NOVEMBER 2017

Inside:
 Connect the physical with
the digital p3
 Best practices for industrial
Cloud computing p6
 Core technologies make
edge-intelligence possible p10

Supplement to Periodicals Publication

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PRODUCTIVITY & BEST PRACTICES: EDITOR’S COLUMN
Workforce education becomes
an essential task
Five essential competencies for the digital era identified
A
t its recent user conference, the always thought-
ful management of Emerson Automation Solutions
discussed work’s changing nature.
The U.S. manufacturing sector experienced 4.0% pro-
ductivity growth from 1990 to 2000, and 4.7% from 2000
to 2007. Analyses of productivity growth statistics can be
highly speculative. At the time, however, experts and media
credited computerization for these productivity gains.
Since then, productivity growth has stagnated at about
1.5%. Yet computerization has continued apace. If digita-
lization was the cause of productivity growth in the 1990s
and in the first decade of the 21st century, what caused
the subsequent productivity growth slowdown?
Computers today are communication devices in support
of the coordination of work, as much as they are any-
thing else. If the network is the computer, then advances
depend on integration, and just 50 years into the com-
puter revolution we’re faced with a multi-layered installed
base. In fact, integration seems to be the constraining
challenge. Moving forward, while remaining cognizant of
legacy systems, has proved complex and daunting.
Essential competencies
Another kind of “installed base” is the industrial work
force involved. In the last 40 years, many kinds of work
were transformed, and quantified, as computerization
supported work-process reengineering.
At the conference, Emerson tackled the topic during a
briefing on “essential competencies for an empowered
digital workforce.”
“The past 30 years have brought fantastic advances
in the manufacturing sector, including greater operating
efficiencies enabled by automation. But the incremental
gains are diminishing,” Mike Train, executive president,
Emerson Automation Solutions, said.
The silver lining will come with an emerging generation
of technologies able to revitalize productivity gain, as in
the former era. However, the work force is the essential
www.controleng.com/IIoT
Kevin Parker
Senior Contributing Editor
piece. “The readiness and capacity for change is limited,”
said Train.
Emerson is expanding its service offerings to help
fill the gap. What industry needs, Emerson said, is an
increased focus on education and upskilling along with
improved organizational workflows to effectively leverage
their technology investments. An analysis commissioned
by Emerson of the organization behaviors of Top Quartile
industry performers indicated five essential competencies
for the digital era.
Automated workflow allow focus on exceptions requir-
ing human intervention. Analytics and embedded exper-
tise reduce complexity. Workforce upskilling empowers
personnel to acquire knowledge and experience more
quickly. Mobility provides access to information regardless
of location. Change management accelerates institution-
alization of operational best practices.
Expectations expanding
“Process control has been digitalized already,” said Pe-
ter Zornio, chief technology officer, Emerson Automation
Solutions. “Users expect real-time information, embed-
ded expertise, and a closed-loop system. We can now
do the same thing for other type operations, including
reliability, safety, and energy, for example. In the new era,
core production workers will be focused on collaboration,
interpretation, and analytics, rather than data collection
and reporting.”
Where are we at this moment? One last quotation
taken from the user conference provides a hint:
“Wireless is arguably the most impactful technology for
industrial manufacturers since the introduction of digital
instrumentation more than three decades ago,” said Bob
Karschnia, vice president and general manager, wireless,
Emerson Automation Solutions. “Industrial wireless com-
bined with smart sensors are the foundation to support
cloud-based applications, remote monitoring, and other
IIoT programs over the next decade.” IIoT
IIoT For Engineers NOVEMBER 2017 | 1
IIoT IN THE NEWS
IIoT platforms released
and updated
Suppliers package IIoT capabilities as a solution
K epware released the
KEPServerEX version 6.3
industrial connectivity plat-
form. Key enhancements include
improved create, read, update, and
delete (CRUD) functionality for the
configuration API, time sync func-
tionality for drivers with electronic
flow measurement (EFM) capabili-
ties, a Keyence KV Ethernet driver,
and remote project loading via the
ThingWorx IoT Platform.
“This release will give users more
control over their projects, even
when connecting remotely. With
version 6.3 we’ve also added a
new driver to our industry-leading
portfolio.” said Jeff Bates, Kepware
product manager.
Along with the Keyence KV Ether-
net driver, KEPServerEX version 6.3
also includes:
Enhanced CRUD functionality for
the configuration API: Configuration
API users can now remotely trigger
project saves for any instance of
KEPServerEX, create an object with
a child hierarchy in a single transac-
tion, and create multiple objects in
a single transaction. Configuration
API users can also now make bulk
changes to the configuration and
trigger ATG, enabling faster changes
on larger projects. KEPServerEX
version 6.3 enables users to interact
less with the local configuration
and easily write common code for
objects in disparate projects.
2 | NOVEMBER 2017 IIoT For Engineers
Time sync functionality for driv-
ers with EFM capabilities: Users
can now set a custom time sync
threshold for any driver with EFM
capabilities and ensure no synchro-
nization occurs unless a specific
deviation limit is exceeded. OnPoll,
the new time sync method includ-
ed in version 6.3, also lets users
configure time synchronization to
occur only after an EFM poll. This
reduces network traffic and pro-
vides users more control over time
synchronization.
Remote project loading: Taking
advantage of the existing security
of the ThingWorx native client
interface in KEPServerEX, users can
now import a KEPServerEX project
from a local file store and push the
project down to any connected
instance of KEPServerEX.
Users can easily adjust network
settings and deploy KEPServerEX
projects remotely—while manag-
ing all of their machine instances
from a single ThingWorx platform
interface.
Industrial software
platform reintroduced
Schneider Electric announced
EcoStruxure Industrial Software
Platform, an integrated, modular
software suite that delivers func-
tionality to address operational and
business imperatives in industrial
and infrastructure markets.
According to Schneider, the plat-
form is a “proven solution capability
for engineering, planning and opera-
tions, asset performance, and control
and information management.” With
more than 2 million software licenses
deployed at 100,000+ sites world-
wide, processing 10+ trillion daily
transactions spanning 20+ billion
operating parameters, the platform
operates at a scale to support com-
plex and mission-critical industrial
operations.
The platform is hardware and sys-
tems agnostic and can be deployed in
a scaled, modular fashion.
The platform includes a wide range
of commercial options (Subscription,
SaaS, Perpetual) and deployment
flexibility (on-premise, cloud-based)
for all its available functionality. This
lowers total cost of ownership with-
out compromising risk, data security,
and performance requirements.
The domain-specific functionality
of the industrial software platform
enables business excellence: sup-
ports engineering, operations, asset
management and people enable-
ment. The information management,
business process knowledge and
decision support capability available
across the modules of the platform
are specific to industry problems.
They allow companies to upgrade
competencies, document operational
experience, and develop the next
generation workforce. IIoT
www.controleng.com/IIoT
WORKPLACE TRANSFORMATION

Connect the physical

with the digital
Leaders say, don’t let culture impede technology progress

By Dr. Keshab Panda techniques support these efforts. IIoT IIoT are to enable augmented opera-
gives these companies an opportunity tions, human-robot collaboration, ad-

B
ridging the divide between
the physical and the digital
worlds, the Industrial Internet
of Things (IIoT) transforms how com-
panies function and how work gets
done, based on gains in sensor and
microcontroller technology, connec-
tivity, and analytics. These emerging
technologies are also conceptualized
as Industrie 4.0.
Businesses focus on operational
excellence to streamline and tighten
production processes. Six Sigma
to go beyond Six Sigma, fool-proofing
many activities and processes related
to operational efficiency.
These trends see support in a survey
from L&T Technology Services and
ARC Advisory Group conducted at
this year’s ARC Forum. Half the survey
respondents were with large corpora-
tions having more than $10 billion
in revenue. According to the survey
results, 57% of business leaders and
organizations embrace IIoT for opera-
tions-related work. Key focus areas for
vanced digital-product development,
data-driven control of operations, and
predictive maintenance.
Early adopter feedback shows that
the transition to an IIoT ecosystem
depends on employee initiative. The
survey also highlights that 42% of
business leaders feel that organiza-
tional culture acts as an impendent
to IIoT adoption. Capital expenditure
concerns are also prevalent.
While about 40% of organizations
said their companies are at the pilot

The positive impact of IIoT can be short-term operational efficiency, but it also can have a
long-term influence on resource optimization, product design, and automation. All graphics courtesy L&T Technology Services

www.controleng.com/IIoT IIoT For Engineers NOVEMBER 2017 | 3

WORKPLACE TRANSFORMATION
An IIoT-enabled framework streamlines and integrates a value chain, including with appli-
cations in predictive maintenance, plant performance optimization, and asset tracking.
An IIoT system includes sensors/chips, edge gateway, IoT platform, cloud services, and
data analytics. Bringing together these disparate elements enables the system to be run
as a managed service.
stage of evaluating IIoT, 31% said
they’re already in discussions with
partners and ready for gains on first-
mover advantage. Predictive analytics
and Integrated IIoT are key those
adopting IIoT.
Given the need
Let’s take a step back to discuss
what really makes up an IIoT architec-
ture. In IIoT systems, industrial assets
and operations technology (OT) such
4 | NOVEMBER 2017 IIoT For Engineers
as materials, machines, and plant
control systems, interconnect with
information systems and technology
(IT). Also connected are users, along
with the enterprise business processes
and technology (BT). Once connectiv-
ity and system data flow between OT-
IT and BT is accomplished, data can be
aggregated and analytics applied.
As insights are gained, smart decision-
making leads to intelligent industrial-
operation and business models.
While conventional IIoT frameworks
are available, a scalable and long-
term approach integrates IT, OT, and
BT. While IT deals with increasingly
large databases, OT is about physical
devices and processes, and BT is about
business software applications.
Two typical characteristics of any
IIoT-based system include informa-
tion processing on a 24x7 basis and
real-time constraints imposed by the
environment.
A comprehensive IIoT architecture
might include sensors, for detecting
events or changes; edge gateways that
aggregate and filter sensor data; IIoT
Cloud-enabled platforms, including
smart-signal aggregators and model-
ling algorithms; Big Data analytics,
including machine learning, artificial
intelligence, augmented reality, data
store, and security. The entire system is
meant to run as a managed service.
In addition, technology firms add
IIoT value by offering managed
engineering services as a key building
block of the IIoT system. Managed
services comprise round-the-clock
remote monitoring, predictive main-
tenance using data analytics, and
value engineering. Thus, a new kind
of build-operate-manage model will
increasingly become the paradigm for
technology providers.
Case study examples
Business-process management
and enterprise-resources planning
integrate systems and processes to a
degree. The comprehensive structure
enabled by IIoT takes further steps. An
IIoT-enabled framework can integrate
processes starting from the product-
development stage through manufac-
turing to supply chains. Possible capa-
bilities include data-driven inventory,
remote asset testing and inspection,
data-driven quality control, remote
www.controleng.com/IIoT
service, additive parts manufacturing, IIoT platforms will be a critical suc-
augmented operations, human-robot cess factor for goods makers and ser- Dr. Keshab Panda is CEO and
collaboration, and advanced digital- vices providers. Industries that leverage managing director, L&T Technology
product development. IIoT to integrate data, machines, and Services.
While IIoT is in the early stages people will see impacts on productivity,
of adoption, inspirational narra- efficiency, and operations. IIoT
tives abound. For instance, a global
construction company faced critical
business challenges managing field
assets and equipment. This was ad-
dressed using IIoT technologies that
in turn enabled development of a
remote asset performance manage-
ment framework. The framework
covers 30,000 assets across 500 asset
types. It delivered an estimated 12%
improvement in asset utilization. On-
time asset availability will likely lower
overall costs as well.
Services supporting the solution
implementation included sensor
identification, gateway selection,
sensor-gateway commissioning, and
on-boarding. Such an IIoT system gen-
erates six gigabytes of data per day,
deriving data intelligence from about
2,500 nodes.
In another instance, a consumer-
goods manufacturer addressed the
operational disruptions caused by
frequent compressor failures in its
manufacturing plants using IIoT tech-
nologies. The system used predictive
analytics to proactively estimate time
to failure, using anomaly indica-
tors including temperature, current,
vibration, and other parameters. The
model works at more than 70% inac-
curacy and is estimated to result in
annual savings of about $500,000.

The impact to come

According to a report by McKinsey
& Co. Inc, IIoT will have a potential
economic impact of up to $6.2 trillion
by 2025. McKinsey lists IIoT as one
of the key technologies capable of
economic transformation.
IIoT For Engineers NOVEMBER 2017 | 5
THE DIGITAL WORKPLACE
Best practices for industrial
Cloud computing delineated
Match organizational preferences with the relevant technology requirements
by Melissa Topp
I
ntegrating the Industrial
Internet of Things (IIoT) into
traditional supervisory control
and data acquisition (SCADA) and
human-machine interfaces scenarios
delivers multiple benefits.
Increased scalability follows from
secure access to multiple locations
via cloud platforms, including the
popular Microsoft Azure. Hardware
obsolescence can be alleviated, as the
“heavy lifting” of processor-intensive
analysis can be off-loaded. Connectiv-
ity is enhanced, as increasing num-
bers of devices communicate via IIoT
transport protocols.
One benefit of Internet-based automation is that it allows
centralization of disparate operations, and for expertise to be
more easily brought to bear at remote locations. All graphics courtesy: Iconics
6 | NOVEMBER 2017 IIoT For Engineers
However, without the ability to
connect devices from behind fire-
walls and to publish data securely to
IIoT-integrated applications, organi-
zations may miss out on the promise
of advanced analytics via Cloud com-
puting. If your organization is consid-
ering an IIoT integration strategy, the
answers to the following questions
highlight some best practices.
1. Does your organization
already have existing IoT/cloud-
ready hardware?
Some organizations planned for
IIoT’s emergence, to ensure machin-
ery electronics and discrete devices
in production facilities can transfer
data to a selected cloud service. For
instance, a manufacturer may have
updated assembly machines with
units equipped for more advanced
networking. This works well for
companies that can afford such ret-
rofitting, but might not be the most
cost-effective means of ensuring IIoT
connectivity.
Legacy industrial machinery can be
connected to an IIoT infrastructure.
However, some add-on hardware
connection options often prove,
comparatively speaking, cost-prohib-
itive. That’s where the concept of IoT
gateway devices comes in.
IIoT gateways are lightweight
devices that act as a bridge be-
tween on-premise communications
networks and cloud services, at a
fraction of the cost of an equip-
ment retrofit. These edge devices
provide “southbound” data con-
nectivity to end devices, completely
on-premises. A device also provides
a “northbound” communication
path for connectivity between itself
and the cloud.
IIoT gateways incorporate strict se-
curity requirements. They serve as the
delivery mechanism between the data
generated and stored on-premise and
that shared with the outside world.
Intel, through its IoT Solutions Alliance
program, supports original-design
manufacturers with advanced security
features such as unique hardware IDs,
www.controleng.com/IIoT
secure booting, whitelisting, and dis-
abling of onboard peripherals, such as
USB and com ports. Edge management
is of equal concern when considering
IIoT gateways, as they require remote
management once online and are reg-
istered with a preferred cloud service.
Needed security configuration and
other features are incorporated in
IIoT gateway hardware integrated
with comprehensive IIoT software
solutions.

2. Do you already have a

preferred cloud-services vendor?
Decisions about preferred cloud-
services providers might already have
been made at your organization,
based on on-premise computer,
server, and operating system prefer-
ences, as well as those for network
communication protocols and other
factors. Many industrial users rely
on Microsoft Azure, while others
use Amazon Web Services (AWS) or
Google Cloud Platform. These are
not the only cloud service options,
although they are the biggest. Many
others are available, depending on
location, each with its own strengths
and weaknesses.
For organizations that have not
selected a provider, consider the fol-
lowing:
 What is the pricing structure? Is it
easy to understand, with no possible
hidden fees?
 What is the comparative comput-
ing power? How many processing
nodes are available at any given time?
What type of database integration
is offered—SQL or otherwise? What
types of network integration are
included—load balancing, DNS, VPN,
or another type?
 What are the provided storage
limits? What are the archiving, so-
www.controleng.com/IIoT
In important industries, communications among on-premise machinery and networks with
cloud services involve numerous industry protocols, including OPC UA and Modbus.
called “cold storage,” abilities and
costs?
 Where are the data centers locat-
ed? Will there be anticipated latency
due to distance? How will that effect
connected user experience?
Equally important is how well a
Cloud-services vendor works with
existing or planned IIoT devices
and software solutions. Selecting
solutions that embrace open stan-
dards can help. Ensuring immediate
interoperability is an important first
step in the best practices for indus-
trial cloud computing.
3. Does your organization prefer
specific communication proto-
cols, both for internal use and
pub/sub-based?
In important industries, south-
bound communications between
on-premise machinery and net-
works with cloud services involve
a number of industry protocols,
including:
 OPC Classic specifications are
based on Microsoft Windows tech-
nology, using COM/DCOM (Distrib-
uted Component Object Model) for
data exchange between software
components. The specifications
cover real-time data access (DA),
historical data access (HDA), alarms
and events (A/E), XML data access
(XML-DA), and data exchange (DX),
complex data, security, and batch.
 OPC Unified Architecture (OPC
UA) is an open standard for ex-
changing information in a rich,
object-oriented, and secure way. It
provides a platform-independent
means for mapping and exchanging
real-time information while remain-
ing compatible with the OPC Classic
specification.
 Modbus is an open commu-
nication protocol widely used by
IIoT For Engineers NOVEMBER 2017 | 7
THE DIGITAL WORKPLACE
many manufacturers throughout
multiple industries. The protocol can
cover serial lines (Modbus RTU and
Modbus ASCII) as well as Ethernet
(Modbus TCP).
 Simple Network Management
Protocol (SNMP) allows devices to
expose useful information to other
connected devices. Almost all tradi-
tional IT devices can handle SNMP
requests.
 BACnet is the most widely used
open communications standard in
the building automation industry.
Some organizations might use
a proprietary communications
method, either in unison with one
of the industry standard protocols or
exclusively.
Northbound communications
involve additional protocols, with
the need for high security levels and
often using a pub/sub mechanism.
These protocols include:
 Advanced Message Queuing
Protocol (AMQP) provides flow-
controlled, message-oriented com-
munication with built-in options for
message-delivery guarantees. Au-
thentication and encryption is based
on popular Internet authentication
and data-security protocols such as
Simple Authentication and Security
Layer (SASL) and Transport Layer
Security (TLS). AMQP, optimized for
messaging between devices, sup-
ports read-and-write functionality
for command and control or indus-
trial-automation equipment.
 Message Queuing Telemetry
Transport (MQTT) was created for
SCADA environments and related
networks, using pub/sub to minimize
payloads and overhead with appli-
cation-specific, custom JavaScript
Object Notation (JSON) or binary
formats. Widely accepted in IT
departments worldwide, MQTT has
8 | NOVEMBER 2017 IIoT For Engineers
many open-source examples coded
in multiple popular programming
languages. MQTT is recommended
when network bandwidth is a con-
cern and should always be used in
tandem with a secure communica-
tion method such as TLS.
 Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
Secure (HTTPS) was designed to
serve requests and responses in a
computing model for Web-page
communication. It can more easily
traverse firewalls without the need
for specific IT policies that handle
server request messages and return
responses in the form of resources
such as HTML files, content, and
completion status details.
 Representational State Transfer
(REST)/JSON provides a stateless
means for IoT-friendly informa-
tion access. It leverages the HTTP
transport protocol to deliver data,
typically using JSON, which is a flex-
ible, lightweight format like XML,
to define its presentation.
When considering IIoT hard-
ware devices and accompanying
software solutions, consider both
your organization’s southbound
and northbound communication
requirements.
4. What additional functional-
ity is needed for the industrial
cloud-based solution?
By this point, it may be known
what new equipment is needed
to connect electronic assets to the
cloud, who the preferred cloud-
services provider will be, and what
communication protocols are consid-
ered most important.
Cloud connectivity initially may
have been considered to secure the
benefits of increased scalability with
ensured security, reduced hard-
ware obsolescence, and expanded
connectivity. Additional value can
be obtained via IIoT connectivity.
This includes connected applica-
tions that are provided through a
Cloud-services provider, which take
customer data at the edge and use
it for mobile visualization or analysis.
Examples include energy manage-
ment or fault detection and diagno-
sis, rapid data historian storage and
retrieval.
Some IIoT gateway software
solutions provide seamless integra-
tion for these types of applications.
Off-the-shelf SCADA and other type
interfaces, analytics, and data histo-
rians can connect to a cloud-servic-
es provider, subscribing to an “IIoT
Hub” from where these applications
can ingest the provided data. One
possible use case is energy monitor-
ing, where IIoT gateway software
running on typical IIoT gateway
hardware can connect to popular
energy, gas, or water meters for se-
cure, real-time infrastructure moni-
toring and timely analytics. Another
use case is innovative fault detec-
tion and diagnostics, where the IIoT
software suite can alert personnel
of actions to prevent equipment
failures or excessive energy use.
Cloud-based computing options,
like other emergent technologies,
will continue to evolve. A com-
bined IIoT-integrated hardware and
software solution delivers value in
the forms of equipment monitor-
ing, predictive maintenance, and
operational efficiency. Cognizance
of suggested best practices can lead
to more informed decisions for any
organization’s cloud integration
plans. IIoT
Melissa Topp is senior director of
global marketing at ICONICS
(www.iconics.com)
www.controleng.com/IIoT
Announcing the World’s Most
Advanced Communication Chips for
the Industrial Internet of Things...

netX 90: netX 4000:

Slave Applications Controller Class Applications

Built-in Security: Designed for the IIoT:

• Secure boot and cryptography • Industrial IoT ready
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HTTPS, OPC UA, MQTT, VPN devices to cloud and IT services
• IEC 62443 compatible • Future proof
Enables layered security for Flexibly adapts by software to
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• Multiple processors • Multiprotocol capability visit www.hilscher.com,
Logical separation of Pre-certified firmware for all popular www.netIOT.com
communication and Industrial Ethernets and Fieldbuses
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• Partitioned design Feature-rich set of standard and
Restricts software access industry-related peripherals
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• Ten-year availability real-time networking

©2017 Hilscher North America, Inc. All trademarks are the properties of their respective companies.
THE IIoT LEXICON
Core technologies make
edge-intelligence possible
Development environments combine device management,
connectivity, Cloud, and analytics
By Kurt Au
A
s the Industrial Internet of
Things (IIoT) evolves it’s im-
pacted by the same integra-
tion challenges as previous automa-
tion generations. Besides changing
requirements, many different hard-
ware and software technologies and
applications apply. However, today,
with open standards, these diverse
elements can be melded together to
deliver solutions.
In IIoT product and application
development, developers’ goals may
include:
 Support heterogeneous sensors
and actuators via the Internet.
 Integrate heterogeneous wired
and wireless connectivity proto-
cols, including Modbus, LoRa,
Sigfox, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and
others.
 Port original software to differ-
ent hardware, including MCU,
x86/ARM CPU, GPU, and others,
and operating systems that
include Microsoft Windows,
Linux Distributions, mbed OS,
Android, and others.
 Connect cloud services that might
include WISE-PaaS, Microsoft
Azure, IBM Bluemix, and others.
 Maintain data ownership and
integrity and understand its impli-
cations for security and privacy.
10 | NOVEMBER 2017 IIoT For Engineers
 Quickly develop robust applica-
tions.
 Deploy, update, upgrade, and
maintain large numbers of
devices and services.
 Transform Big Data into valuable
business information.
Thus, an IIoT product or solution
must meet challenges related to
sensors, connectivity, security, Cloud
‘
Emerging architectures
help companies develop
complex IIoT infrastruc-
tures in an integrated
’
ecosystem
services, storage, device hardware,
device maintenance, edge/Cloud
analytics, system integration, appli-
cation development, and so on. The
first challenge many companies face
is migrating to an IoT application
while balancing design time, time-
to-market, and risk.
Anatomy of a network
IoT data can be large in volume.
Applications typically have real-time
requirements. Transmitting massive
amounts of raw data puts a load on
network resources. Often it is more
efficient to process data near its
source and send only the valuable
fraction to a Cloud center.
Edge computing is a distributed
information technology (IT) architec-
ture in which client data is processed
at the periphery of the network, as
close to the originating source as
possible. Time-sensitive data in edge
computing may be processed at the
point of origin by an intelligent
device or sent to an intermediary
server located in close geographical
proximity. Data that is less time-
sensitive can be sent to the Cloud for
historical analysis, Big Data analytics,
and long-term storage.
Companies must have the means
to manage the edge-computing
paradigm, whether the solution
be referred to as an infrastructure,
architecture, platform, or server. What
Advantech calls its edge intelligence
server (EIS) solution enables local IIoT
networks to allow edge intelligence
to maximize energy efficiency, reduce
privacy threats, promote ease of
implementation and modularization,
and minimize latencies.
IIoT software platform services are
based on three key components: the
IIoT node, edge-Intelligence server,
and Cloud services. The following
describes some technology choices
any supplier or using enterprise must
make in developing its platform.
www.controleng.com/IIoT
An IIoT software platform includes IIoT nodes, edge-intelligence server, and cloud services. Graphic images courtesy: Advantech
For edge-device development,
“southbound” sensing-device con-
nectivity must handle diverse sensing
protocols, such as Modbus, OPC,
BACnet, and Wireless IP/NonIP. These
protocols can be handled by plug-in
modules that process sensor data, data
normalization, and communications.
The solution then handles the
“northbound” Cloud connectivity
and intelligence facilities using the
microservice container paradigm to
modularize the different Cloud con-
nections and enable device manage-
ment. Similarly, intelligence facilities
also adopt the microservice container
architecture to support the data
ingestion workload, such as data pre-
processing and cleaning.
Perhaps most valuable of all is the
on-demand, real-time analytics service
that extracts pre-set data features, in
www.controleng.com/IIoT
real time, as data is generated. A
predictive maintenance and quality
capability serves as a proof-of-con-
cept for edge field prediction.
Using companies extend this
framework to develop analytic or
predictive-maintenance modules via
the architecture’s open standard,
based on the ubiquitous MQTT
communications protocol and the
modularizing Docker container
technology.
Other technologies, like RESTful
API, MQTT, and Node-RED, facilitate
drag-and-drop application develop-
ment. Node-RED and the configura-
tion utility make it easy to imple-
ment custom applications. Moreover,
well-documented SDK-with-MQTT
sample code and the RESTful API
interface allow advanced developers
to fulfill high-level requirements.
The last component is Cloud
services, with SSL/TLS communica-
tions and Intel Security both on
the edge device and for Cloud. The
data service can provide the Post-
greSQL DB and Mongo NoSQL DB
as standard offerings, and supports
a standard integration interface
with a wide range of data pro-
cessing and storage products. The
dashboard website serves as the
IoT application user interface, and
displays information via browser or
mobile device through visualization
facilities such as Azure Power BI or
Tableau.
At end of day, a platform pro-
vides a marketplace for sourcing
diverse IoT software utilities, provid-
ing pure Cloud solutions such as
database, dashboard, and machine-
learning tools.
IIoT For Engineers NOVEMBER 2017 | 11
THE IIoT LEXICON
Further explication
Now let’s look a little more
closely at some of the technologies
previously mentioned.
MQTT is a simple, lightweight
publish/subscribe messaging pro-
tocol used for constrained devices
and low-bandwidth, high-latency,
or unreliable networks. The service
publishes its capability and data to
an MQTT broker and subscribes to
specific topics for input interfaces.
A RESTful API defines a set of
functions that developers use
to perform requests and receive
responses via HTTP protocols, such
as GET and POST. Because REST-
ful APIs use HTTP as a transport,
they can be used by practically any
programming language and are
easy to test. It’s a requirement of
Edge computing is a distributed IT architecture in which client data is processed at the network periphery, as close to the originating
source as possible.
12 | NOVEMBER 2017 IIoT For Engineers
a RESTful API that the client and 
server are coupled loosely and
remain independent of each other,
allowing either client or server
to be coded in any language and 
improved upon at will, which leads
to system longevity and ease of
evolution. 
The RESTful API specifies what
it can provide and how it can be 
used, and requires that details such
as query parameters, response
format, request limitations, public 
use/API keys, methods (GET/POST/
PUT/DELETE), language support,
callback usage, HTTPS support, and 
resource representations should all
be self-descriptive. 
The properties impacted by the
constraints of the RESTful architec-
tural style include:
Component interactions can be
the dominant factor in user-per-
ceived performance and network
efficiency.
Scalability to support large num-
bers of components and interac-
tions among components.
The simplicity of a uniform
interface.
Modifiability of components
to meet changing needs, even
while the application is running.
Visibility of communication
between components by service
agent.
Portability of components by mov-
ing program code with the data.
Resistance to failure at the
system level despite failures of
components, connectors, or
data.
www.controleng.com/IIoT
 A microservice architecture pat-
tern allows a designer to split the
application into sets of smaller, inter-
connected services instead of having
a single monolithic application. A
service typically implements distinct
features or functionalities, such as
connectivity management, vertical
application, or other. Each microser-
vice is a mini-application with its
own architecture, including business
logic along with various adapters.
Containerization is an OS-level
virtualization method for deploying
and running distributed applications
without launching an entire virtual
machine (VM) for each application.
Instead, multiple isolated subsys-
tems, called containers, run on one
control host and access a single
kernel. Containers share the same
OS kernel as the host and are usu-
ally more efficient than VMs, either
of which requires a separate OS
instance.
A Docker container wraps up a
piece of software in an independent
subsystem, complete with file sys-
tem and everything it needs to run:
code, runtime, system tools, system
libraries, and anything that may be
installed on a server. This guaran-
tees that it always runs the same,
regardless of environment.
Containers hold the components
necessary to run the desired ap-
plication, such as files, environment
variables, and libraries. The host OS
also constrains the container’s ac-
cess to physical resources—such as
CPU and memory—so one container
cannot consume all of a host’s
physical resources.
Node-RED is available as open
source, and is implemented by the
IBM Emerging Technology organiza-
tion. It includes a browser-based
flow editor that easily wires flows
www.controleng.com/IIoT
together using the wide range of
nodes in the palette. Flows can
then be deployed to runtime with
a single click. The flows created in
Node-RED are stored using JSON,
and can be imported and exported
for sharing with others. It can be
run at the edge of the network
or in the cloud. The node pack-
age manager ecosystem is used to
extend the palette of nodes avail-
able, enabling connections to new
devices and services.
Freeboard provides simple, real-
time visualization of key perfor-
mance indicators. This tool opens
up many possibilities for IoT proj-
ects because it’s simple, affordable,
open source, and ready for exten-
sion. Customers can get started
for free and then when it is time
to ramp up, they can select a plan
that’s right for them.
Architecture alignment
An architecture of the type under
discussion can be classified into five
category layers. Each is implemented
as its own microservice, using an
MQTT broker as the communication
bus. All microservices interface with
other microservices or clients. At
runtime, each instance is a Docker
container. This makes it easy to de-
ploy distinct experiences for specific
users, devices, or special-use cases.
Containerization is an OS-level
virtualization method for deploying
and running distributed applications.
1. The bottom layer of the
architecture is the sensor network
connectivity layer. Wired sensors
support various types, including
supervisory control and data acquisi-
tion (SCADA), Modbus, and OPC-
UA. The network connectivity layer
collects data, manages sensor hubs,
translates sensor protocols to the
MQTT protocol, then passes data to
the MQTT communication bus.
2. The SDK layer provides soft-
ware services such as EIS RESTful
API, HDD Fault Prediction Algorithm
Service, and so on. Developers call
these services through RESTful API or
MQTT. Users add their own services,
such as Machine Learning Platform,
Data Base engine, and so on.
3. A flow-based layer has Node-
RED as the data-flow design engine,
plus add-ons such as SUSI API,
WSN, and HDD prediction nodes.
Users design logic paths via simple
drag-and-drop operations in a
graphical environment.
4.The management and presen-
tation UI interface layer. A Webmin
for system administration and IoT
connection configuration uses the
Node-RED-UI for presenting IoT/sen-
sor data.
5.The Cloud layer may be pre-
installed, as for example, with the
WISE-Agent connected to WISE-
PaaS/RMM Cloud Server.
Concluding observations
A flexible and scalable hardware/
software architecture helps compa-
nies develop complex IoT infrastruc-
ture in an integrated ecosystem that
serves different vertical markets.
Such an architecture can be cus-
tomized, combining several software
services; it is then installed on differ-
ent hardware depending on require-
ments. IIoT
Kurt Au is a product manager in the
Advantech Embedded IoT Group.
IIoT For Engineers NOVEMBER 2017 | 13
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