Linking technology assets and services together to build IIoT applications often requires layers of complex software development and long development cycles that quickly erode IIoT application ROI. Opto 22’s Node-RED nodes for SNAP PAC programmable automation controllers enable nearly anyone to rapidly prototype and develop IIoT applications with Node-RED, opening a path to quickly connect legacy physical assets to the digital world of cloud services.
Node-RED for IIoT
Node-RED is an innovative visual wiring tool to connect edge computing systems such as industrial automation controllers to cloud services such as Amazon Web Services™ (AWS) IoT, IBM® Watson IoT, and Microsoft® Azure® in new and interesting ways. Created by Nick O’Leary (@knolleary) and Dave Conway-Jones (@ceejay) of IBM Emerging Technologies (@ibmets), Node-RED is an open-source, cross-platform technology available on GitHub.com and npmjs.org, and is currently available for a variety of platforms, including OS X®, Microsoft Windows®, Linux®, and Raspberry Pi™, and cloud offerings like IBM Bluemix® and AT&T® Flow. Built on the popular Node.js JavaScript runtime, Node-RED benefits from a large Node-RED library—containing over 500 prebuilt and ready-to-deploy nodes—allowing IIoT application developers to leverage existing software code and deploy it directly into their applications.
“I've been very impressed with the whole Node-RED project,” said Jim Turner, Senior Software Developer at Opto 22. “It's well run, polished, and of high quality, but still very practical and useful. It's been a pleasure to develop for their platform.”
Already Node-RED has been downloaded from npmjs.org over 25,000 times in the last month.
Lowering the Technical Bar
The Node-RED development environment offers a gradual and easily approachable learning curve for users of all levels and requires little to no programming skills. Instead, Node-RED takes advantage of pre-programmed, reusable code blocks called nodes. These nodes make IIoT application development simpler, easier to repeat, and faster to scale. Through a visual browser-based, drag-and-drop interface, Node-RED allows IIoT application developers to focus on identifying an opportunity and developing a solution, rather than building the components of an application from scratch.
Advanced JavaScript functions can also be created within the editor using a Function node. A built-in library lets developers save useful functions, templates, or node flows for re-use. The flows created in Node-RED are stored using the widely known JSON format, which can be easily imported and exported for sharing with other developers and applications, promoting the idea of social application development.
* Node RED is described as a visual tool for wiring the Internet of Things.
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