Centralized HMI for Decentralized PLCs in Industrial Lighting Management using IoT Technologies

Standardization is essential for any technological advancement to have widespread adoption, ensure interoperability, enhance compatibility and create a consistent user experience across various platforms and sectors. In industries, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) play a crucial role in automating processes, improving operational efficiency, ensuring safety and providing real-time monitoring and control. The evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) has significantly improved the industrial automation process to a higher level by enhancing the connectivity and data-sharing capabilities of PLCs and HMIs, enabling predictive maintenance and remote management. To meet the increasing demand and seamless integration of diverse industrial devices, many modern PLCs have built-in support for IoT implementation (IoT-ready PLCs) using industrial communication protocols like Ethernet Industrial Protocol (Ethernet/IP), PROFINET, Modbus, etc., with a standard interface. On the other hand, many old PLCs (legacy PLCs) continue to remain influential in industrial automation, managing complex processes. However, they lack built-in support for IoT integration due to different communication interfaces, proprietary protocols, and obsolete technology. Interconnecting these legacy PLCs under a shared network for data exchange, diagnosis, and remote monitoring in the industrial setup is challenging. It demands a huge capital expenditure to replace the existing legacy PLC infrastructure with IoT-ready PLCs. This challenge needs to be addressed through standardization and middleware solutions. This paper presents the integration of different PLCs deployed at diverse locations for the Industrial Lighting Management System (LMS) with a centralized HMI through a shared network using IoT Technologies.