“Plug-and-Cloud with the IoT Bus Coupler

Beckhoff EK9160 IoT Bus Coupler transmits all control data simply, safely and cost-effectively to all common cloud systems in plug-and-play fashion. The new coupler establishes a direct connection to the cloud without special control programming between I/O and the Internet of Things (IoT). Thus, the coupler enables simple and standard integration of I/O data with cloud-based communication and data services.

On an integrated web server, I/O data can be parameterized, such as in data processing and timing, through a simple configuration dialogue. No special engineering tools are needed. The coupler autonomously transmits the data, including time stamp, to the cloud service. Apart from that, extended mechanisms are available, including local buffering of I/O data on a microSD card (2 GB) to protect against data loss when the Internet connection is interrupted. The cloud services and security functions (encryption, firewall) can be configured with the web server in the same way.

All major cloud systems are supported with the IoT protocols AMQP, MQTT and OPC UA (over AMQP): Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), SAP HANA, as well as private cloud systems in company networks.

For data communication, the IoT Bus Coupler uses the publisher/subscriber communication principle. As a publisher, it sends data to the cloud, enabling other applications to access the information as a subscriber. It can then publish data if required, which in turn can be accessed by the IoT Bus Coupler. The devices do not need to “know” each other or individual IP addresses, rather only the central message broker, so the individual applications operate in “decoupled” mode. Moreover, communication for both the publisher and subscriber is always active and directed externally. Both of these factors mean that the firewall configuration and setup in the IT infrastructure of a company are simplified considerably.

Beckhoff Automation
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