Experimental Implementation and Performance Evaluation of an IoT Access Gateway for the Modbus Extension

Abstract

This paper presents the relevant aspects regarding the experimental implementation and performance evaluation of an Internet of things (IoT) gateway for the Modbus extension. The proposed Modbus extension specifications are extended by defining the new optimized message format, and the structure of the acquisition cycle for obtaining a deterministic temporal behavior and solutions are presented for the description of devices at the MODBUS protocol level. Three different implementations are presented, and the Modbus extension’s performance is validated regarding the efficiency in the use of the acquisition cycle time. The software and hardware processing time and the importance and effect of the various components are analyzed and evaluated. They all support the implementation of an Internet of things gateway for Modbus extension. This paper introduces solutions for the structure of the acquisition cycle to include other valuable extensions, discusses the performance of a real implementation in the form of a gateway, adds new features to the Modbus extension specification, and strengthens some of the existing ones. In accordance with the novelty and contribution of this paper to the field of local industrial networks, the results obtained in the analysis, testing, and validation of the Modbus extension protocol refer to the extending of the Modbus functions for industrial process monitoring and control management.