Industrial internet of things smart heating systems and methods that produce and use hydrogen fuel

A smart knob, comprising:

• a housing configured in the form of a knob, the housing adapted to enable the removal from and replacement of the knob onto a device that is to be controlled by the knob;
• a processor disposed in the housing of the knob;
• and
• a device control software module, operatively coupled with the processor, whereby a user's interaction with the knob is converted to a control message to control the device that is to be controlled by the knob.

A system for data collection, processing, and utilization of signals from at least a first element in a first machine in an industrial environment, the system comprising:

• a platform including a computing environment connected to a local data collection system having at least a first sensor signal and a second sensor signal obtained from at least the first machine in the industrial environment, wherein the first machine is a smart heating system;
• a first sensor in the local data collection system configured to be connected to the first machine;
• a second sensor in the local data collection system;
• and
• a crosspoint switch in the local data collection system having multiple inputs and multiple outputs including a first input connected to the first sensor and a second input connected to the second sensor, wherein the multiple outputs include a first output and a second output configured to be switchable between a condition in which the first output is configured to switch between delivery of the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal and a condition in which there is simultaneous delivery of the first sensor signal from the first output and the second sensor signal from the second out, and wherein each of multiple inputs is configured to be individually assigned to any of the multiple outputs.