Component View
The Industreweb platform comprises several components that perform different functions. These components interact to provide the overall architecture, with some of the components residing on the same physical device, whilst others have the option of being deployed on local server infrastructure or cloud hosting as part of a wider Enterprise architecture.
The following content describes the primary role of each component, how it interacts with the other components and how it is utilised by the end user.
Industreweb Collect
Collect is the heart of Industreweb, and is essentially a runtime engine similar to a PLC, but unlike a PLC it can read and write to a wide variety of data sources. Data, irrespective of format or protocol, is converted into a common format through Connectors and their associated Tags. Then through User defined logic rules called Programs, a series of Actions can be implemented based upon Events defined by the User.
Industreweb Global
Global is the Administration front end for Collect and is a web interface with a back end database where configuration data and user preferences are defined. Through Global, the User can set up the data access for one or more Collect engines by defining Connectors and Tags, along with functions to monitor the data. The Admin tools to manage dashboards to visualise the data, called Industreweb Display, are also available.
MQTT Broker
MQTT is an IoT data communication protocol that allows data to be transmitted through Publish and Subscribe functions, and is the core data transmission medium to allow Collect to send signals to other Collect nodes, and to allow data to be stored to database via the Aggregator component and visualised through Display dashboards. Whilst every Collect node comes with a simple built in MQTT broker Industreweb can use any User provided broker of version 3.1 or above.
Industreweb Display
Display is the web dashboarding framework built into Global. It allows the user to design and organise multiple Display screens using UI components such as labels, graphs, dials and many more. Display dashboards also support User input controls that allow a human operator to trigger actions, select values, or enter content that can be accessed by the Collect runtime. Industreweb Display Thin Clients are available as a hardware option that boot seamlessly to the dashboard and can be managed remotely, making it the perfect choice for shopfloor large format display or Andon boards.
Industreweb Aggregator
The Aggregator component is a framework of Services that can save runtime data that is published to the broker from the Collect nodes. It makes it the ideal way to capture data for a range of application including simple data logging through to Industry 4.0 topics like Digital Shadows.