Streaming Machine Generated Data via the MQTT Sparkplug B Protocol for Smart Factory Operations

Abstract

The implementation of smart manufacturing relies on back-and-forth industrial communications between the machine assets on the shop floor to the cloud-level information systems. The Purdue Model of Computer Integrated Manufacturing has been a standard for industrial control system architecture guidance. However, in IIoT, data flow is not hierarchical since intelligence is added to the machine asset level. This paper describes the implementation and test run of the MQTT Sparkplug-B protocol with conventional machining assets, with its data being streamed from the machine controllers to a shop floor network and further on to a cloud-based platform. The publish/subscribe pattern of communication between the machining asset, and the cloud level is established, further demonstrating the ease with which a unified namespace can be achieved between various information and Operational Technology networks seamlessly and with relative ease.