Data Connectivity Made Easy

APM Studio can connect to many different data sources and devices, enabling the simultaneous use of historic process and event data as well as real-time data from sources.

Data can come from:

• Control systems: DCS/SCADA, such as Honeywell Experion PKS, Siemens PCS7, Emerson’s Delta-V, ABB’s 800xa via OPC UA, MQTT, Modbus, etc.;
• PLCS and Edge Computers: Programmable Logic Controllers, such as WAGO’s, Different models from Phoenix Contact and many other vendors that support Docker deployment either on their PLC or Edge computer such as Hilscher‘s devices;
• Enterprise Asset Management and Maintenance Management Systems: such as: UpKeep, Fluke’s eMaint, IBM’s Maximo, SAP-PM, IFS-Ultimo and Infor, typically using the REST-APIs;
• Data historians: Storing time-series data, and sometimes alarm and event data, of your processes and assets, such as AVEVA’s PI, Aspentech’s IP21, Rockwell’s FactoryTalk, Yokogawa’s Exaquantum, InfluxDB and many more;
• Data bases: Storing time-series data, configuration data, alarm and event data, of your processes and assets, such as Microsoft’s SQL Server, ORACLE, MySQL and PostgreSQL;
• Cloud Systems: Providing access to cold/warm/hot path data in Azure and AWS and specific vendor OEM solutions such as Endress & Hauser’s Netilion.

To connect to this variety of data sources APM Studio provides a set of native connectors for OT, IIoT, Enterprise Systems and Databases:

• OPC UA: OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) is a cross-platform, open-source, IEC62541 standard for data exchange from sensors to cloud applications developed by the OPC Foundation.
• The Open Industry 4.0 Open Edge Communication: The Open Edge Computing (OEC) – Development Guideline is the result of the activities within the Open Edge Computing work group of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance. It defines northbound interfacing of Edge compute to on-premise and operator cloud systems.
• MQTT: MQTT is an OASIS standard messaging protocol for the Internet of Things (IoT). It is designed as an extremely lightweight publish/subscribe messaging transport that is ideal for connecting remote devices with a small code footprint and minimal network bandwidth.MQTT today is used in a wide variety of industries, such as automotive, manufacturing, telecommunications, oil and gas, etc.
• Modbus TCP: Modbus or MODBUS is a client/server data communications protocol in the application layer. It was originally designed for use with programmable logic controllers (PLCs), but has become a de facto standard communication protocol for communication between industrial electronic devices in a wide range of buses and networks. Modbus TCP/IP (sometimes referred to as the Modbus TCP protocol or just Modbus TCP) is a variant of the Modbus family of simple, vendor-neutral communication protocols intended for supervision and control of automation equipment.
• AMQP: The Advanced Message Queuing Protocol is an open standard application layer protocol for message-oriented middleware. The defining features of AMQP are message orientation, queuing, routing, reliability and security.
• REST-API: A REST API (also called a RESTful API or RESTful web API) is an application programming interface (API) that conforms to the design principles of the representational state transfer (REST) architectural style. REST APIs provide a flexible, lightweight way to integrate applications and to connect components in microservices architectures.
• AzureBlob Data Sources: Azure Blob Storage is Microsoft’s object storage solution for the cloud. Blob Storage is optimized for storing massive amounts of unstructured data. Unstructured data is data that doesn’t adhere to a particular data model or definition, such as text or binary data
• Netilion: Netilion is a multi-brand and cloud-based Industrial IoT ecosystem by Endress&Hauser, designed for processes in industrial process engineering. It connects the physical and the digital world. With Netilion we use digitalization to make knowledge available to our customers to support and optimize their processes and make fact-based decisions fast – anywhere at any time.
• SQL Databases: SQL databases, also known as relational databases, are systems that store collections of tables and organize structured sets of data in a tabular columns-and-rows format, similar to that of a spreadsheet. The databases are built using structured query language (SQL), the query language that not only makes up all relational databases and relational database management systems (RDBMS), but also enables them to “talk to each other”. SQL Databases are Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL etc.

These connectors are create, configure, and go type of interfaces. Some like Netilion build based on APM’s advanced querying, of the data model in Netilion, an object model that represents your assets automatically.