Babel Buster MQ-73 BACnet to MQTT Gateway

Allow Any BACnet Device to Play as a "Thing" on the Internet of Things!

The MQTT “publish” action in the BACnet to MQTT gateway, in controls terms, is most closely associated with sensors. Your hardware has collected sensor data, and you want to send that sensor data to a server or to other control devices. To send that data, you “publish” it to the MQTT broker.

The MQTT “subscribe” action, in controls terms, is most closely associated with actuators. The “subscribe” action would also be associated with control setpoints. You can never force data into a device via MQTT. The device, in our case the MQ-73, must subscribe to the source of data effectively asking to be informed of changes. Once you have subscribed to an MQTT source of data, then when received, you can use that data to control actuators or update setpoints.

The data flow in the MQ-73 BACnet to MQTT gateway is illustrated below. Data is collected from BACnet devices by the BACnet engine which stores that data in its local objects. The BACnet data is automatically updated on a continual basis. Meanwhile, the IoT engine is looking at its set of publish and subscribe rules to decide when to publish data from the local objects to the MQTT broker. These rules are also created by the user and data will be published according to the criteria set up by the user.

The MQ-73 includes BACnet MS/TP and BACnet IP client and server. Maps created via templates in the MQ-73’s web UI will read and write other BACnet devices, copying their data to local objects when read, or sending data from local objects to those devices when written.

MQ-73 BACnet to MQTT Gateway Easily Connects Your BACnet Device to Amazon Web Services

The MQTT publish and subscribe “rules” are created with an easy to use template in conjunction with setup on the AWS side. A diagnostic page is also provided where you may view the most recently published data, and publish arbitrary JSON formatted data for testing purposes.

One of the many things you can do with data that has been published to the AWS MQTT broker by the Babel Buster MQ-73 is analyze and visualize the data. The screen shot below represents data published by an MQ-73, and the steps taken to get this graph - without writing any program code - are outlined in the user guide.

MQ-73 Works with ThingsBoard for Dashboards and More

The MQ-73 includes features specific to ThingsBoard that allow MQTT interaction with graphic widgets on the dashboard. BACnet data published by the MQ-73 can show up as real-time gauge indications or charts. Input from the dashboard such as knob adjustments or switch changes will be immediately reported to the MQ-73 and those changes are immediately accessible as BACnet data.

ThingsBoard can display your data as charts or graphs. There are numerous options available for displaying data as charts or graphs, but the unique feature of ThingsBoard is the ability to implement interactive graphic dashboards without any coding. Just fill in the templates.

MQ-73 Works Equally Well as Stand-Alone Remote Monitoring Device

The MQ-73 includes a secure local email client that will directly email you notifications of alarm events. The event rule template has all of the same power and flexibility as the MQTT publish template. You can implement stand-alone remote alarm monitoring on multiple data points, and send different notifications to different people.

The email message template lets you fully customize the message that is sent. You can use any email account including Gmail to send emails from the MQ-73. The template includes variables which insert real time data from the MQ-73 as the email is sent.

The MQ-73 includes local data logging capability that can be used instead of sending data to the cloud. You select which data points are logged to a local CSV file. This file is then emailed to you periodically. You select logging rate and when files should be sent. You also have the option of logging at a slower rate most of the time, but then log faster when an event of interest is in progress.

The Babel Buster IoT Gateway becomes more useful when control functions can be combined with monitoring. One element of control that is often useful is the ability to schedule things to happen at certain times on certain days. The scheduler makes that possible.

Scheduling is done in a very generic and simple way. A object you select will change value according to a schedule you provide. From there, you can use the client to write that object to some external BACnet device to cause action according to your schedule.

The weekly schedule allows you to specify that something should happen at a certain time of certain days of the week. It can be one day, multiple days, or every day. Sometimes you want a weekly schedule to not apply on a holiday, or maybe you want something to only happen on a holiday. The holiday processing in the scheduler allows exceptions to the weekly schedule.

The scheduler also provides the opportunity to schedule something to happen just one time on a given day or days. Instead of day of week, a date is provided here. Other than selection of day, the On Demand scheduler works the same as Weekly scheduler (except there are no holidays for On Demand).

Configuration of the gateway is done via the secure web pages served by the internal web server. You simply fill in templates. The entire configuration is saved in the internal Flash file system in XML format. This file may be exported to replicate additional copies of the configured device, or for backup.

Click the link below to view a demo copy of the entire Web UI in the MQ-73.

 MQ-73 Demo Web

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We can help you turn the IoT Gateway into a wireless remote monitoring system with the addition of a cellular router. It is secure, self-managed, and low-cost.

MQ-73 BACnet to MQTT Gateway Features

• MQTT Client supports AWS IoT Core, Mosquitto MQTT, ThingsBoard
• Simple template based setup of MQTT Publish and Subscribe
• Secure local email client for stand-alone notifications
• Local data logging for stand-alone remote monitoring
• Real time scheduler
• BACnet IP to MS/TP Router
• Configured or learning, I-Am route learning, I-Am-Router route learning
• Slave proxy to support MS/TP slave-only devices
• Client/Server gateway for remapping BACnet objects
• Read/Write any standard BACnet objects as a Gateway
    • Up to 5,000 objects
    • Analog, Binary, Multi-State object types
    • Input, Output, Value objects
• Commandable BACnet objects implement priority array
• BBMD, COV support
• Configure via web pages, HTTP and/or secure HTTPS
• Flash file system for XML configuration files, SSL certificates
• Online help, Quick Help section at bottom of every web page
• Password protection for web log-on and ftp
• Field upgradeable firmware upload via ftp
• DHCP or static IP address, IPv4 and IPv6 support
• Hardened EIA-485 transceiver for BACnet MS/TP
• Powered by 10-30VDC or 24VAC 50/60 Hz
• Power Consumption: 0.1A @ 24VDC
• Panel mount, 70mm H x 131mm W x 38mm D
• Pluggable screw terminal block for power & RTU network
• Operating temperature -20°C to +75°C; Humidity 5% to 90%
• FCC Class A, CE Mark