Enabling IoT connectivity for ModbusTCP sensors

Abstract

This work in progress paper presents an architecture for an IoT gateway that can be seamlessly integrated into an industrial setting running older generations PLCs to enable IoT connectivity and data analytics for sensors to applications with minimal setup. Internet of Things (IoT) is a major paradigm of Industry 4.0 where cyber-physical systems are connected to the Internet. By integrating the measurement data from sensors into an IoT environment, more value can be derived from the data through advanced analytics using machine learning or deep learning. At present, most of the sensors in industrial plants are connected to Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). To enable IoT connectivity for sensors connected to PLCs, the controller often needs to be retrofitted with IoT gateways, especially in the case of older generation PLCs. The cost of retrofitting older generation PLCs with IoT gateways and the extensive configuration and setup required to use the sensor data in running environments can prevent industries and factories from utilizing the benefits of IoT. The presented architecture addresses these issues by describing an approach to capture sensor data from PLCs through Modbus protocol, transform the data into an IoT communication standard and provides contextual information of data sources on demand to enable plug and play IoT connectivity. A method to store, process and visualize the sensor data is also presented. Finally, a prototypical implementation of the presented architecture and method is introduced.