Multi-vendor industrial automation, SCADA, OT/IT integration, and Building Automation interoperability testbed
A practical engineering testbed for developing and validating industrial automation architectures across PLCs, SCADA, industrial communication protocols, IIoT technologies, databases, web applications, and Building Automation Systems.
This project is a long-term Industrial Water Management & Automation Testbed designed to reproduce a realistic industrial water-management process while allowing different automation technologies to be developed, integrated, and evaluated independently.
The same underlying process model is implemented across multiple control platforms and connected through open communication technologies.
The project currently combines:
- PLC and SoftPLC control
- VFD-driven pumping
- Valve and process control
- Flow, level, and moisture feedback
- Multi-vendor automation platforms
- SCADA/HMI systems
- OPC UA
- BACnet/IP
- Web-based SCADA
- Node.js integration services
- PostgreSQL
- Industrial networking
- IoT hardware
- Arduino / ESP8266
- Future MQTT / Node-RED / IIoT integration
- Future cloud and data analytics capabilities
The objective is not to reproduce one vendor's automation solution, but to investigate how heterogeneous OT systems can participate in a common process and information architecture.
The testbed is being developed as a layered architecture:
The architecture is intentionally modular. Individual technologies can be replaced or extended without changing the underlying water-management process model.
The same water-management concept is being implemented across different control environments.
Technology
- Siemens S7-1500
- TIA Portal
- PLCSIM Advanced
- Siemens G120X VFD
- OPC UA
Purpose:
Demonstrate a conventional industrial PLC/VFD automation architecture using the Siemens ecosystem.
Technology
- Allen-Bradley Micro850
- Connected Components Workbench (CCW)
- Catalog:
2080-LC50-48QWB
Purpose:
Demonstrate the same process model using a Rockwell Micro800/Micro850 control platform.
Technology
- CODESYS Control Win
- IEC 61131-3 Structured Text
- OPC UA
Zone 03 currently serves as an important integration environment because its process data is connected simultaneously to:
- Ignition
- Web SCADA
- OPC UA clients
- OPC UA–BACnet/IP gateway
The testbed intentionally uses more than one supervisory technology.
Ignition provides the industrial SCADA environment for the testbed.
It is used to investigate:
- SCADA architecture
- OPC UA connectivity
- Tag structures
- UDT concepts
- HMI/faceplate concepts
- Multi-vendor supervisory integration
A separate web-based SCADA platform has been developed using:
- Node.js
- Express
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
- OPC UA
- PostgreSQL
- REST APIs
The Web SCADA project is maintained separately:
The master repository documents its role in the overall architecture rather than duplicating its source code.
OPC UA is used as an important interoperability layer between the control systems and higher-level applications.
Typical architecture:
PLC / SoftPLC
│
▼
OPC UA
│
▼
SCADA / Integration Layer
│
├── Ignition
├── Web SCADA
└── Node.js Gateway
The project investigates the use of OPC UA for:
- Real-time process data
- Control commands
- Cross-vendor integration
- SCADA connectivity
- Application-level integration
One of the major milestones of the project is the development of a software-based OPC UA–BACnet/IP gateway.
The gateway connects industrial process data to the Building Automation ecosystem without requiring a dedicated hardware protocol converter.
CODESYS
│
│ OPC UA
▼
Node.js Web SCADA / Gateway
│
│ BACnet/IP
▼
BACnet Client / BAS
The dedicated implementation is maintained here:
OPC UA–BACnet/IP Gateway Repository
The current prototype has demonstrated:
- BACnet/IP device startup
- BACnet device discovery
- Who-Is / I-Am
- BACnet object communication
- ReadProperty
- WriteProperty
- Live OPC UA process data acquisition
- BACnet exposure of process data
- BACnet command transfer
- BACnet → OPC UA write-back
- Independent BACnet client validation
- Real-time process response
The current validation architecture is:
CODESYS Water Process
│
│ OPC UA
▼
Node.js Gateway
│
│ BACnet/IP
▼
Independent BACnet Test Environment
│
▼
Read / Write Validation
The recorded demonstration will be maintained in:
media/videos/opcua-bacnet-gateway-validation.mp4
The demonstration shows the complete path from a BACnet command through the gateway to the CODESYS process and back to live BACnet-readable process data.
The physical/embedded side of the project is being developed separately from the industrial PLC testbed.
The IoT hardware project uses:
- Arduino
- ESP8266
- Wireless valve nodes
- Main controller
- Flow measurement
- Tank-level monitoring
- Wireless communication
- Remote control concepts
Dedicated repository:
Wireless Watering System / IoT Hardware Repository
This branch of the project investigates how distributed embedded devices can participate in the larger water-management architecture.
The long-term objective is to connect the embedded/edge layer with the industrial SCADA and IIoT architecture.
Although different technologies are used, the project attempts to maintain a common logical representation of the water-management process.
Typical process signals include:
- AUTO
- START
- STOP
- FAULT_RESET
- RUNNING
- VALVE
- FLOW
- MOISTURE
- FAULT
- LOW_FLOW
- PERMISSIVE
- AUTO_ACTIVE
- FLOW_OK
- PROCESS_OK
- COMM_OK
- MOISTURE_LOW_SP
- MOISTURE_HIGH_SP
This common process model allows different PLCs, SCADA platforms, gateways, and software applications to participate in the same conceptual system.
This repository is the master documentation and architecture repository.
Implementation projects remain separated into their own repositories.
industrial-water-management-testbed
│
├── Documentation
├── Architecture
├── Process Model
├── Engineering Decisions
├── Research
├── Validation Results
├── Media
└── Links to Implementation Repositories
Related implementation repositories:
| Component | Repository |
|---|---|
| Master Testbed / Documentation | industrial-water-management-testbed |
| Web SCADA | building-irrigation-scada |
| OPC UA–BACnet/IP Gateway | opcua-bacnet-gateway |
| IoT / Wireless Watering Hardware | Wireless-Watering-System |
This separation keeps implementation repositories focused while allowing this repository to document the complete engineering system.
The next major stage of the project will extend the architecture from industrial automation and protocol integration toward Industrial IoT (IIoT).
Planned technologies include:
- Node-RED
- MQTT
- Edge data processing
- VFD data integration
- Industrial gateways
- Time-series / operational data
- Cloud connectivity
- Remote monitoring
- Data analytics
The planned architecture is:
PLC / VFD / Sensors
│
▼
Industrial OT
│
▼
OPC UA / Other
│
▼
Node.js / Edge
│
├───────────────┐
▼ ▼
MQTT Node-RED
│ │
└───────┬───────┘
▼
Edge Data Layer
│
▼
Cloud
│
┌───────┴────────┐
▼ ▼
Dashboards Analytics / AI
- Connect VFD operating data to the IIoT layer.
- Collect industrial process data through Node.js.
- Publish selected data through MQTT.
- Use Node-RED for edge-level data processing and routing.
- Investigate cloud connectivity.
- Develop historical data and monitoring capabilities.
- Investigate analytics and AI applications for water-management processes.
This stage will extend the project from OT interoperability toward a broader OT/IT/IIoT architecture.
The BACnet/IP gateway establishes the first BAS-facing integration layer.
Future investigation may include:
Industrial Automation
│
▼
OPC UA
│
▼
Node.js
│
▼
BACnet/IP
│
▼
Building Automation
│
▼
Niagara N4
A future validation stage may investigate interoperability with Niagara 4 or another BAS platform.
This is intentionally treated as a future validation stage rather than a prerequisite for the current BACnet/IP milestone.
The project is being used to investigate practical questions around:
- Multi-vendor automation
- Industrial interoperability
- OT/IT integration
- SCADA architecture
- Open industrial protocols
- OPC UA
- BACnet/IP
- BAS integration
- Web-based industrial applications
- IIoT architectures
- Edge computing
- MQTT
- Industrial data integration
- Cloud-connected automation
- Future AI-assisted industrial analytics
The project is therefore both a technical development environment and a long-term engineering research portfolio.
Detailed engineering documentation is maintained under:
docs/
Current documentation includes:
- System architecture
- Canonical irrigation/water-zone logic
- Engineering decisions
- PLC implementations
- SCADA integration
- OPC UA integration
- BACnet/IP integration
- Research and publication material
Media and demonstrations are maintained under:
media/
- Multi-vendor water-management process concept
- Siemens control environment
- Rockwell Micro850 environment
- CODESYS SoftPLC environment
- OPC UA integration
- Ignition SCADA integration
- Web SCADA platform
- Node.js integration layer
- PostgreSQL data layer
- BACnet/IP gateway prototype
- BACnet device discovery
- ReadProperty validation
- WriteProperty validation
- BACnet → OPC UA control
- Independent BACnet test environment
- Bidirectional OPC UA ↔ BACnet/IP demonstration
- BACnet object/data-model refinement
- Niagara 4 / BAS interoperability validation
- IIoT edge architecture
- Node-RED integration
- MQTT integration
- VFD data integration
- Cloud connectivity
- Historical/analytical data pipeline
- Advanced analytics / AI applications
The long-term objective is to evolve the testbed into a compact but realistic demonstration of a modern industrial water-management architecture:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ WATER MANAGEMENT PROCESS │
└───────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
│
PLC / VFD / Sensors / IoT
│
▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ INDUSTRIAL OT │
│ Siemens │ Rockwell │ CODESYS │ Embedded Controllers │
└───────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
│
OPC UA / OT
│
▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SCADA / INTEGRATION │
│ Ignition │ Web SCADA │ Node.js │ PostgreSQL │
└───────────────┬───────────────────────┬──────────────────┘
│ │
BACnet/IP MQTT
│ │
▼ ▼
Building Automation IIoT / Edge
│ │
▼ ▼
BAS / N4 Cloud
│
▼
Analytics / AI
The project is deliberately being developed incrementally, with each layer independently validated before extending the architecture.
Alireza Radfar
Industrial Automation & Electronics Engineer
Focus areas:
PLC | SCADA/HMI | VFD | Industrial Networks | OPC UA | BACnet | OT/IT Integration | IIoT | Web SCADA | Building Automation
See LICENSE.