Design_World_-_Internet_of_Things_Handbook_April_2020

42 DESIGN WORLD — EE NETWORK 4 • 2020 eeworldonline.com | designworldonline.com

INTERNET OF THINGS HANDBOOK PAGE TITLE WILL GO HERE

and publishing to end user requirements

with greater ease. Where a fi rmware-based

approach might require downtime to fl ash

update memory, industrial controllers often

support online editing.

Regardless of which approach you opt for,

don’t overlook Sparkplug B compliance. Many

MQTT device implementations fall short of

this critical mark. SpB guarantees that a device

uses a standard data format and encoding,

improving interoperability, and that it publishes

critical state information, improving reliability

for mission-critical settings.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

There are also direct benefi ts to OEMs who

provide MQTT support. Just like your end users,

you might be interested in extracting useful

information from your installed equipment base

but likely face a similar set of complications.

Typically, monitoring remote equipment

requires creating exceptions in local fi rewalls

to permit outside connections through to the

equipment. This can raise security concerns

with end user IT groups. However, because

MQTT connections are always device-

originating, it’s possible to establish secure

connections to the outside that are transparent

to your customers’ IT policies.

MQTT-enabled equipment can be

pre-confi gured to establish a connection

to a remote MQTT broker that you

control, allowing you to securely monitor

equipment usage for billing, regulatory, or

troubleshooting purposes. This monitoring

can be performed without requiring

modifi cations to your customers’ local security

measures and can be done in parallel to their

own data collection. If you opt for a metered

cellular connection, instead of piggybacking

on your customer’s network, you can reduce

your own transmission costs thanks to MQTT’s

low bandwidth requirements.

Other scenarios are possible as well, like

using a shared MQTT broker connection to

exchange data between multiple pieces of

Figure 4: As MQTT grows in popularity, more

industrial devices are appearing with embedded

MQTT publishing options (Pictured: Opto 22’s

groov EPIC controller and groov RIO I/O gateway)

References

Opto 22, http://www.opto22.com

All fi gures courtesy of Opto 22

equipment or provide equipment with live data

from external web services. In one case, for

example, wind farm operators can use the spot

price of electricity to automatically adjust the

output level of individual turbines.

LEAD THE CHARGE

End users struggle with specifi c pain points

around the scope of digital transformation

and the obstacles inherent in the traditional

technology stack. Traditional communication

technologies will continue to be in demand for

some time, of course, but by pairing MQTT

with your existing offerings, you give your

customers a way to evolve. As the industry

continues to shift in response to the demand

for more data, tools like MQTT give designers

the opportunity to position themselves at the

front of that transformation.

Author Bio:

Josh Eastburn, Director of

Technical Marketing

A er 12 years as an automation

engineer working in the

semiconductor, petrochemical,

food and beverage, and life

sciences industries, Josh

Eastburn works with the

engineers at Opto 22 to

understand the needs of

tomorrow’s customers. He

is a contributing writer at

blog.opto22.com.