IOT - Collecting industrial machine data - what hardware?

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Starting to use AWS IOT for collecting manufacturing data off of machines on the floor. That data could be productivity (when was the machine on or cycled) or process (what temperature is the over). Of course the kinds of data collected could get out of hand real quick, the potential is endless.

My question is about hardware. It is confusing. Let's say I have 50 machines and I want to send a MQTT packet to AWS IOT for each machine each time that machine was cycled. We currently have one machine and I am using a Opto22 Rio to collect a few simple data points and sent a MQTT message to AWS. They run in the $750 each range currently.

We started out using Raspberry Pi's for this but they were a bit painful. For us the pain of writing the python, securing the devices, putting the pi in a plastic din rail was not worth the low cost of the equipment.

The questions:

  • Is this a reasonable piece of hardware to use for this? Seems a bit overpowered and expensive for no more than what it is doing.
  • Would this be considered a gateway and my sensors/inputs be considered things?
  • In our use case (many machines with a few inputs) what kind of hardware solution would you recommend for collecting the data and sending the MQTT packet to AWS with?
flycast
demandé il y a 2 ans276 vues
2 réponses
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Is this a reasonable piece of hardware to use for this? Seems a bit overpowered and expensive for no more than what it is doing.

I think the answer depends a lot on scale; how many of these will you deploy? By your own admission, it saved you a lot of time and effort compared to the Pi. The answer also depends on how robust this needs to be (temperature, dust ingress, water ingress, vibration, shock and so forth); this device might pay for itself if it's more robust than cheaper alternatives.

Would this be considered a gateway and my sensors/inputs be considered things?

I would say that your inputs/machines have more need to be Things in AWS IoT if you need granularity for security and/or if each machine would be managed individually (configuration, command/control, software updates etc). If all you are doing is ingesting data, there's probably not a strong case to model each machine as an individual Thing.

In our use case (many machines with a few inputs) what kind of hardware solution would you recommend for collecting the data and sending the MQTT packet to AWS with?

I recommend you search the AWS Partner Device Catalog: https://devices.amazonaws.com/search?page=1 . I note that Opto 22 have a device in the catalog: https://devices.amazonaws.com/detail/a3G0h0000076iDGEAY/groov-EPIC . You will find many possible alternatives. Please also consider to reach out to your nearest AWS office to dive deeper into your requirements.

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Greg_B
répondu il y a 2 ans
  • Thanks Greg. I really appreciate the time and guidance. It can be pretty daunting when first starting.

    Please also consider to reach out to your nearest AWS office to dive deeper into your requirements. Do I need to have a service contract for this?

  • No contract required.

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I don't know what kind of machines you're trying to connect to, but if they are PLC based, you might consider looking at the Maple Systems HMI and Edge Gateway products. The configuration is no-code (menus and screens), and though I don't see it on the amazon devices list, they claim in their manual it can connect to AWS IoT. For that to happen the main thing it really needs is TLS and client certificate support. I have had great success with this hardware, especially when it's talking to PLCs that aren't Modbus, EthernetIP, or OPC/UA. It knows how to talk to some stuff that isn't very well supported in Node-Red. They are in the $400 range for the most part, there are a bunch of different models, and the "Headless HMI" ones do the same thing as the "Edge Gateway" ones but for some reason they cost less.

In a lot of cases, though, I just use a small embedded SBC like something from OnLogic Moxa, Advantech, or the Maple Systems SBC and just run node-red on it. Node red provides the glue for 90% of my IIoT projects.

In all these cases, though, I think architecturally you're better off not having individual machines connect out of the OT (i.e. the shop floor network) directly but force them to go through a single gateway that sits between the OT and the IT. It's easier to control security that way. With that kind of architecture, I always find I'm better off with a small server with multiple Ethernet ports. I am not a very big fan of Kepware, so in my case it's almost always Node Red providing the glue.

Disclaimer, I don't work for any of these companies I mentioned, I just use their stuff. I work for a non-profit organization that helps manufacturers step into IIoT and Industry 4.0. So we deal with a lot of this kind of stuff, but we don't really have a dog in the fight when it comes to what to buy - a lot of our role is to provide manufacturers with an independent set of eyes so they aren't at the mercy of vendors and consultants. No offense intended if you're either a vendor or a consultant :-)

--Chris

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wz2b
répondu il y a 7 mois

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