Waldkirch/ Hannover, April 2018 – The fundamental objective of the SICK AppPool within the SICK AppSpace ecosystem is to permit secure and centralized administration of SensorApps as well as encrypted electronic exchanges within the user community or with the public. Customers obtain access to content such as DemoApps, SampleApps, StandardApps and AppTemplates via the AppPool, which is set to go live this year. Members of the SICK AppSpace Developers’ Club can publish their own apps for information purposes or to obtain feedback, for example. Whereby all interactions are subject to a robust copyright concept – content is secured using end-to-end encryption. The AppPool thus provides effective support to developers and application engineers for the efficient creation of their own SensorApps for programmable SICK sensors. Such SensorApps are specifically customized for the sensor’s tasks and operating conditions.
The central function of the AppPool – as a ‘marketplace’ for SensorApps – is to publicize new solution potentials while simplifying and driving forward collaboration within the community, which is made up of integrators, OEMs, programmers and developers.
Focus on usability, quality and transparency
The user-friendly convenience is provided by clear user interfaces, intuitive operation, unambiguous structures and terminology, and seamless integration in existing SICK AppSpace tools (the SICK AppStudio and the SICK AppManager). Integrated verification mechanisms, best-in-class evaluations, and comprehensive documentation capabilities ensure maximum quality within the AppPool. Finally, the tool also takes over version and presentation management. It creates transparency by showing usage figures, and protects users’ intellectual property by means of state-of-the-art access management and data encryption processes.
Security through data encryption and hierarchical access rights
Use of the AppPool by members of the SICK AppSpace Developers’ Club and customers, as well as synchronization with the tools of the SICK AppSpace, takes place on the basis of maximum security standards. Thus content that is to be protected as intellectual property, for example, is subject to end-to-end encryption on the users’ PCs. All IP-relevant content of files, such as source codes, is also transferred in encrypted form. Protective encryption mechanisms prevent the reading out of source codes or unauthorized copying and reproduction of a completed SensorApp when it is loaded onto an end-device. The Key Management Server – on which the end-to-end data encryption and the administration of the three-level access rights (for users, organizations and the public) take place – is exclusively monitored by SICK.
The SICK AppSpace: An ecosystem for the development of SensorApps
The SICK AppSpace is intended for the integration of one’s own ideas as well as the efficient and customized implementation of customer-specific requirements in the form of SensorApps. The ecosystem is a joint programming platform for a variety of sensor technologies – not just for image processing, but also for optoelectronic sensors and RFID systems, such as those employed for checking packaging, distance or volume measurements, the navigation of autonomous vehicles, or the identification of objects in material flows.
The platform is made up of three areas: Hardware in the form of programmable sensors and devices, the SICK AppStudio software module for developing applications, the SICK AppManager for implementing and administrating SensorApps in the field, and the AppPool for the central administration of SensorApps and for the community of the SICK AppSpace Developers’ Club. This is where developers at SICK and at customers’ companies can exchange information – both within the network and at annual conferences (most recently in Freiburg on 16 - 18 April 2018) – and define the further development steps of the SICK AppSpace ecosystem.
The SICK AppSpace gives integrators and OEMs the freedom to implement their own applications and ideas with SICK sensors thanks to the company opening up many of its sensors and devices, and making them programmable.
SICK is one of the world’s leading producers of sensors and sensor solutions for industrial applications. The company, founded in 1946 by Dr. Erwin Sick and based in Waldkirch-im-Breisgau near Freiburg, is a technology and market leader with a global presence – with more than 50 subsidiaries and associated companies, as well as numerous sales offices. SICK achieved Group sales of about EUR 1.5 bn. in the 2017 fiscal year with almost 9,000 employees worldwide.
Further information on SICK is available at http://www.sick.com or by phone at +49 (0)7681 202-4345.