A Study on Worker’s Positional Management and Security Reinforcement Scheme in Smart Factory Using Industry 4.0-Based Bluetooth Beacons

The industrial accidents in the factories are continuously occurring globally and accordingly, the property damages and the number of human casualties are also increasing. The potential for the accidents at chemical plants are especially high as these factories heavily use or store many kinds of hazardous substances. Thus, separate preventive measures or tools are required. This study focused on a system that can prevent accidents and reinforce the security in a Smart Factory. The system uses Industry 4.0-based Bluetooth beacons to determine a worker’s position and enhance the security level. Converting to a Smart Factory, globally located factories are adding variety to all the processes in manufacturing and logistics. At the same time, some new and innovative methods are required to adapt to such changes, especially in the fields of safety and security. The existing communication method between beacons is that relevant application will be installed in the Bluetooth-activated devices such as Smart Pad, smart phone or other similar device to calculate the distance between the device and the beacon. The distance information will be then delivered to the server to control other devices/equipments in the factory. However, this method has a problem of using the Smart Pads in the factory due to the security or spatial characteristics of the factory and the system will cease to operate when battery life expires. To deal with such problems, a beacon has been attached on the worker’s safety helmet and synchronize beacon’s ID with worker’s ID so that the system can check the both signals to control worker’s access to the factory or let the security to take measures. Thus, this system allows an effective worker access control, notifications of entering danger zones, establishment of an efficient working condition through evaluating worker’s movements, estimating the positions of workers in the event of accident, and safe log-ins for factory’s security. Just by attaching the beacon on the worker’s helmet, no additional application installations, devices, and external network or GPS system will be needed so that an independent network can be established at the factories distant from cities.