Build Industrial IoT (IIoT) solutions on a MQTT Message-Oriented Middleware (MOM) infrastructure with the MQTT Engine Module and provide a path to deliver data to both operational and business applications while reducing data bandwidth. Utilize the MQTT publish-and-subscribe methodologies to inject data into industrial SCADA system applications by enabling the MQTT Engine Module to connect the data from MQTT servers, creating an extremely efficient and robust IIoT architecture with Ignition.

With the MQTT Engine Module, polling at the host is no longer necessary; this solution uses edge gateways pushing the proprietary protocol polling to the edge of the SCADA system network, creating one pipeline for all data, increasing throughput and efficiencies of data acquisition throughout an enterprise. MQTT enabled devices such as sensors, PLCs, RTUs or OEM Edge Node Devices supporting the Cirrus Link SPARKPLUG Topic and Payload also can connect directly into this infrastructure as well gaining the same benefits. This solution is especially useful for wide-area SCADA system applications such as oil and gas pipeline controls and solutions with restricted or high-cost communications like VSAT, or cellular.

Benefits

Increased Data Throughput and Efficiencies

MQTT messaging enabled by the edge gateways provides an extremely efficient use of the transport layer to send and receive more data more frequently and with less overhead. This is achieved by pushing the polling to the edge of the network or having MQTT enabled device publish data directly, which vastly increases the performance of the overall solution. This provides a mechanism to retrieve more data not only from the PLCs, and RTUs, and but also other devices such as cameras or sensors, thus achieving increased system awareness and improved control.

Open Source Tools for 3rd Party Device Integration

MQTT Engine implements the Cirrus Link SPARKPLUG MQTT Topic and Payload Specification describing the methodology of how MQTT enabled devices or Edge Gateways to connect to the Ignition Platform. With this information and the sample code and applications provided, 3rd party device manufactures have the open source tools needed to enable their products to connect to MQTT middleware infrastructure and to the MQTT Engine Module on Ignition. The tools are based on open source standards.

Self-Learning Data Tags

The MQTT Engine Module subscribes to the data from the edge gateways through MQTT servers. Upon each initial connection, it learns all the data tags and instantly creates them in Ignition. Once tags are created, their data values are instantly available and continually updated as new values are published from the field. This feature produces a self-aware IIoT that dynamically updates by rapidly learning all existing and any newly created data tags and makes them readily available to the entire Ignition platform. With the MQTT Engine Module, simply connect to your data and build anything with Ignition’s full-featured set of HMI, SCADA, and MES development tools.

Exceptional Redundancy and Security

Scalability, disaster recovery, high availability, and enhanced security are native capabilities of the MOM infrastructure with the Edge Gateways providing the polling for data. The Edge Gateways create an inbound connection to the MQTT servers with TLS security closing all ports over their network connection. Not having a port open enhances the security at the endpoints of the system closing off many typical attack possibilities. Secondly, the Edge Gateways are in control of both their network path and the MQTT Server utilized. The Edge Gateway will know when it loses a primary communication path and will move to a secondary one, it is also self-aware of when the primary communication path returns. Upon a MQTT server fail, the Edge Gateway will connect to the next available server providing up to N levels of redundancy. With these features, uptime is improved with quicker failover and acknowledgements when issues arise.

Automatic System Health Metrics

When the MQTT Engine module creates the tags for data it also creates metrics to track the health of the system. These metrics are data points with history providing valuable information when diagnosing issues within the overall system. The module creates metrics for the end device, the edge gateways, and the MOM infrastructure concerning availability and lost connectivity. These metrics are presented with pre-built screens for viewing or a client can use the data points to build screens specifically for their own requirements.

File Transfer Capabilities

Supports files transfer over MQTT on Ignition. Transfer any file from the edge using MQTT with the MQTT Transmission module to the MQTT Engine module. Enables the sending of images, CSV or any file to an attached drive on the central Ignition platform triggered through scripting, control tag or automatically.

See a video on the MQTT Engine Module here!

The MQTT Distributor Module is an MQTT server, compliant with the 3.1.1 MQTT protocol OASIS standard. It enables MQTT clients in SCADA to securely connect, publish, and subscribe data, supplying data to both operational and business applications throughout the enterprise. The MQTT Distributor module comes in two versions, Distributor and Distributor Plus.  Standard Distributor supports up to 50 simultaneously MQTT Clients and Distributor Plus supports up to 250 for larger installations.

Enabling MQTT Distributor in conjunction with the MQTT Engine Module provides the components for a self-contained MOM infrastructure from one Ignition gateway. This combination delivers the requirements for IIoT solutions and wide-area SCADA applications such as oil and gas pipeline controls solutions. It is ideal for situations where there are restricted or high-cost communications such as in VSAT or cellular connectivity. This solution is also highly effective for increasing the data throughput for high-performance plant-floor solutions.

The MQTT Distributor Module is available as a Standalone Module.  It can be purchased as a Standalone MQTT Server  needing an Ignition base license making ideal for distributing one or more MQTT Distributor Modules for scalability, redundancy and diverse location applications to increase reliability.

See a video on the MQTT Distributor Module here!

The main purpose of the MQTT Transmission module is to bridge the OT/IT gap, mobilizing OT data for use within both OT and IT applications. It enables any tag on the Ignition SCADA platform to be published via MQTT, transforming the tags and their properties into the Sparkplug MQTT Topic and Payload format to Edge Gateways, multiple Ignition Platforms and other MQTT enabled IIoT applications. The MQTT Transmission module also provides connectivity for tag data to connect to AWS Greengrass for Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics. 

MQTT Transmission with Ignition inherently provide a data management tool. This allows the user to utilize Ignitions simple drag and drop tag editor to choose which tags are sent to IIoT Applications and/or AWS Greengrass. Using the Sparkplug specification means the data is sent securely and extremely efficiently resulting in highly responsive system updates. The MQTT Transmission module also supports store and forward functionality, meaning when a failure such as the communication link to the MQTT Server is detected time-stamped data will be held locally until the link re-establishes. Once reconnected, live data resumes and historic data is back-filled as communication bandwidth allows.

Ignition TAG into MQTT Bridge

MQTT Transmission is powerful in providing the Ignition SCADA platform with an OPC-UA to MQTT bridge. This enables clients with any legacy SCADA/HMI an easy tool to bridge the data to MQTT and build out the IIoT application with minimal cost and effort.

See videos on MQTT Transmission Module here and about the Store & Forward functionality here!

Benefits

• OT IT Bridge mobilizing data for IIoT applications
• Provide Secure & Efficient connectivity of data to one or more Ignition gateways and supporting MQTT Applications
• Connect Ignition tags to AWS Greengrass for Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics
• Provides a simple visual tag tool to select, rename, scale and manage which tags are made available to the IIoT enterprise i.e. provide the “slicing and dicing”
• Store and forward when connection path is lost, data is stored and sent when is re-established
• Utilizes highly efficient report by exception MQTT Sparkplug to reduce bandwidth consumption and increase performance
• Outbound TLS secure connection to control what data is accessible, ideal for sending data outside DMZ to the business enterprise not effecting control
• Available both on Ignition Gateway and Ignition Edge MQTT to meet most any IIoT application
• Multi MQTT Server support for Scalability and Redundancy
• OPC-UA to MQTT bridge to easily enable legacy SCADA/HMI apps to connect their data
• File Transfer Capabilities

File Transfer

• Requires MQTT Transmission and MQTT Engine
• Transfers any binary file type… CSV, images, etc.
• Trigger through scripting, control tag or automatically

Benefits

The MQTT Recorder offer the following benefits:

• Receives any RECORD object and creates the database table
• Receives any RECORD object and populates the data within the database table
• Records can be sent as an immutable object with a 256-SHA hash key for audit purposes
• Works with all databases supported by Ignition

The find support and tutorials for the MQTT Modules, please go here!