Skip to content

MindConnect MQTT Introduction

overview

MindConnect MQTT Introduction

MindConnect MQTT offers a simple and secured way to connect MQTT devices with MindSphere. With bidirectional communication you can securely exchange data between applications and services in MindSphere and your devices in near real time. MindConnect MQTT is available at no cost to customers with a valid MindSphere Capability Package.
MQTT connectivity is ideally suited for use cases that frequently send small amounts of data for example, sending measurements of water levels, messages from field devices or location data of containers. Reliable internet connectivity is recommended to ensure timely, uninterrupted data transmission.

MindConnect MQTT offers:

  • Highly secure and scalable connection using X.509 certificate-based authentication
  • End-to-end data encryption using Transport Layer Security (TLS) v1.2 between your devices and MindSphere
  • Onboard your devices by using your own mobile or enterprise application
  • Send data from MindSphere to your devices in near real time using the commanding services
  • Complies with MQTT v3.1.1 standard with Quality of Service (QOS) 0 and 1
  • Allows you to Combine MQTT with HTTPS for exchanging larger volumes of data

Availability

MindConnect MQTT is available as a standard connectivity option in all Capability Packages of MindSphere. We are continuously developing new features to further address customer use cases such as improving the flexibility of data format and much more.

Overview

A device, that supports certificate-based authentication can be securely and easily connected to MindSphere. MindSphere offers two different ways to create the certificate needed for authenticating your device. The certificate can be either downloaded from Asset Manager, or it can be created outside of MindSphere. Unlike other MindConnect solutions, MQTT does not require you to create an agent. In MindSphere an agent is the virtual representation of the actual field device. MindConnect MQTT allows you to create the data model from your own device using the MindSphere JSON template. Once your data model is completed, the authenticated device can simply send the model to MindSphere using a pre-defined MQTT topic.

In order to use the data model, you will need to create assets, aspects and then map the variables to the data points using the pre-defined MQTT topic. To send the time series data using MindConnect MQTT, refer to the standard MindSphere template and send it to the pre-defined MQTT topic. Devices can subscribe to another pre-defined topic to enable to received data from applications and services in MindSphere. For use cases requiring large volumes of data exchange, you can continue using MindConnect API by obtaining an Agent Access Token from MindConnect MQTT agent, using the pre-defined MQTT topic.

Connect with MindConnect MQTT: Concepts

MindConnect MQTT Broker authenticates the MQTT agents over TLS to publish and subscribe messages adhering to MQTT protocol. It is an alternative to the HTTP-based MindConnect Service.

More Details

MindConnect Async API

The MindConnect Async API provides topics and message structures to ingest data securely and reliably into MindSphere using MindConnect MQTT. The async APIs can be used for several purposes such as defining and initializing the models (Asset Modeler Async API Service), exchanging time series data with MindSphere, sending events to MindSphere applications and so on. For further information about the MindConnect Async API, refer to the MindConnect Async API specification.

More Details

MindConnect MQTT API

The MindConnect MQTT API provides functionality for applications to manage the certificates for securely connecting the MQTT agents with MindSphere. With appropriate authentication, the API can be easily integrated into applications hosted in an enterprise system or likewise.

For further information about the MindConnect MQTT Sync API, refer to the MindConnect MQTT API specification.

More Details

How To: MQTT Broker

MindConnect MQTT Broker authenticates the MQTT agents over TLS to publish and subscribe messages adhering to MQTT protocol. It is an alternative to the HTTP-based MindConnect Service.

Connectivity How Tos & Tutorials

Any questions left?

Ask the community


Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under the Development License Agreement.


Last update: December 19, 2022