OT Link Platform Components Overview

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Get acquainted with OT Link Platform with the following descriptions for each of the main components.

DeviceHub

DeviceHub provides the mechanism for connecting to physical devices (PLCs, sensors, etc.) to collect data from them.

  • DeviceHub needs to be configured for southbound connections, including connections to PLCs.
  • DeviceHub collects data from physical devices and publishes it to an internal message broker. The data can be sent securely to the cloud via DataHub, or it can be managed locally and sent to any desired destination, or both.
  • DeviceHub’s main purpose is to collect data from PLCs (Programmable Logic Controller), classify the data by adding OMA tagging, and publish it to a Message Broker subject for further distribution.
  • PLC-level statistics and input/output data can be obtained at the edge using DeviceHub.
  • There are 35+ device drivers included in DeviceHub. DeviceHub supports many PLC manufacturers, such as Siemens, Allen-Bradley, Mitsubishi, Omron, etc.

DataHub

  • DataHub enables northbound cloud connectivity. Use DataHub to send edge-level data securely to Workload Orchestrator.
  • DataHub enables local connections to the cloud using the MQTT protocol. DataHub buffers the data and if the connection drops out, no data is ever lost. DataHub enables OT Link Platform to run offline, but can push all offline data to the cloud once an internet connection is established. This helps in situations where network connectivity is not always reliable. 
  • The capacity of the data is limited by the hardware footprint and the data is discarded on a first-in first-out basis. To visualize these connections: Use OT Link Platform Flows to Visualize Data Flows.

DataHub Cloud Connector

DataHub’s native Cloud Connector collects data from the local message broker and local database to push data to the cloud via MQTT, REST, or AMQP. Tightly integrated with the Workload Orchestrator platform, the Cloud Connector gets configured using the JSON file that is created from a Workload Orchestrator model and device configuration. This JSON file populates the Cloud Connector with the required message parameters.

OT Link Platform Flows

The OT Link Platform Flows feature enables visualization of the data flow between nodes, which can be especially useful when troubleshooting connectivity. It provides a browser-based flow editor that makes it easy to wire together flows using the wide range of nodes in the palette. Flows then can be deployed to the run-time software in a single click.