A Modular Industrial Gateway is a crucial component in the realm of industrial IoT (Internet of Things), acting as a bridge between legacy industrial systems and modern, connected networks. It is specifically tailored and created for industrial settings and IoT applications. Industrial gateway connects local network resources with remote assets situated on another network or in the cloud, just like any gateway operating at the network’s edge. With the aim of absorbing data created on the factory floor and transmitting it upstream for additional processing, an industrial gateway is often implemented on devices on the factory floor, production equipment, and sensors close to the edge. It can connect systems using a variety of network protocols, just as these edge gateways, and frequently include on-board processing to protect, filter, and manage complicated data flows. It facilitate seamless communication between different protocols and standards, allowing data from various sensors, machines, and devices to be aggregated, processed, and transmitted to cloud platforms or central control systems.

They often come equipped with robust security features to protect sensitive industrial data from cyber threats. Industrial gateways enable real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and advanced analytics, enhancing operational efficiency and productivity. Like any other IoT Gateway Design that operate at the edge of a network, it connects devices and resources in the local network environment with remote assets for information / data collection and aggregation. Modular Gateway can link systems employing diverse network protocols, while often providing on-board processing to secure, filter and manage complex data flows. The IoT Gateway Design is an edge device which can receive data flows from hundreds of individual sensors, and other devices – over network schemes like Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and funnel them to the network edge where the data can be processed or transmitted. This IoT Gateway Design case study showcases Mistral’s expertise in providing end-to-end product design and development of various Industrial Automation solutions, in this case, an Industrial IoT Gateway Design.

The Customer

The customer is one of the leading companies of the industrial sector that manufactures devices and software with next generation production systems like Modular Industrial Gateway and Energy Meter. The company provides turnkey solutions for monitoring the productivity potential of industrial sites and commercial buildings.

Industrial Gateway (IoT Gateway Design) – Requirement

The customer approached Mistral to design and develop a Linux based Modular Industrial Gateway. They were looking to build an Industrial Gateway / RTU which would capture industrial parameters like temperature and pressure while generating notifications if the parameters cross a defined upper or lower limit. 

The main features of the Modular Industrial Gateway Design are:

• The IoT Gateway Design had to gather or deliver data over MODBUS protocol and IEC62056-2 with a Web based GUI for Configuration and Monitoring
• Had to be compliant to multiple safety and security certifications and regulations (EN 55022, EN 55024, IEC 61000)
• Had to provide Event-based logging functionality
• Automatic SMS and e-mail notification triggered by defined alarms
• Configuration and Monitoring support through Modbus TCP
• The IoT Gateway design had to consist of an Automatic Meter Reading Web-service Client
• Had to support for both 2G and 3G GSM, GPRS Interface
• Connection to Open VPN servers
• Connect to VPN servers supporting PPTP and IPSec
• SNMP support, trap broadcast
• Multiple digital / analog input and output interface support
• Support for multiple types of RTDs
• DIN2 enclosure
• The Industrial Gateway had to supports Modbus Slave RTU devices
• Multi Language support
• Supporting role based multi-user and multi session.

Industrial IoT Gateway Design Provided

Mistral developed the complete Modular Gateway design, managing the entire product development cycle from concept to production. The Modular IoT Gateway Design and development services offered by Mistral included, hardware design, porting of Linux, web-based UI development, middleware development and product qualification. The Industrial Gateway design is built around Texas Instruments ARM based Sitara processor with following features:

• Eight Analog inputs and Two Analog outputs
• Two RTD inputs
• Eight Digital IOs
• Four Relay controls
• Quad Band and 3G Data connectivity
• Operating supply range: 9-36V
• Operating temperature range of -20 C to 70 C

The initial Industrial IoT Gateway Design was done on a reference platform, for early software development. Mistral used this development platform as a reference design, customized it to meet the form factor requirements of the prototype and developed the solution. The Web based/GUI was developed for configuration and monitoring the IoT Gateway Design. Based on the parameters defined, the Modular Gateway provides alarms and notifications to the user. At Mistral, we designed the Modular Industrial Gateway or IoT Industrial Gateway Design in two stages – First w.r.t functional completion that includes design, development. The second stage covered the Certifications and production worthiness activities of the Industrial IoT Gateway Design.

IoT Industrial Gateway certifications

The Industrial IoT Gateway Design was made compliant to all the below standards:

• Radiated Emission and Conducted Emission as per EN55022 Class A
• Radiated Susceptibility as per IEC 61000-4-3 Level 2
• Conducted Susceptibility as per IEC 61000-4-6 Level 2
• ESD Immunity as per IEC 61000-4-2 Level 2
• EFT Immunity as per IEC 61000-4-4 Level 2
• Surge Immunity as per IEC 61000-4-5 Level 2
• Power Frequency Magnetic field Immunity as per IEC 61000-4-8 Level
• 1Power DIP as per IEC 61000-4-11
• General EMI/EMC guidelines along with additional protection diodes were used during design and layout of the Industrial Gateway to make sure that these standards meet the desired results.

Key Achievements

• Mistral’s team worked on the complete product design of Modular Gateway including developing UI and certifications
• The Industrial IoT Gateway design adhered to all safety and security standards
• Mistral ensured uniform device input/output calibration which required high precision and accuracy
• Mistral achieved very high accuracy RTD inputs for the Modular Gateway which support all RTD types
• Interfacing Web and I/O drivers
• Modbus Device Scan Support for RS-485 ports
• Developed Analog In and RTD calibration application.

Read the full case study about the Industrial IoT Gateway Design to know more about the complete Industrial Gateway Web application and I/O Drivers implemented, Embedded Database and more.