Development and Integration of an Industrial Automation System based on the MQTT Protocol

Industry 4.0 is a complex term used to describe the digital transformation of the manufacturing and industrial systems. It emphasizes connectivity, automation and real-time data integration. The Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol is one of the main driving forces behind this transformation. It is a lightweight, publish-subscribe messaging standard designed for efficient communications in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) environments. The MQTT protocol provides seamless connectivity between diverse industrial devices, ensuring efficient data collection, transmission and integration with minimal network overhead. The MQTT gateways are among the key elements in the modern industrial automation applications and processes, but they also can bridge the legacy industrial systems and the advanced modern IIoT platforms. This is done by the translation of the traditional protocol data units into MQTT messages, which transforms the legacy systems into Industry 4.0-compliant solutions. The MQTT broker, acting as a central hub in the communication ecosystem, manages the message distribution among all connected devices, ensuring data availability for the analytical, monitoring and decision-making systems. At the present moment of time, this architecture is enabling scalable, interoperable and real-time data exchange, driving efficiency, predictive maintenance and smarter industrial operations in the era of Industry 4.0. This paper presents the design, development and integration of a sophisticated modern industrial automation system, which is based on MQTT and is representing the essence of the Industry 4.0 paradigm.