The world’s first omlox testing laboratory was accredited at the Fraunhofer Institute in Lemgo in November 2023. Lemgo therefore meets all technical and organizational requirements and has the know-how to check an omlox component for conformity to the standard. The accreditation was carried out by the PROFIBUS User Organization eV. Fraunhofer would like to use the future scientific findings of the testing laboratory for the technological further development of the standard in order to sustainably strengthen Germany and Europe as technology locations.
“omlox” – This standard enables technology- and manufacturer-independent provision of localization information ( www.omlox.com ) in production environments for the first time. Various localization technologies such as B. Ultra-wideband radio (UWB for short, which is widely used in localization systems due to its robustness), 5G, RFID, QR codes or GPS can be used together in an omlox system and with uniform interfaces. The standard also ensures that so-called omlox satellites (components of the localization infrastructure in a building) can interact with the omlox tags (devices that are localized via signals) regardless of the manufacturer. The technology standard is managed by the international industrial association PROFIBUS User Organization eV.
Due to these properties, omlox is considered by experts to be a groundbreaking localization standard with key functions for the advancing digitalization in industry and logistics. Its broad range of applications addresses key challenges and creates future-relevant change perspectives for companies. The focus is on several central areas of application that make a significant contribution to increasing efficiency and optimizing industrial processes:
1. Tracking of products, tools, orders, vehicles and people: omlox not only enables easy tracking of static resources such as products and tools, but also offers the possibility of locating dynamic elements such as vehicles and people – of course GDPR-compliant. This creates transparency along the entire value chain, makes inventory management easier and promotes employee safety.
2. Automatic booking and documentation of process progress: The integration of omlox into production and logistics processes enables efficient automatic booking and documentation of process progress. This is particularly important in times of a digitalizing world of work, as it not only allows companies to reduce paper usage and costs, but also gains accurate, timely insights into the progress of their processes.
3. Location-based information and control: The combination of position data through the omlox Hub opens up the possibility for companies to precisely control machines and carry out effective maintenance in industrial environments. This helps to optimize production processes, minimize downtime and increase overall efficiency.
4. Autonomous Transportation: In the era of Industry 4.0, omlox plays a key role in implementing autonomous transportation solutions. The precise localization and coordination of vehicles and robots enables seamless integration into internal company traffic. This leads to optimized material flows, reduced resource consumption and overall more efficient production processes.
5. Safety-relevant applications: A particular focus of omlox is on safety-relevant applications, especially in the area of lone worker protection in the process industry. Precisely locating employees allows companies to respond quickly to potential threats and increase the safety of the work environment.
Certification of omlox components
A manufacturer-independent technology like omlox is described by standards in terms of its function and interfaces. In order for the components (hardware and software) from different manufacturers to work together in a system, the components must be implemented exactly according to the standards. If this is the case, it is called conformity. This must be checked in order to ensure high system quality and usability for users. This conformity is now being tested and confirmed in the world’s first testing laboratory so that components can receive omlox certification.
Research in the field of localization at Fraunhofer in Lemgo
The Fraunhofer experts are also involved in the active development of the standard in the omlox committees:
– Contribute to the development of test specifications
– Conducting interoperability tests
– Analyzes of positioning accuracy
– Future implementation and analysis of use cases
Furthermore, new approaches such as B. the realization of applications with the requirement for functional safety or the localization of people and assets with video systems and sensor ceilings is researched.
omlox partner network
The omlox standard is used by companies and associations such as: B. the company Trumpf, Flowcate and SynchronicIT as well as the PROFIBUS user organization. In addition, companies such as: B. AWS (global cloud computing provider), T-Systems (multi-manufacturer digital service provider), Sick AG (provider of sensor-based solutions), Pepperl+Fuchs or Siemens AG. The Fraunhofer Institute in Lemgo is looking forward to being able to contribute as a partner with the new laboratory.
What do the responsible scientists at Fraunhofer say?
omlox laboratory manager Harry Fast is pleased about the successful accreditation and the tasks ahead: “We are convinced that a standard like omlox for localization in an industrial context is long overdue. With the testing laboratory, we would like to do our part to ensure that the prerequisites for a functioning, interoperable standard are met and thus create trust for broad market penetration.” The deputy laboratory manager Florian Hufen adds: “The further development of the omlox standard, the test environments and the applications are in full swing. At Fraunhofer we research, among other things, new testing and interface concepts. In our SmartFactoryOWL we also test components and entire systems in real applications.” Dr. Holger Flatt heads the department at Fraunhofer in Lemgo to which the new laboratory belongs: “Localization is one of the technical solutions that promises a lot of efficiency gains in production – but this treasure can only be exploited if the systems are interoperable in Industry 4.0 -Environments can be integrated. Here we have ideas on how to do that!”
