Bridging the Gap: Microcontroller Approaches to Industrial Connectivity Evolution

The Revolution of Industrial Connectivity: A Microcontroller-Based Approach for IIoT Integration the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has revolutionized connectivity in industrial environments, improving the transmission of data from various equipment, such as measurement devices and production machinery, to cloud systems via internet networks. This transformative evolution has facilitated the establishment of comprehensive databases for efficient data storage and robust performance analysis. IIoT Gateways have emerged as crucial components for seamlessly integrating industrial device data into cloud environments, enabling uninterrupted data exchange between industrial controllers-particularly programmable logic controllers (PLCs)-and cloud systems. This study explores the implementation of a microcontroller (ESP32) to interface with industrial control devices, notably the PLC Siemens Simatic S71200 1214C AC/DC/RLY, leveraging the Modbus TCP/IP communication protocol. Concurrently, data transmission to cloud systems is coordinated using MQTT and REST API protocols. The research highlights the IIoT Gateway's efficacy in facilitating efficient data transmission to cloud systems, leveraging the functionalities of both MQTT and REST API protocols. Furthermore, the device demonstrates remarkable adaptability in manipulating data types to conform to diverse protocol communication formats. This adaptability includes converting 32-bit Float data into a message set compatible with MQTT and REST API standards, as well as transforming message set data into 16-bit Integer format for seamless transmission back to PLCs, thereby enabling effective device control through the Modbus TCP/IP communication protocol.