Weekly EP11 - Open Manufacturing Hub: A Reference Architecture for Industrial IoT
OMH introduces a cutting-edge reference architecture for Industrial IoT. Seamlessly integrate, analyze, and optimize your operations.
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Open Manufacturing Hub: A Reference Architecture for Industrial IoT (IIoT)
Introduction
In the rapidly evolving landscape of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the demand for seamless connectivity, real-time data processing, and efficient system management has never been greater. As industries continue to embrace the transformative potential of interconnected devices, the need for a robust and flexible technology stack becomes paramount.
Enter the OMH(Open Manufacturing Hub) — an open-source blueprint for industrial IoT presented by EMQ, harnessing the true potential of industrial connectivity and real-time data. In this article, we embark on a journey through the OMH, uncovering how to implement this innovative solution and reshape the way we approach industrial system development.
A Comprehensive Solution for Industrial IoT
The OMH provides a comprehensive solution for building powerful and scalable Industrial IoT applications. Together they enable seamless data connectivity, efficient message queuing, and reliable storage and analysis of time-series data.
The objective of the OMH solution is to empower organizations in the manufacturing industry to achieve smart manufacturing excellence. This objective encompasses the utilization of advanced IIoT technologies and data-driven insights to optimize operational processes, enhance productivity, ensure quality, and drive innovation across the manufacturing value chain.
Essential Components of the Architecture
The major components of the OMH are:
Python Modbus Simulator: A Python application acts as a Modbus simulator, continuously generating Modbus data.
Neuron Industrial Connectivity Server: Neuron acts as a device hub for industrial connectivity, facilitating seamless integration between diverse industrial protocols and IIoT system.
EMQX MQTT Broker: The EMQX broker serves as the heart of the IIoT infrastructure, providing a reliable and scalable messaging system for applications.
Timescale Database: Timescale is a time-series database and provides an ideal solution for storing and analyzing vast amounts of time-series data generated by Python simulator.
Grafana Visualization: Grafana, a popular open-source data visualization platform, seamlessly integrates with Timescale to provide real-time and historical data visualization.
Businesses can achieve a range of benefits by using the technology stack above. It provides real-time insights to optimize industrial processes, improve operational efficiency, and make better decisions. As a result, businesses can increase their revenue, reduce time to market, lower operational costs, and improve product quality across various industries.
The Workflow of the Architecture
It is pretty easy to build an efficient and scalable IIoT system using EMQX and Neuron. All software components are running in separate Docker containers, with the exception of the Python Modbus Simulator. The simulator is a provided program used to generate data for the demonstration.
In the Modbus simulator, a Python program generates two random sample values for temperature and humidity, which are stored in Modbus registers 400001 and 400002, respectively. Neuron, as the industrial connectivity server, is configured to access these two Modbus registers at regular intervals of 1 second. Neuron then converts the data from the Modbus registers into an MQTT message and publishes it to the EMQX broker.
EMQX, the MQTT broker, efficiently handles the incoming data and forwards it to the TimescaleDB database through the rule engine. The data, representing temperature and humidity values, is then ingested into the TimescaleDB database, which is optimized for time-series data storage.
Finally, Grafana, the data visualization platform, retrieves the time series data from TimescaleDB and uses it to create dynamic visualizations and real-time insights. Users can monitor and analyze the temperature and humidity data in an intuitive and user-friendly manner through Grafana's customizable dashboards.
Demo: Building an Efficient and Scalable IIoT System
Here we will provide a simple setup procedure for all applications mentioned in the infrastructure. Please click the link for the detailed demo.
Rich IT and OT Connectivity
The demo above provides an illustration of a simple Modbus connection and access to a Timescale database. However, it's important to note that both Neuron and EMQX offer a wide range of drivers and connectors to meet diverse OT and IT connectivity requirements. These extensive OT and IT capabilities are essential for the development of a successful IIoT system. This can bridge IT and OT technologies together into the IIoT system.
Seamless IT Connectivity
EMQX broker offers a wide range of data bridges, facilitating seamless integration with over 40 cloud services and enterprise systems. This enables instant access to data across diverse applications, reducing the cost and complexity of custom bridge development. EMQX supports integration with popular databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and more, as well as technologies like Redis, Oracle, SAP, and Kafka. This rich set of connectors ensures efficient IT connectivity and data exchange within the IIoT ecosystem.
Diverse OT Connectivity
Neuron serves as a protocol gateway, providing a comprehensive set of industrial connectivity options essential for successful IIoT deployments. With support for over 30 industrial protocols such as Modbus, Ethernet/IP, Profinet I/O, OPC-UA, IEC104, BACnet, and more, Neuron enables seamless communication with various devices and systems across the operational technology (OT) landscape. Whether it's PLCs, building automation systems, CNC machines, or robotics, Neuron offers a powerful range of drivers to ensure reliable OT connectivity and data acquisition.
Efficient and Scalable IIoT Infrastructure
The above example presents a basic linear topology to demonstrate the IIoT infrastructure. In addition, EMQX and Neuron offer remarkable flexibility and scalability in developing complex IIoT solutions. For instance, multiple Neuron devices can be deployed in different locations to facilitate data acquisition. Some of these devices can be installed on a server alongside the EMQX broker, while others may be situated in remote gateway devices. On the other side, there is a central control room where other storage and analytic applications are consuming the data acquired from Neuron.
In large enterprises, multiple production locations serve different purposes, some organized vertically and others horizontally. EMQX clusters offer the capability to replicate messages across these production sites, enabling seamless data sharing throughout the enterprise. With high-speed replication, EMQX ensures that data received by one cluster is synchronized with other clusters in real-time or near-real-time, fostering efficient and timely data exchange across multiple production locations as shown in below diagram.
EMQX and Neuron together provide a unified namespace for Industrial IoT applications. A unified namespace is a common naming hierarchy for MQTT topics that enables devices and applications to communicate with each other, regardless of their original naming, location, or protocol. All data messages are well organized in a contextualized structure to form a unified namespace, providing the following benefits to your enterprise:
Simplified Data Access: A unified namespace provides a consistent and standardized way to access data across multiple production locations. It eliminates the need for employees or systems to navigate through different directories or file structures on various locations, making data access more efficient and user-friendly.
Improved Collaboration: With a unified namespace, employees and systems from different production locations can easily share and collaborate on production data. They can access and edit data in real-time, reducing communication barriers and streamlining collaborative workflows. This promotes cross-location teamwork and enhances productivity.
Enhanced Data Management: A unified namespace enables centralized data management, allowing organizations to implement uniform data policies and governance across all production locations. It facilitates data backup, recovery, and security measures, ensuring consistent data protection practices throughout the enterprise.
Simplified IT Administration: Managing a unified namespace is typically easier for IT administrators compared to maintaining separate operation domains for each production location. Centralized administration and control lead to streamlined operations, simplified user management, and reduced maintenance efforts.
Scalability and Flexibility: A unified namespace provides scalability and flexibility as the enterprise expands or evolves. It allows for seamless integration of new production locations into the existing infrastructure, without significant modifications or disruptions. This scalability facilitates business growth and adaptability to changing market dynamics.
Consistent User Experience: With a unified namespace, employees across different production locations experience a consistent user interface and workflow. This uniformity enhances user experience, reduces learning curves, and boosts overall user satisfaction, leading to increased efficiency and productivity.
Improved Data Integrity: Contextualized data can improve the quality of data used in AI/ML models. By providing additional context and metadata, AI/ML models can better understand and interpret data, reducing errors and improving accuracy.
AI/ML Precise Prediction: Contextualized data also enhance the predictive capabilities of AI/ML models. By providing additional context, models can make more accurate predictions about future events or outcomes. It helps AI/ML systems reducing bias by considering factors that may influence outcomes.
Learn more about Unified Namespace: Unified Namespace (UNS): Next-Generation Data Fabric for IIoT | EMQ
High-Speed Data Exchange
EMQX is well-suited for large-scale industrial IoT deployments, capable of handling millions of concurrent connections and messages per second. It guarantees sub-millisecond latency in message delivery with soft real-time runtime.
High-Speed data exchange is very important as it can support stable and reliable data replication across different location clusters, while handling large numbers of connected devices and processing high volumes of sensor data in near real-time. This capability is valuable for applications that involve high message volumes, such as telemetry data collection, machine-to-machine communication, and large-scale event-driven systems.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the OMH is a prime example of how working together and being innovative can shape the future of Industrial IoT. The stack we showcase in this article presents a fresh option for constructing a reliable and effective IIoT infrastructure. Through the seamless integration of Neuron's industrial connectivity, EMQX's robust and scalable MQTT broker, Timescale's high-performance time-series database, and Grafana's intuitive visualization prowess, a new era of industrial system architecture is upon us.
As industries continue to navigate the complexities of the digital age, the OMH paves the way for efficiency, scalability, and real-time insights, fundamentally transforming the way we design, deploy, and manage IIoT systems. With a future marked by ever-expanding technological horizons, we believe the OHM will illuminate the path to a smarter, more connected industrial landscape.
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Neuron is an industrial IoT server that can connect with diverse devices simultaneously using multiple protocols. It aims to address the challenge of accessing data from automated equipment and provide infrastructure support for smart manufacturing.
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EMQX Cloud is an MQTT middleware for the IoT from EMQ. As the world's first fully managed MQTT 5.0 cloud messaging service, EMQX Cloud provides a one-stop O&M colocation and a unique isolated environment for MQTT services. —>Get started free!