Reliable Data Acquisition using Industrial SD and microSD Flash Storage

The latest buzzword in the market is the Internet of Things (IoT). I’ve heard the Internet of Things described as a bunch of sensors connected to everything, collecting data on everything, which is then transmitted over the Internet to everyone.

With that said there are many different requirements in this Internet of Things. There’s relatively unimportant data and there are other areas with extremely important data. In fact, several major companies have created the Industrial Internet Consortium to focus on applications which use this very important data to control intelligent machines and processes.

These industrial systems include autonomous vehicles; monitoring patients at home by Health Care professionals; intelligent power grid; smart buildings, factories and infrastructure just to name a few. The rest of this article will focus on these Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications.

What most of the systems have in common is the use of sensors and data acquisition instruments to monitor specific items. The data collected by the systems can be acted on immediately such as in a thermostat which turns on and off an AC unit based on the temperature.

In other cases data is collected and stored for analysis a short or much longer time later. In these instances data could be stored locally or transferred to the cloud and stored in a data center. When stored locally on or near the data acquisition device it is important to match the flash memory storage with the application.

Systems located in harsh environments which are subject to temperature extremes, possible high shock and vibration, and other environmental stresses need a memory storage device which can also survive reliably. Another concern is the endurance cycles of these Data Storage Devices.

On data-logging devices large amounts of data can accumulate quickly in the flash storage. With the finite number of flash memory write cycles it is important to take this into consideration when selecting your flash storage device.

A number of these data acquisition systems utilize SD and microSD cards for their Data Storage and Industrial Grade versions of these cards are recommended. Cactus Technologies has Industrial Grade SD cards and Industrial Grade microSD cards designed to operate a decade or more in these harsh environments.

If you would like to discuss your particular application, a Cactus Expert would be happy to assist.