Design and implementation of a low-cost, open source IoT-based SCADA system using ESP32 with OLED, ThingsBoard and MQTT protocol

Lawrence O Aghenta,M Tariq Iqbal

doi:10.3934/electreng.2020.1.57

Abstract

Distributed assets, such as hybrid power system components, require reliable, timely, and secure coordinated data monitoring and control systems. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) is a technology for the coordinated monitoring and control of such assets. However, SCADA system designs and implementations have largely been proprietary, mostly pricey and therefore economically unjustifiable for smaller applications. With proprietary SCADA systems, there is also the problem of interoperability with the existing components such as power electronic converters, energy storage systems, and communication systems since these components are usually from multiple vendors. Therefore, an open source SCADA system represents the most flexible and most cost-effective SCADA option for such assets. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a low-cost, open source SCADA system based on the most recent SCADA architecture, the Internet of Things (IoT). The proposed SCADA system consists of current and voltage sensors for data collection, an ESP32 micro-controller with organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, for receiving and processing the sensor data, and ThingsBoard IoT server for historic data storage and human machine interactions. For the sensor data transfer from the ESP32 to the ThingsBoard IoT server, Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol is implemented for data transfer over a local Wi-Fi connection with the MQTT Client configured on the ESP32, and the ThingsBoard server node serving as the MQTT Broker. The ThingsBoard IoT server is locally installed with PostgreSQL database on a Raspberry Pi single-board computer and hosted locally on MUN Network for data integrity and security. To test the performance of the developed open source SCADA system solution, it was setup to acquire and process the current, voltage and power of a standalone solar photovoltaic system for remote monitoring and supervisory control. The overall system design procedures and testing, as well as the created dashboards and alarms on the ThingsBoard IoT server platform are presented in the paper.

Highlights

Energy shortage and Global Warming are some of the major challenges facing the world today, especially with the recent rapid industrial development across the globe
For the sensor data transfer from the ESP32 to the ThingsBoard Internet of Things (IoT) server, Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol is implemented for data transfer over a local Wi-Fi connection with the MQTT Client configured on the ESP32, and the ThingsBoard server node serving as the MQTT Broker
We present the design, development and implementation of a low-cost, open source Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system based on the Internet of Things (IoT) SCADA architecture

Summary

Introduction

Energy shortage and Global Warming are some of the major challenges facing the world today, especially with the recent rapid industrial development across the globe. Energy storage systems help to mitigate supply output fluctuations, as well as help to ensure frequency control and load balancing, amongst other important functions. These hybrid power systems, which are usually made up of the conventional energy generation sources such as fossil fuels, and one or more renewable generation sources such as wind and solar, together with the energy storage systems, power electronic converters such as inverters, as well as other power system devices such as communication systems needed for their successful operations are usually spread over large geographical areas, sometimes in harsh environments such as offshore and swamps. As a result of this distributed nature, the interconnection of these systems to generate and supply energy presents numerous challenges, such as power quality issues, voltage tolerances, frequency control, grid synchronization and metering, data exchange and communications between components, as well as the safety and security of both assets and personnel [2]

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