Data Collection Mobile App

A significant challenge in developing the mobile app is the lack of direct access to welding machines, stemming from logistical constraints. This limitation complicates the ability to simulate real-world conditions during development. Another challenge involves the traditional method of monitoring welding parameters, which is often inefficient and lacks real-time insights. Since operations are conducted in remote locations with limited or no connectivity, the app must reliably capture and store data locally. This ensures that technicians can document and communicate essential details, even when addressing issues remotely, allowing for seamless data transfer once connectivity is restored.

Most of these operations occur remotely and it was difficult to monitor and get the welding parameters. The client wanted a mobile application that ensure to get the details even if the technician fixes remotely. We have suggested a phase wise implementation approach and the initial phase of the application is developed to be capable of connecting to welding machines used for oil and gas pipelines. The pipe with machines on both sides know as “bugs” capture critical data like weld quality, technical logs and production logs.
Since such operations tend to take place in locations with low or no connectivity, the team made sure that the functionality of the app could be performed offline and information was saved locally closer to the machine. The remarkable thing with this program is that once internet connection is available, the data is uploaded to the cloud. To make uninterrupted connection with the welding machine, the app employs BLE to obtain real-time data.
In addition, a C++ simulation module was created to mimic BLE communication and data transfer in order to enrich the solution. This enabled the team to check whether the collected data and communication protocol would work properly with the planned welding machines, without necessarily having to physically connect it or integrate it with the machines required to make it all work, seamlessly.
The team used mixed hybrid mobile development by employing the use of react native in the development of applications in both IOS and Google. To create a stable connection between the distributed mobile application and the welding machine, they included Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) stack.

When choosing the cloud solution for updating as well as for storing data, the support of which is described above, we used AWS. Echoed in the UI/UX design, Adobe XD and Figma made it easy for the end users to use the Macro application.

Solution Highlights