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PLC KERNEL and ThingsBoard

Intro/Short summary

This article contains instructions on how to configure ThingsBoard PE platform and connect KERNEL devices. ThingsBoard PE platform is an open-source IoT platform for data collection, processing, visualization, and device management. It enables device connectivity via industry standard MQTT protocol. ThingsBoard combines scalability, fault-tolerance and performance so you will never lose your data.

Note

This procedure applies to all KERNEL PLCs with the ARM microprocessor equipped with an Ethernet port.

Integration flow:

Step 1 ThingsBoard : Device configuration

  • [Step 1.1] Login to your ThingsBoard instance.
    Thingsboard 1

  • [Step 1.2] Open “Device Groups” page.
    Thingsboard 2

  • [Step 1.3] Navigate to default Device group “ALL”.
    Thingsboard 3

  • [Step 1.4] Click on the “+” icon in the top right corner of the table and then select “Add Device”.
    Thingsboard 4

  • [Step 1.4a] Input device name. For example, “PLC KERNEL Device”. No other changes are required at this time. Click “Add” to add the device.

  • [Step 1.5] Now your device should be listed first, since the table sorts devices using the time of the creation by default.
    Thingsboard

Step 2 LogiPaint configuration

To connect the PLC KERNEL device you need to get the device credentials first. ThingsBoard supports various device credentials. We recommend using the default auto-generated credentials which is an access token for this guide.

  • [Step 2.1] Click on the device row in the table to open device details.
    Thingsboard 6

  • [Step 2.2] Click “Copy access token”. Token will be copied to your clipboard. Save it to a safe place.
    Thingsboard 7

  • [Step 2.3] Open “LogicPaint”.
    LogicPaint 0

  • [Step 2.4] Connect PLC KERNEL to PC (via Serial).

  • [Step 2.5] Open menu “File” » “Show Ethernet Port Configuration”.
    LogicPaint 1

  • [Step 2.6] Press the button “MQTT Configuration” :
    LogicPaint 2

  • [Step 2.7] Paste the copied access token into the indicated box :
    LogicPaint 3

  • [Step 2.8] Enter the following fields :
    Table 0

  • [Step 2.9] Add a slot for each value that needs to be monitored :
    Table 1

  • [Step 2.10] Close the 2 open windows with the CLOSE button.

  • [Step 2.11] Finally compile and send the application to the KERNEL PLC with the “Compile + Send Application” button.

  • [Step 2.12] Once you have successfully published the “temperature” readings, you should immediately see them in the Device Telemetry Tab. Click on the device row in the table to open device details :
    Thingsboard 6

  • [Step 2.13] Navigate to the “Latest telemetry” tab :
    Thingsboard 8

Step 3 Create dashboard

Finally, the only thing left to do, is create a Dashboard according to your needs. Dashboards are used to collect and display the data set. Data visualization is achieved through a large variety of widgets. Explore guides related to main ThingsBoard features:

Next steps