I love old* industrial standards like Modbus. It was created in 1979 and widely adopted by machine makers since then. Technically, Modbus is a communications protocol (OSI layer 7). But by default it doesn't connect to the broader internet, it connects to other machines. For "Modbus RTU", this involves hooking machines together using RS-485, another standard, but one for the data link layer (OSI layer 2). Normally you'd have a Modbus sensor talking back to an industrial controller like a PLC. If you wanted that data on the internet, you needed to hook into the PLC and program it to process the sensor and forward that data up to the internet.
A few weeks ago, we released a reference design that skips a lot of these steps. In fact, all that's required is a piece of hardware that has an RS-485 interface and an internet connection. In our case, it's the nRF9160 plus some breakout boards, talking back to the Golioth Cloud. We showcased the Modbus Vibration Monitor Reference Design using a motor monitoring sensor, but now we're able to swap out that sensor for any other Modbus (RTU) sensor. That's the power of an industrial standard.
** somewhere an engineer is saying, "you think that's old, check out this other industrial standard!"*
Chris Gammell
Developer Relations Engineer
