Aplicativo para controle de nível baseado em Espaço de Estados utilizando MQTT como protocolo de comunicação

Abstract

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, represents the integration of digital technologies into processes ranging from industrial operations to everyday tasks. This revolution is supported by pillars such as systems integration, Big Data, autonomous robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Among these, IoT stands out due to its premise of using the internet in everyday activities, securely streamlining data collection, analysis, and transfer. To ensure the integrity and efficiency of this communication, specific communication protocols, such as MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport), are used. This is ideal for IoT applications because it is lightweight, consumes little energy, and has robust security routines, ensuring secure and agile information transfer between devices. To enhance students' experience with Industry 4.0 technologies, this work proposes the modernization of a level control teaching bench with IoT. The implementation of a wireless solution in experimental systems seeks to demonstrate the aspects, requirements, and contributions that these technologies offer to the practical laboratory environment. The solution consists of a mobile application developed on the Flutter platform using Dart language that communicates with the experimental bench in two modes: remote operation uses the internet via the MQTT protocol, allowing parameter configuration, real-time system monitoring, and data collection through a broker; and a local configuration and operation mode via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), simplifying the initial setup of the bench system and making the process more intuitive, allowing the instructor to easily send Wi-Fi network and broker credentials. It also acts as an alternative connection for experiment control without the need for an internet connection, ensuring that laboratory activities continue even in environments with unstable or nonexistent network access. On the bench, an ESP 32 microcontroller manages operations using its dual-core architecture to optimize tasks: the first core performs control loop processing, sensor reading, and pump activation, while the second core manages MQTT and BLE communications. As a result, a stable, low-latency connection was observed between the application and the bench in remote mode. Additionally, the configuration process via BLE proved efficient, and the local operation mode proved to be a functional alternative, ensuring continuity and versatility for the experiment. Fluid data transmission was a notable feature in both modes, allowing instant visualization of the impact of control actions on the system. The conclusion is that the hybrid architecture solution in level control experimental benches enhances technical knowledge in IoT and demonstrates in practice the importance of redundancy and flexibility in engineering projects, making learning more interactive, resilient, and aligned with the challenges of Industry 4.0.