What is MQTT?

Arlen Nipper discusses the invention of MQTT and how it became the simple and lightweight publish/subscribe messaging protocol we know today. Arlen covers MQTT specifications, messaging standards, and where MQTT is being used.

How MQTT Works

Arlen Nipper goes over the definitions and components you need to understand about MQTT architectures, including publish-and-subscribe, publishing on a topic, topic namespace, payload, MQTT brokers, and MQTT clients.

MQTT Sparkplug Specification

Sparkplug is a specification that defines how to use MQTT in a mission-critical, real-time environment. Arlen Nipper walks through what Sparkplug can do for you in terms of operational data, advancing from legacy register/value information to a single source of truth at the edge. Arlen breaks down MQTT Sparkplug architecture, failover, redundancy, and scale.

MQTT & Ignition

Arlen Nipper discusses Ignition in digital transformation, looking at using a different architecture for OT infrastructures and demonstrating a superior solution. Arlen goes over legacy approaches, poll/response protocols, MQTT modules, middleware, and Sparkplug benefits.

MQTT Distributor Module

Travis Cox downloads, installs, and configures the MQTT Distributor Module for Ignition. The module enables MQTT clients and applications to securely connect, publish, and subscribe to data, supplying data to both operational and business applications throughout the enterprise.

MQTT Transmission Module

Travis Cox installs and configures the MQTT Transmission Module for Ignition. This module allows you to publish any configured tag in Ignition such as OPC, memory, and more to an MQTT server so that applications can subscribe to that data.

Using The MQTT Transmission Module to Publish Data

Travis Cox takes a deeper dive into the MQTT Transmission Module, covering the different ways you can publish data to a single MQTT server or to multiple MQTT servers in parallel. Travis also goes into how to configure service sets and transmitters inside a transmission to accomplish different tasks.

MQTT Engine Module

Travis Cox installs and configures the MQTT Engine Module for Ignition. The module allows us to connect to an MQTT server and subscribe to data. It will automatically discover all the data that’s there and turn that data into usable tags in Ignition that you can add configuration to.

Allow Outbound Tag Writes

By default, when you install the MQTT Engine Module, there’s a setting that blocks the device tag writes. Travis Cox shows how to allow outbound tag writes using the MQTT Engine Module so you can write down to a tag in the PLC on the other side.

Primary Host ID Setting

Travis Cox discusses the primary host ID setting for the MQTT Engine and MQTT Transmission Module. The primary host ID identifies the main application that is receiving the MQTT data to guarantee that data doesn’t get lost and gets delivered to the desired application.

How to Set Up Transport Layer Security

Travis Cox demonstrates how to set up Transport Layer Security (TLS) in the MQTT Distributor, Engine, and Transmission Modules. This is critical for secure and encrypted communication.

Set Up Store-and-Forward System

Travis Cox shows how to set up the store-and-forward system in both the MQTT Engine Module and the MQTT Transmission Module. Store-and-forward is very critical to applications because if you lose connection to either side, you lose data. This demo is a pure MQTT solution, meaning it will work with third-party edge nodes or applications. Travis also shows how to buffer data locally when a connection is down and bring that data back to the historian once the connection is restored.