Edge2Cloud(E2C) Factory Overview
1. Product Overview
1.1. Product Introduction
1. Product Positioning & Core Value
E2C Trinity is Edge Middleware specifically designed for Industry 4.0, smart buildings, and energy management. It establishes a highly reliable and scalable digital foundation between OT assets and IT applications, achieving a full-link data closed-loop from physical devices to business decision-making.
E2C Trinity is the name of Robustel’s unified Edge DataOps engine product series. Within this series, there are three professional software Apps:
- E2C Factory: Specially designed for factories and automation, making production lines run smarter.
- E2C Field: Built for LoRaWAN, ideal for connecting sensors distributed over large outdoor areas.
- E2C Facility: Targeted at buildings and energy, helping you easily manage power and HVAC systems.
These three Apps run on Robustel hardware to form a Software-Defined Platform, providing a professional "Digital Brain" for your specific needs.
By adopting core OT and IT communication protocols, the platform features 100+ built-in device drivers and advanced plugins. It provides functions such as data collection, cleaning, analysis, real-time alerting, and forwarding. It can be widely used in industrial sites, equipment manufacturing, energy stations, and other scenarios, helping users quickly achieve interconnection and visual monitoring of device data, supporting intelligent decision-making from the workshop floor to the executive level.
- Core Role: It is the "Data Translator" and "Intelligent Processor" between OT and IT.
- Technical Foundation: Runs on Edge Runtime (RobustOS Pro). Based on a standard Debian Linux operating system, it possesses industrial-grade stability, high software flexibility, and globally recognized security compliance (such as IEC 62443).
1.1.1. Core Capabilities
E2C Trinity covers the entire process from bottom-layer data acquisition to top-layer cloud integration through its unique 6C Edge Computing Runtime:
- Collect: Supports 100+ industrial protocols (e.g., Modbus, OPC UA, Siemens S7, BACnet, etc.), breaking down communication barriers between different brands of PLCs.
- Compute: Integrates Node-RED, Docker, and Python to support local logic orchestration, alert processing, and AI model deployment, reducing reliance on central servers.
- Cache: Features a built-in time-series database (TSDB/RDB) supporting local data storage and Breakpoint Resumption, significantly lowering cloud storage costs.
- Canvas: Built-in Web Edge SCADA and OEE Dashboards enable visual monitoring of industrial sites directly through a web browser.
- Connect: Seamlessly integrates with cloud platforms and local IT systems:
- Cloud Connectivity: Supports MQTT, AWS IoT, Azure IoT, and Robustel’s RCMS for edge-cloud synergy.
- IT Integration: Connects with local MES, ERP, BMS, and BI systems to bridge the gap between production and management.
- Control: Supports bi-directional interaction—not only collecting data upwards but also implementing remote or local reverse control via cloud commands.
1.1.2. Technical AdvanTages
- High Reliability: Offline data caching and resumption, local storage, data integrity verification.
- Low Latency: Data processing closest to the device side, more easily meeting the real-time requirements of edge computing.
- Simplicity: Out-of-the-box protocol driver library, shortening project delivery cycles.
- Expansion potential: Custom JS code blocks for simple data processing logic; integrates Node-RED low-code platform for complex workflow orchestration; secondary development based on mainstream programming languages like C/C++, Java, Python, Node.js to meet more functional and performance requirements.
1.2. Typical Application Scenarios
Scenario 1: "Data Feeder" for Distributed/Field Assets
- Version: E2C Field
- Target Customers: Remote monitoring stations, municipal water, distributed PV, oil and gas stations.
- Pain Points: Remote locations, high wiring costs, and data loss due to unstable networks.
- Value: Uses Breakpoint Resumption to ensure production data is reliably uploaded to HQ even in areas with very weak signals.
Scenario 2: Lightweight Digital Transformation for Factories
- Version: E2C Factory
- Target Customers: Discrete manufacturing, packaging plants, food processing, hardware assembly, etc.
- Pain Points: Lack of IT teams, inability to afford expensive SCADA/MES systems, and wanting to implement OEE but not knowing where to start.
- Value: Plug-and-play with built-in OEE Canvas to create a "Transparent Factory" at low cost.
Scenario 3: "Utility Monitoring" for Large Factories
- Version: E2C Facility
- Target Customers: Factories or large buildings with air compressor rooms, power distribution rooms, and HVAC systems.
- Pain Points: Messy device protocols (e.g., BACnet or proprietary protocols), and difficult wiring for traditional retrofits.
- Value: No re-wiring required; quickly integrates BACnet and other protocols for unified facility management and energy saving.
Scenario 4: "Data Pre-cleaning Station" for Cloud Platforms
- Target Customers: Manufacturers already using AWS/Azure cloud services.
- Pain Points: All raw data going to the cloud leads to explosive cloud storage/traffic costs, and cloud control response is slow.
- Value: Perform "dehydration" and computation at the edge first. Only send valuable data to the cloud, saving you 70% of cloud costs and achieving millisecond-level local alert response.
Scenario 5: "Digital Foundation" for OEM Machinery
- Version: E2C Factory
- Target Customers: Manufacturers of auto parts, injection molding machines, air compressors, packaging machines, robots, etc.
- Pain Points: Losing contact after selling the machine, extremely high after-sales costs, and relying on manual on-site visits for troubleshooting.
- Value: Use E2C Factory to build remote monitoring and Predictive Maintenance (PHM) capabilities. Real-time monitoring of status, alerts, and performance reduces site visits, lowers after-sales costs, and creates value-added digital services for your equipment.
1.3. Feature Overview
| Module | Software Function | Function Sub-item | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Collection | Device Management | Maintain Devices | · Supports maintaining device information, including core connection parameters, communication performance parameters, and batch collection rules. · Connection status and alarm count can be viewed after configuration. · Supports nearly 100 mainstream industrial protocols, such as MODBUS, OPC-UA, Siemens, Omron, DLT meter, etc. · Supports high-speed Data Collection at ms level, addressing the difficulties of insufficient data speed and density in industrial field Data Collection. |
| Tag Grouping Management | · Supports maintaining device Tag data; Tag types include real device Tags and virtual Tags. · Supports viewing real-time data of Tags within a device. | ||
| Import/Export | Supports batch import and export of Tag information for rapid configuration. | ||
| Publish | All configuration modifications are made in preview mode and do not affect current running tasks. After confirmation, clicking "Publish" makes the new configuration uniformly effective, ensuring data continuity and consistency in the production environment. | ||
| Group Management | Maintain Groups | Supports maintaining group information according to different reporting strategies and cycles. Current scenarios include periodic reporting, change reporting, and combined periodic+change reporting. | |
| Tag Management | · Supports assigning Tags from different devices into different groups for data reporting according to group rules. · Supports viewing real-time data of Tags within a group. | ||
| Export | Supports batch export of configured groups and Tag information for rapid configuration. | ||
| Scenario Management | Strategy Management | · Supports configuring different strategy rules for online control. Strategy types include scheduled control, periodic control, startup execution, device data control, cloud command control, and alarm control, meeting various industrial field usage scenarios. | |
| Action Management | Supports configuring actions for executing functions, writing Tag values, and DO control, referenced by strategy management. Specifically, function management facilitates user-defined rules for data processing and flexible business logic writing. | ||
| Historical Logs | View Historical Logs | Logs for up to 1 day can be viewed. | |
| Data to Cloud | Cloud Service Management | MQTT Cloud Service | · Supports connection to mainstream IoT cloud platforms/IoT Hub, as well as open-source or private MQTT Brokers. · Supports configuring mainstream certificate authentication methods. · Supports publishing grouped Tag data based on MQTT Topic, supporting change reporting, periodic reporting, and change+periodic reporting. · Supports subscribing to specified topic data, typically used for subscribing to commands issued by the cloud to the device. Supports performing data operations on existing Tags via built-in APIs upon receiving commands. · Supports local control via scripts based on received commands: including but not limited to process parameter issuance/control, device status extraction, local device control, etc. · Supports viewing current offline cache status and manually clearing cache information. |
| HTTP Server Cloud Service | Supports sending acquired device data to a specified HTTP server via HTTP POST or PUT methods. | ||
| Offline Data Caching and Resumption | Supports local storage of device operational data when the device cannot connect to the network or experiences network interruption. Data is uploaded when the network recovers, ensuring no data loss. Data storage duration is user-configurable. | ||
| Data Forwarding | OPC-UA Server | Status Viewing | Supports viewing service connection status, uptime, and connected device list. |
| Forwarding Configuration | · Supports exposing acquired lower-end device data via the OPC-UA protocol for external systems or devices to read. · Supports external systems or devices modifying lower-end device Tag values via OPC-UA commands. | ||
| Modbus Slave | Status Viewing | Supports viewing service connection status, uptime, and connected device list. | |
| Forwarding Configuration | · Supports exposing acquired lower-end device data via the Modbus protocol for external systems or devices to read. · Supports external systems or devices modifying lower-end device Tag values via Modbus commands. | ||
| Alarm Management | Real-time Alarms | Real-time Alarms | View alarm information generated during device operation in real-time, supports manual alarm acknowledgment. Alarm information push supports multiple mainstream methods, such as SMS, email, SMS+email, robots, etc. SMS supports global phone numbers. |
| Alarm Rules | Alarm Rules | Supports configuring alarm rules for device Tags, supports defining alarm level, Tags, content, and notification mechanism configuration. | |
| Historical Alarms | Historical Alarms | Supports querying historical alarm information or performing batch deletion. | |
| Alarm Tags | Alarm Tags | Supports maintaining alarm Tags to help users categorize alarm content. | |
| Alarm Push Templates | Alarm Push Templates | · Supports configuring message templates for different notification channels, including SMS, email, and enterprise WeChat channels. | |
| Address Book | Address Book | Supports maintaining personnel information corresponding to alarm push recipients. | |
| Logic Orchestration | Node-Red Integration | Logic Orchestration Based on Node-Red | Provides 4 dedicated nodes: subscribe to device data, subscribe to standard group data, update device data, and DO control, meeting common device data management scenarios. Facilitates subscribing to already acquired device data, processing and computing data, and performing device control operations within the original Node-RED visual flow orchestration. |
| Tag Value Update | Supports updating calculated indicator data as a Tag value via dedicated nodes (e.g., "Update Device Data" node) in Node-RED, then publishing the calculated data to the cloud combined with the cloud synergy data upload function. | ||
| Debug Logs | Real-time Logs | Real-time Logs | Supports real-time preview of logs during device operation, mainly including Data Collection process logs and script execution process logs. |
| Log Download | Log Download | Logs up to 2MB can be downloaded. | |
| Clear Logs | Clear Cached Logs | Supports clearing cached logs. | |
| Data Management | Data Table Management | Directory Management | Supports creating new directories, organizing data tables hierarchically for easy multi-dimensional classification by device, business, workshop, etc. |
| Data Table Management | Tag Archive Table | Supports archiving device data via Tag trigger, timed trigger, and other methods. Fields can be associated with Tags or use calculation formulas. | |
| Data Table Management | Basic Data Table | Supports entering business data such as batches, shifts, personnel, materials, etc. Supports field uniqueness, non-null, and default values. | |
| Storage and Cleanup | Data Cleanup | Supports retaining data based on time range; cleanup tasks run once daily. | |
| Data to Cloud | Data to Cloud | Supports cloud upload for data from Data Management. | |
| Private Protocols | Private Protocols | Private Protocols Management | · Supports non-standard protocols in industrial field Data Collection, reducing development workload. Quickly supports non-standard communication protocols using standard configuration rules + scripts. Currently supports serial port and network communication methods. Users can define non-standard protocol rules using this function, such as heartbeat configuration, downlink commands, and uplink protocol parsing. Both downlink commands and uplink protocols support flexible custom script parsing. · New user-defined protocols, after being published, can be selected when creating new device connections. |
| System Settings | Serial Port Settings | Serial Port Settings | Modifies gateway serial ports. When creating new serial port device connections, this configuration is used by default, set once for global use, avoiding repeated entry. |
| Storage Configuration | Storage Configuration | Supports configuring offline data caching/resumption and historical data storage rules. | |
| Custom Parameters | Custom Parameters | Supports defining custom parameters for use across different Script blocks or for global temporary information storage. | |
| Certificate Management | Certificate Management | Supports maintaining certificate information for use in script encryption/decryption. | |
| Service Monitoring | Service Monitoring | Supports viewing application CPU and memory usage. | |
| Data Collection Config Export | Export | Supports exporting all current gateway's Data Collection configuration information for quick import into other gateways. | |
| Data Collection Config Import | Import | Supports directly importing configuration file packages exported from other gateways into the current gateway, improving configuration efficiency. | |
| Cloud-Edge Synergy Config | RDMS Synergy Config | · When enabled, connects to the RDMS system, supports remote configuration file issuance, enabling multi-gateway Data Collection configuration. · Supports uploading sub-device data to RDMS for device data monitoring. | |
| Role Management | Role Management | · Supports custom role creation, editing, query, and deletion. · Supports assigning roles to single or multiple users, supports one user with multiple roles, enabling fine-grained permission isolation and preventing unauthorized access. | |
| System Logs | System Logs | Supports viewing and downloading system logs. | |
| Visual Analysis | OEE Statistics Configuration | Device Operation Statistics Configuration | - Provides simple tools to configure data sources and rules required for OEE statistics. The system automatically generates OEE data every minute based on configured rules, ensuring immediate detection of production anomalies. - Ensures data continuity: supports manual or variable-triggered production count reset, with automatic archiving before reset to guarantee uninterrupted and traceable production data. - Offers a progressive configuration solution from "Duration Statistics" to "OEE Analysis" and then to "Downtime Diagnosis," enabling precise and customizable operation data monitoring based on needs. - Supports synchronizing automatically calculated OEE data to virtual device variables (internal variables), facilitating subsequent data forwarding, cloud reporting, or local management, thereby improving data flow and application efficiency. - Based on scenarios like production line changes, batch switching, equipment maintenance, or debugging, supports manual or variable-triggered automatic reset of production count and defect count, with automatic saving of current statistical values before reset to ensure data continuity and traceability. |
| Shift Configuration | - Supports configuring multi-time slot shifts and defining working hours (supports cross-day), flexibly adapting to different production scheduling models to ensure statistical periods align with actual production. | ||
| Equipment Status Maintenance | - Provides data correction and completion functions, allowing manual entry or correction of missing status categories or reasons, ensuring the authenticity and completeness of statistical reports. - Provides data completeness statistics, proactively alerts data anomalies, and assists users in data quality monitoring and completion. | ||
| Equipment OEE Dashboard | Equipment OEE Dashboard | - Enables viewing of equipment production efficiency and historical trends directly through pre-built dashboards and trend charts, without complex development. - Provides OEE core indicator dashboards, trend analysis charts, statistical charts, and detailed record lists, helping users intuitively grasp equipment efficiency performance and change trends. - Supports combined filtering by multiple dimensions such as equipment, shift, and date, meeting personalized data viewing needs of different roles (e.g., production, equipment, management personnel). | |
| Configuration Management | Runtime Version | - The Runtime Version is used for running developed configuration projects in production environments, serving as an integrated interaction center for both "monitoring" and "control." Its main functions are designed by configuration developers and include real-time data acquisition and display, process control, alarm notifications, historical data logging, report and chart generation, and the ability to issue control commands directly through on-screen controls. - Configuration runtime projects support access permission configuration, sharing, and other functions. - Provides a stable and reliable component rendering engine that supports switching between multiple monitoring pages, ensuring smooth monitoring screens, interactive operations, and data refresh, thereby enabling intuitive and efficient monitoring of equipment status and production indicators. | |
| Developing Version | - The Development Version is used for designing, creating, and debugging configuration projects, providing an integrated development environment with WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) tool functionalities, including graphical interface drawing, chart and report creation, alarm setting, script writing, camera integration, and more. - Supports permission management for configuration project editing and viewing (with editing and viewing permissions separated), facilitating standardized and secure control of configuration management. - Supports export and quick import of configuration templates to enable configuration reuse, significantly reducing repetitive configuration efforts in multi-gateway deployments and improving implementation efficiency. - Offers a rich library of graphical components and graphics, supporting advanced design features such as animation effects and conditional display, helping users quickly build professional and interactive monitoring interfaces through drag-and-drop operations. - Provides a variety of data sources, including real-time variables from equipment, data management storage, and alarm information, ensuring comprehensive and real-time configuration data. | ||
| Template Management | - Provides common screen monitoring templates for configuration projects, such as the Equipment OEE standard template, enabling users to quickly configure single-equipment monitoring and significantly reduce the time and complexity of building configurations. - Also supports user-defined configuration templates based on business scenarios, facilitating rapid reuse and standardized deployment for similar projects, thereby enhancing overall implementation efficiency. |
2. Software Architecture
As shown in the panoramic architecture diagram above, E2C Trinity constructs a complete data flow for your operations:
- At the Top (Northbound Interface Services): Through mainstream IT protocols such as MQTT and HTTP, we connect your IT and business systems (e.g., SCADA, MES, BMS, ERP, etc.), establishing an Edge-Cloud Synergy management mechanism with RCMS.
- At the Bottom (Southbound Data Acquisition Services): Through 100+ built-in industrial protocols, we interface with all your machines, sensors, and meters.
- In the Middle: E2C Trinity serves as the core engine, handling protocol conversion, edge data management, logic operation, real-time alerting, Edge Web SCADA, and equipment OEE, and even AI computing. It is a full-stack edge platform.
Whether in a new factory or an old building renovation, we provide a one-stop fundamental platform that seamlessly integrates IT and OT. It makes your digital transformation simple, secure, and easy to scale.
Core Architecture Specifications:
- Southbound: Industrial-Grade Full Protocol Access (Southbound Drivers) Relying on a built-in library of 100+ industrial protocols, E2C Trinity possesses powerful heterogeneous device compatibility. Through deep support for PLCs (S7, Modbus, etc.), controllers, sensors, meters, and various proprietary protocols, it achieves digital abstraction and real-time concurrent data acquisition of underlying physical assets.
- Middle Layer: Full-Stack Edge Processing Engine (E2C Trinity Core) As the core hub of the system, the Trinity engine provides a series of modular edge computing services:
- Protocol Gateway: Achieves cross-domain communication for OT-to-OT and OT-to-IT.
- DataOps Management: Through built-in TSDB (Time Series Database) or RDB, it supports 200MB of breakpoint data caching (Store-and-Forward), ensuring data integrity during network fluctuations.
- Logic Orchestration & Real-time Alerting (Node-RED & Alarms): Integrates a lightweight Node-RED logic engine, supporting low-code flow-based computing to achieve millisecond-level local response and alert linkage.
- Edge Visualization & Performance Assessment (Edge SCADA & OEE): Provides "What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWYG) Web SCADA configuration functions and natively integrates an OEE performance analysis engine, outputting equipment efficiency and root-cause analysis in real-time.
- Containerized Expansion (Container Engine): Supports Docker environment deployment, allowing users to autonomously load third-party APPs, AI algorithms, or machine learning models, empowering the edge with infinite intelligent expansion capabilities.
- Northbound: Edge-Cloud Synergy & System Integration (Northbound Connectors) Supports MQTT, OPC UA, RESTful API, and various private cloud protocols to achieve deep synergy with RCMS (Robustel Cloud Management System). Whether it is SCADA, MES, BMS, or ERP, Trinity provides standardized and structured data support, simplifying the invocation logic of upper-layer applications.
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