IoT-Based Industrial Debug Message Display Using AWS, ESP8266 And C#

Abstract

Purpose: In the industrial automation field, debugging is an essential part. Generally, most of the debugging we do in the product development phase and a little bit at the service time. The typical procedure to debug any electronic device is to display a “debug message” inside the terminal window. For this purpose, we commonly use various converters which convert from USB to other ports like RS232, RS485, etc. However, sometimes, we cannot connect our debug cable directly to the working devices. That would be better if the debug message is displayed on the working system terminal without any wire. Here we demonstrate a procedure to display the debug message without any wire. Using the IoT, we do that efficiently. The Code is available on GitHub. Interested researchers can download and continue further research on it.

Design/Methodology/Approach: First, We need to create the IoT profile inside the AWS IoT cloud. Using the AWS IoT credential, We update the firmware of the Wifi module. Then it is installed inside the system, which we are debugging. The wifi module’s Transmit and receive pin will be connected to Device’s serial PIN (TX-RX, RX-TX). When the Device sends any debug message through the serial port, it is received by the Wifi module and will update the AWS cloud shadow register. We build an AWS IoT MQTT client in the C# (visual studio. NET). The IoT client fetches the updated data and notifies the UI main thread. One listbox is connected to it. Finally, the UI thread pushes the updated data into the Listbox's first row.

Findings/Result: Sometimes, our Device needs to debug without any wire because there is no scope to connect it with the cables. So this procedure can help to debug wirelessly. This procedure has several advantages. Using this debug display eliminates to gets hazards from debugging systems. The debug message can be visible from a remote place. It is also possible to observe the message from multiple remote locations Opening multiple IoT Clients, and subscribing to the same IoT Topic.

Originality/Value: The described procedure is a different way to display the debug message. Some advantages are available over traditional procedures. Using this procedure, the researcher can transmit real-time data. It can provide value to the researcher’s work. Using this procedure, the researcher can transmit their sensor data to a remote place. Furthermore, it can save to the remote server for future use.

Paper Type: Experimental-based Research.