The Link of Everything: Industrial IoT Gateway FcloudComm

FcloudComm Industrial IoT Gateway is a dedicated IoT gateway developed to meet the actual needs of interconnectivity in the current IoT field. It is an embedded device that integrates data collection, protocol conversion, and intelligent IoT applications.

FcloudComm is embedded with an industrial data collection and processing system, featuring various communication protocol libraries. It collects data from geographically dispersed underlying PLCs, sensors, and various intelligent devices using multiple methods, and then forwards or pushes the collected data to relevant platforms using industry-standard protocols after reorganizing it.

FcloudComm consists of high-performance embedded hardware and a cloud management platform.

The embedded IoT gateway is based on an industrial-grade hardware platform, embedded with a self-developed industrial data collection and processing system by Likon Technology, primarily used for data collection, forwarding, and reuse, which is the core of business processing in the entire product.

The cloud management platform is the interface for FcloudComm to interact with users, allowing real-time monitoring of the IoT gateway’s operational status, identifying the gateway’s unique identifier, monitoring the gateway’s heartbeat, statistics of the gateway’s online status, alarming for gateway disconnection, recording the number of failures, and other information. Through the platform, remote debugging of the gateway can be achieved with the lowest cost to resolve on-site issues.

• Realize data docking between heterogeneous networks, supporting RS485/232/422, Wifi, 3G/4G network transmission.

• The collection end has over 3000 device communication protocols, with customized services for special protocols.

• Support forwarding of conventional protocols, IoT protocols supporting OPC UA, MQTT.

• Cloud data transmission heartbeat status detection, historical data caching and replenishment during disconnection.

• Measurement point security protection, supporting point collection and directional forwarding of on-site data.

• Online project upgrades, cloud gateway project version management.

• Hardware meets industrial-grade product design, with comprehensive optimization for PCB, power supply, chassis structure, and heat dissipation.

4.1. Remote Operation and Maintenance of Large Equipment Based on ThingLinx Device IoT Cloud Platform

Based on the ThingLinx device IoT cloud platform, comprehensive management and unified tracking of devices sold by manufacturers, distributed in different geographical areas, are conducted. The devices generally use industrial protocols with different communication methods, making it difficult to meet the requirements for devices to go to the cloud. Using FcloudComm, operational parameter data of devices is collected through industrial protocols, and the IoT gateway forwards this data using the MQTT IoT protocol, pushing it to the ThingLinx device IoT cloud platform for real-time monitoring and management of the devices, achieving remote operation and maintenance.

4.2. Scene Device Operation and Maintenance Based on ThingMap

In scenarios such as property management, building management, and transformer substation management, there are various devices or smart instruments, and the communication methods or protocols of each device or smart instrument are not the same, leading to complex device communication and difficulty in achieving cloud management. Using FcloudComm, data from devices or smart instruments in the scene is directly collected via serial port or Ethernet, and the IoT gateway forwards this data using the MQTT protocol, pushing it to the ThingMap device operation and maintenance management platform. This helps operation and maintenance units upgrade to Internet + industry, bringing related facilities deployed in different cities and locations to the cloud, achieving remote operation and management, and improving operation and maintenance levels.