Implementation and Experimental Application of Industrial IoT Architecture Using Automation and IoT Hardware/Software

The paradigms of Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) require functional architectures to deploy and organize hardware and software taking advantage of modern digital technologies in industrial systems. In this sense, a lot of the literature proposes and describes this type of architecture with a conceptual angle, without providing experimental validation or with scarce details about the involved equipment under real operation. Aiming at overcoming these limitations, this paper presents the experimental application of an IIoT architecture divided into four functional layers, namely, Sensing, Network, Middleware and Application layers. Automation and IoT hardware and software are used to implement and apply the architecture. Special attention is put on the software Grafana, chosen in the top layer to deploy graphical user interfaces that are remotely accessible via web. A pilot microgrid integrating photovoltaic energy and hydrogen served as scenario to test and prove the suitability of the architecture in four application cases.