Drives and Controls Magazine
Home
Menu
IoT gateway links field devices to the cloud
Published:  31 July, 2017

Festo has announced an IoT gateway that connects components and modules from the field level to the Festo Cloud via OPC UA. Using the CPX-IoT gateway, it is possible to have preconfigured, customisable dashboards for each component.

The gateway collects information about devices and their statuses via an Ethernet connection and a standardised communication protocol such as OPC UA. It sends that information via a second Ethernet connection, using IoT protocols such as AMQP or MQTT.

The gateway acts as a cloud interface for controllers, ensuring that the relevant information is communicated in the right format at the right time. Data from the components is prepared and monitored in the cloud, allowing trends to be analysed, and early-warning systems and incident notifications to be set up.

Festo's CPX-IoT gateway acts as a cloud interface for controllers

The dashboards, which are viewed in a Web browser, can show traffic-light indications and graphs, as well as diagrams depicting energy use, preventive maintenance information, and performance figures for the process and for equipment effectiveness. Historical data is available.