An Internet of Things for Manufacturing (IoTfM) Enterprise Software Architecture

An Internet of Things for Manufacturing (IoTfM) has the potential to boost manufacturing by enabling the ability to monitor, analyze, and adjust production processes. However, manufacturers struggle with individually adhering to the wide variety of protocols utilized by Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This article proposes a low-cost architecture based upon the publish-and-subscribe standard for implementing IoTfM. The proposed system utilizes a message-queuing telemetry transport broker to handle data transfer in addition to a payload format designed for equipment monitoring. Low-cost gateways are used to adapt existing equipment and applications to the proposed architecture. Therefore, the architecture is a low-cost, nonintrusive, and flexible system for implementing IoT applications in production facilities.