web service end point. We have PI Connectors for
standard communication protocols like
BACnet, HartIP and Ethernet IP. Finally
we also have PI Connectors for systems like
the Wonderware historian which you can use to import rich meta-data
from the source. This page lists the
tentative schedule and product functionalities
planned for upcoming releases.
You can also use our PI Interfaces
and PI Connectors product page to check if a PI
Connector exists for your data source. Navigate to
products then interfaces and connectors.
Then simply type your data source
in the search box.
Finally
if you want to provide feedback to
our PI Connectors development team, we encourage you
to join the PI Connectors Beta program on PI Square.
We typically host these programs for PI Connectors with a
highly anticipated release. You can find these under all things
PI and then PI Beta Programs.
The active Beta programs will be on the
main page.
Joining the program gives you access to
beta software which you can evaluate in your test environment
and then send your feedback to betaconnectors@osisoft.com
We are constantly looking to make data
collection easier, faster and safer so
that you can focus on what you do best, making the
most out of your data.