AboutThe IoT Solution LFW is available for netX90 based products. The IoT Solution LFW enables customers who have implemented the RTE protocols (PROFINET Device, EthernetIP Adapter, etc.) as main functionality to extend the device with new IoT functions in a compatible way.
This means that RTE functions are provided using the same RTE channel 0 in DPM and network services using the same channel 1 in DPM.
An additional channel 2 is provided to enable the use of IOT functions. The IOT functions are the integrated OPC UA server and MQTT client packages, which are able to represent the customer specific data model of the device. The firmware described in the provided document offers various use cases through its integration of real-time Ethernet protocols (PROFINET and EtherNet/IP) and IoT protocols (OPC UA and MQTT). Here are the possible use cases and the resulting test cases: Use CasesThe use cases describe the versatility and application potential of the firmware in various industrial sectors. Asset Management: Manage and monitor physical devices and assets within a network. (e.g. https://opcfoundation.org/developer-tools/documents/view/339) Condition Monitoring: Monitor the condition of machines and devices in real-time. (e.g. https://opcfoundation.org/developer-tools/documents/view/291) Diagnostics:Diagnose errors and issues in machine control and communication. (e.g. https://opcfoundation.org/developer-tools/documents/view/213) Extended Configuration & Parameterization: Advanced configuration and parameterization of connected devices and networks. Visualization: Visualize data and statuses of connected devices via web applications. Predictive Maintenance: Predict and plan maintenance activities based on data analysis. (e.g. https://opcfoundation.org/developer-tools/documents/view/316) Data Logging and Analytics: Log and analyze historical data for performance trends and insights. Remote Monitoring and Control: Monitor and control devices remotely through IoT protocols. Energy Management: Monitor and optimize energy consumption of connected devices. (e.g. https://opcfoundation.org/developer-tools/documents/view/348) Supply Chain Optimization: Optimize supply chain operations by tracking and managing logistics data. Environmental Monitoring: Monitor environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity) for compliance and safety. DescriptionIoT-related communication protocols are becoming increasingly important for industrial automation devices. Device manufacturers, machine builders and system integrators need to add OPC UA or MQTT to their products. With the IoT Solution Loadable Firmwares, Hilscher offers a platform for such embedded developments at the field level. IoT protocols can be used in parallel to Real Time Etherent, over the same network cable.
Smooth integrationThe different variants of Loadable Firmwares - LFWs - for netX 90 and netX 90 based products form a scalable range offering different levels of functionality. The IoT Solution LFWs are the full-featured Type 4 variants. They extend the standard protocol LFWs, such as PROFINET IO-Device V5, with IoT functionality. In addition to the Real-Time Ethernet protocol functions, these firmwares provide an OPC UA server and a MQTT client. The additional IoT functionality can be accessed by the application via DPM channel 2 (the 3rd DPM channel). This means that the new IoT Solution LFW will maintain the protocol and Ethernet functionality previously available on DPM channels 0 and 1. New IoT functions are added via DPM channel 2. The IoT Solution LFWs require external SDRAM and serial flash for netX 90 due to the demanding resource requirements of IoT protocols. Host Application accessAccess to OPC UA or MQTT data is abstracted using netPROXY technology. Users don't have to bother with OPC UA or MQTT related details, they just have to access the data objects. Read and write actions to the user data objects (IoT data) can be performed from the host application using netPROXY Host API functions (Read / Write Object Element) serialised via DPM using acyclic messages. The "IoT functions" via DPM channel 2 (3rd DPM channel) are fully acyclic (no cyclic data mapping is supported) and have a lower priority than the real-time Ethernet communication/cyclic data of DPM channel 0. In addition to the OPC UA server or MQTT client, user data objects (IoT data) can be published by the integrated web server in parallel (same data via Web server and OPC UA server/MQTT client). The data can be embedded in user defined web pages. Please refer to the Webserver API manual for further information. The netPROXY Host API is based on the cifX API and is therefore on a higher abstraction level. It is an implementation of the netPROXY mailbox package API. Users don't have to deal with sending and receiving mailbox packets, but use simple Read/Write object functions. Alternatively, users can bypass the netProxy host API and use the mailbox packet interface directly. This can be useful for limited host resources and simple object models. The netPROXY Host API component is provided in source code as part of the example projects for the IoT Solution LFWs. The component is not a product but a example implementation of the mailbox packet interface. ConfigurationThe OPC UA server and the MQTT client component are configured using the PC-based engineering tool Communication Studio with the additional IoT Configurator extension. The tool supports the creation and import of OPC UA information models or MQTT client connection and topic settings. User Data Objects can be defined and instantiated. The OPC UA server and MQTT client configuration is exported from the tool as a config.nxd plus a *.tlv file and optionally a uaconfig.nxd. These up to three configuration files must be downloaded to the flash memory, directory PORT_2 (relates to DPM Channel 2 - IoT Services). The netHOST utility (part of the NXDIAG package) can be used to do this. The RTE stacks can be configured via data base files (generated with Hilscher's Communication Studio) or via the DPM's mailbox interface (refer to the corresponding API manual). For more details see Firmware configuration. Block diagramThe IoT Solution LFW with Network Services provides three communication channels in DPM. The Channel 0 and 1 maybe known from the protocol specific LFWs.
The IoT Solution LFW provides a third communication channel additionally, which adds an IoT interface. | 