eQBrick IIoT Gateway & Edge Computing Device
Building block for Advanced m2m and IIoT Applications
Remote Monitoring applications
All companies have started adopting Industry 4.0 practices and Digital Transformation initiatives. We have already entered into a new phase called “Era of Real Time Enterprises”. Enterprises need to monitor, measure and control the performance of their plants that function as “distributed islands”. To improve the operating efficiency, the remote plant assets, facilities, buildings, warehouses and production lines must be networked and enterprises should be able to collect meaningful data pertaining to their performance,
consumption of resources, equipment maintenance etc. Implementing IIoT solutions require powerful and cost effective EDGE computing devices and Gateways. To address these requirements, Micromatix is offering the eQBrick family of devices which can function as the EDGE computing device as well as a Gateway. Further an AppEngine can be optionally offered in the eQBrick so that User defined applications can be quickly implemented in the EDGE device.
Overview
eQBrick is the basic hardware building block for implementing very simple to highly sophisticated m2m and IIoT applications. eQBrick can be offered with many types of communication and network interfaces. eQBrick is the MOST IDEAL Edge device which can perform all types of intermediate computing and processing that can be performed as soon as the data is collected from the field devices. eQBrick can be easily interfaced with PLCs, DCS Systems, BMS, RTUs, Wireless Sensors, Remote I/ Os , RFID
Energy Meters, Protective Relays & IIoT Sensors with LoRaWAN interface. Data can be collected from various field devices and transferred in real time to a Central Server using Cell Phone Network (2G or 4G) and/or LoRaWAN . eQBrick comes with multiple options for integrating the data from the Process or Machines with Corporate Applications and Users.
DUAL SIM cards & SD Card
eQBrick can be offered even with DUAL SIM cards so that even if one wireless network is down, the system could communicate through another wireless network. In some cases the field devices may not always be in the connected mode with the server or there could be long interruptions in the internet connectivity. Hence we can have an SD card so that the data collected from Edge Devices can be stored in the SD card when the device is not connected with the server. As soon as the server connectivity is
available, the data stored in the SD Card will be uploaded to the server.
eQBrick
eQBrick can be offered in 3 models so that cost effective systems can be
easily deployed. These devices can be offered with RS232, RS485, SD Card, Ethernet and 2G/4G interfaces. Other interfaces such as Bluetooth,
LoRaWAN , GPS etc can be offered optionally. Even I/O modules are
available and they can be included with this EDGE device.
eQBrick Nano This device is a 32 Bit Microcontroller based system with
limited memory and computing power. This product is very useful in
implementing very cost effective IIoT solutions. This version is ideal when
the EDGE computing functions required are very minimal and very few
devices are to be interfaced with the Gateway.
eQBrick Micro This one is powered by faster CPU with higher memory
and computing power. It can be used for medium sized applications when
less than 31 devices are to be interfaced with the Gateway and the
complexity of EDGE computing belongs to the medium size category.
eQBrick Maestro This is the high end EDGE device which is powered by
faster CPU and comes with large memory and computing power. This
device can scan samples at faster intervals and maintain datalog of signals
right in the device. Dual SIM cards and Ethernet ports will be available.
eQBrick can be used for performing Remote Monitoring of Processes and
Machines as well as implement Supervisory Control functions. In addition
sophisticated Remote Diagnostics can also be implemented.
Hardware Specifications
eQBrick is offered in multiple hardware configurations with models such as Nano, Micro or Maestro . It supports following
types of Interfaces:
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Bluetooth 4.0 / 5.0
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LoRaWAN
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RS232 / RS 485
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Ethernet (Dual Ethernet)
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2G / 4G wireless (Dual SIM)
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GPS
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Wireless LAN
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Digital, Analog & Pulse Inputs
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SD Card
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User Program
User Program Interpreter (UPI)
eQBrick Micro & Maestro models support an AppEngine with which User Defined applications can be executed. It has an User Program Interpreter which can be used for running multiple Program Blocks. Each Program Block (PB) can contain multiple Function Elements. A PB can be executed CYCLICALLY or whenever a TRIGGER is generated. Customers can easily implement many advanced EDGE computing functions depending on their requirements. The UPI System Library contains more than 60 Function Elements Logical Elements, Arithmetic Elements, Timers, Counters, Indexed Read / Write, Shift Registers, Buffers etc.
Device Templates
Standard Device Templates have been created for many devices such as Energy Meters, IED devices from many vendors. Hence with very little engineering efforts, advanced functions can be quickly implemented. Parameters from these devices can be directly accessed in the application.
Other Features
eQBrick can capture data from the from various slaves devices connected in the RS485 bus and automatically log the data in a specific Database Table maintained in a server. Data can be updated in Google Sheets in real time. HTTP PUT requests and HTTP GET requests can be initiated to / from specified IP addresses. This makes it very simple for the IT team to quickly and easily integrate the Process Data / Machine data with the Corporate applications.
SMS and Reports Generation using eMails
System can be configured to generate SMS messages when Binary Trigger or when Alarm / Event occurs . SMS messages will be sent multiple pre configured cell phone numbers. By defining very simple applications in the eQBrick device using the UPI, Hourly, Shift and Daily Reports can be created as EXCEL Spreadsheets or PDF files.