RTU-X

Nettra

Platform

ThingsBoard

Hardware Type

Other devices

Connectivity

Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth LE, GSM/GPRS, RS-485, RS-232

Industry

Smart Cities, Industrial Manufacturing, Transportation & Logistics, Energy Management

Use Case

Environment Monitoring, Smart Metering, Smart Farming, Smart Energy

Try this device in ThingsBoard

Introduction

The Nettra RTU-X is an IoT controller with digital and analog inputs and outputs, and integrated communication interfaces: modem, Ethernet, Bluetooth, 802.15.4, RS-485, RS-232, and GPS. It is configurable via the RTU-X Configuration Interface and runs a fully customizable script written in the Nettra scripting language.

This guide describes how to connect an RTU-X to ThingsBoard over Wi-Fi using MQTT, and visualize device data on a dashboard.

Prerequisites

Hardware:

• Nettra RTU-X — 1×
• 12 VDC power supply — 1×

Software:

• RTU-X Configuration Interface
• ThingsBoard instance: use ThingsBoard Cloud or install a local server

Connection diagram

Configure ThingsBoard

Create a device

1. Go to Entities > Devices and click + to add a new device. Enter RTU-X as the name, leave the device type as default, and click Add.

   

2. Open the device details and click Copy access token. Save this token — it will be used as $RTU_DEMO_TOKEN in the MQTT configuration.

   

Import the dashboard

Download the RTU-X dashboard JSON and import it into ThingsBoard. See the dashboard import instructions for details.

Connect RTU-X to PC

The RTU-X creates a Wi-Fi access point on first use. Connect to it to configure the device, then switch it to join your local network.

1. Power on the RTU-X and connect your PC to the RTU-X-****** Wi-Fi access point it broadcasts.

2. Open the RTU-X Configuration Interface. Go to Home, click TCP/IP, enter IP 192.168.4.1 and port 502, then click Connect.

   

3. Once connected, the interface shows the device status.

   

4. Go to Communications > Wifi, Serial, Modbus. Click Station and enter your Wi-Fi network credentials. Click Apply Changes.

   

5. Go back to Home and note the IP address shown under WiFi STA information. Disconnect from the RTU-X access point, reconnect your PC to your local network, then reconnect the Configuration Interface using the new IP address.

   

Configure RTU-X

MQTT

1. Go to Communications > MQTT.

2. Configure the MQTT connection:

   Field	Value
   Interface	Modem
   Format	ThingsBoard
   URI	mqtt://mqtt.thingsboard.cloud:1883
   Password	$RTU_DEMO_TOKEN (access token from the Create device step)

3. Click Apply Changes.

   

Load the script

Download the RTU-X script JSON or use the code below.

/*
 * DESCRIPTION:
 * - Send a variable to a ThingsBoard dashboard every 10 seconds.
 */

// Attributes
shared uint tLog = 10;

// Telemetry
telemetry float variable;

// Main loop
while (1)
{
    variable = 15;
    delay_loop(tLog * 1000);  // 10 seconds
    log(variable);
}

1. Go to User Interface and click Load to import the script file.

2. Click Compile & Apply to compile and deploy the script to the RTU-X.

   

Verify data

1. In ThingsBoard, open Entities > Devices, click the RTU-X device, and go to the Latest telemetry tab. The variable key should appear with the value sent by the script.

   

2. Open the imported RTU-X dashboard to see the analog gauge displaying the live value.