MQTT protocol becomes a solution for M2M communication
MQTT protocol becomes a solution for M2M communication
Telemetry is a relatively old concept in the field of communications. At the beginning of the last century, sensors had the ability to send signals over long distances, which allowed scientists to remotely monitor terminal machines and other activities. Now, with the help of computer processors, machines can receive data from sensors and other machines and perform related operations, thereby achieving machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. Nowadays, with the widespread use of the Internet in the fields of data and information communication, the development of standard protocols is imminent.
The specific meaning of the Internet of Things varies by use. In terms of business and industry, they can be divided into two categories: the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and the Internet of Things (IoT). The main differences between the two are:
1) IoT can be used in many market segments, including consumer goods, agriculture, manufacturing, and medical; IIoT is mainly targeted at industrial applications, such as manufacturing and energy industries. The scope of IoT is wider, and IIoT is only a subset of IoT.
2) IoT focuses on consumer groups. IIoT is used to access as much data as possible to adjust industrial manufacturing processes and maximize supply chain efficiency.
3) Although IoT can generate a large amount of data to improve the consumer experience, IIoT data is larger and more important, which can ensure the safety of the operation process and related personnel.
The main challenge for the development of IoT and IIoT is how to deal with the large amount of data collected.
What exactly is MQTT?
This is my first reaction to this interesting topic. First, let's understand the meaning of these acronyms:
Message: In short, MQTT includes a data source that publishes messages to the "Broker", and then the agent pushes the message to all devices or terminals that have subscribed to the topic.
Queue (Queuing): Although the name includes the word "queue", MQTT is not a queue-based protocol. Obviously this item has not been used in more processes throughout the protocol.
Telemetry: The key to IoT and IIoT. Data transmission is the core of telemetry technology.
Transport: Point-to-point data transmission through a central hub or agent.
MQTT is a simple hub-and-spoke system: communication between sensors, applications, and devices is achieved through a central agent running in the data center. The devices also do not attempt to communicate with each other, because all data goes through a central proxy, from the perspective of processing requirements. MQTT is lightweight, so it can be used for a variety of applications in network environments where bandwidth and latency are limited (such as a typical manufacturing site). MQTT is simple and fast. The whole operation is divided into: connection, authentication, communication, and termination. As the amount of data increases, the simplicity and light weight of the MQTT protocol makes it very scalable. The MQTT protocol is ideal for large remote network systems involving many sensors, such as power lines, pipelines, and oil wells.
Above, we introduced the differences between the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and the Internet of Things (IoT), and the meaning of MQTT. Next, we will introduce the application of the MQTT protocol.
A large number of application examples
In addition to being able to monitor long-distance oil pipelines and other energy transmission scenarios, MQTT's streamlined low-bandwidth features make it suitable for many other applications. Applications for home automation include heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, smart devices, and security systems (Figure 1). For example, in home gardening, the light, temperature and humidity sensors will transmit the collected real-time data to the corresponding subscribers (receivers), and then they will automatically water remotely based on these data to achieve high-tech management. Geeks even use the MQTT protocol and Arduino or Raspberry Pi to control Christmas light shows. And medical monitoring, transportation network monitoring, asset tracking, environmental status inspection, climate data recording, and automatic kiosk monitoring are also using the MQTT protocol.
Home automation — an application of the MQTT protocol
to sum up
Timely and accurate information is very useful for improving the performance of consumer IoT and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) systems. As the amount of data that needs to be analyzed and used increases day by day, it is very necessary to establish protocols and methods for information sharing. MQTT can improve system scalability, minimize long-distance transmission delays, and occupy a small amount of bandwidth. It also minimizes the impact of transmission interruptions common in actual production environments, and has become an important protocol in the field of M2M communications.
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