Facilities

The Institute occupies a 10,000-square-foot space in the UWM Libraries — a highly visible, central location on campus. State-of-the-art research and laboratory facilities within CSI set it apart from other university-industry consortiums studying IIoT connectivity.

CSI research facilities includes four on-campus manufacturing labs used for research, testing, and education. These test facilities give industry partners a place for experimental analyses and validation. The simulated manufacturing plant provides a work environment for students and researchers to experiment with new concepts and solutions. CSI’s facilities are designed to test IIoT solutions across domains specific to manufacturing.

Manufacturing Test Bed: Features a fully functional production environment in which students produce and fulfill orders. This simulated manufacturing facility gives students hands-on experience in a live production environment. The test bed provides exposure to Industry 4.0 technologies, including robotics and AI. The test bed features plant and automation controls tools from Rockwell Automation, OT security systems from Fortinet, data management and switching controls from Cisco, hardware from Dell, and cloud storage from Microsoft.

Digital Twin Lab: Features a digital replica of the Manufacturing Test Bed. Using software simulation for mechatronics and robotics programming, students can simulate processes before executing them in the test bed production environment. The lab uses simulation software from Ansys and digital manufacturing solutions from PTC.

OT Cybersecurity Lab: Focuses on the unique security needs of connected systems in manufacturing production environments.

CSI facilities feature a fully connected system of IIoT components. The simulated manufacturing plant provides a work environment for students and researchers to experiment with new concepts and solutions.

The facilities are designed so that small- and medium-sized businesses can partner with CSI to test their own use cases. The Institute also supports innovation by providing a low-cost test facility with state-of-the-art technology and a highly trained staff.

Test Bed Timelapse Video

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Connected Systems Institute

Facilities

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