All FAQ about Voice of the Machine Edge?

What is Voice of the Machine Edge?

Voice of the Machine Edge is an operating system on an Industrial PC (IPC) appliance. This edge-level software seamlessly collects data from IoT devices/systems (such as sensors and PLCs) and integrates the data into the cloud or into on-premise enterprise systems. Extensive knowledge of 35+ device drivers, both legacy and newer systems, enables Voice of the Machine Edge to manage the variety of devices in an industrial environment. Voice of the Machine Edge software provides support for many protocols/buses (RS232, RS485, CAN, Ethernet, Fieldbus, etc.) via an IPC appliance that is connected to the Internet. The raw or processed data can be visualized and analyzed at the edge or sent to LoopCloud, near real time.

Access Voice of the Machine Edge software by connecting via a browser on the same network as the Voice of the Machine Edge device.
Enter the IP address into the browser URL, for example: https://192.168.1.49
Refer to How to Get Started with Voice of the Machine Edge

DataHub enables northbound cloud connectivity. Use DataHub to send edge-level data securely to LoopCloud.
DataHub enables local connections to the cloud using the MQTT protocol. DataHub buffers the data and if the connection drops out, no data is ever lost. DataHub enables Voice of the Machine Edge to run offline, but can push all offline data to the cloud once an internet connection is established. This helps in situations where network connectivity is not always reliable.
The capacity of the data is limited by the hardware footprint and the data is discarded on a first-in first-out basis. To visualize these connections: Use Voice of the Machine Edge Flows to Visualize Data Flows.

DeviceHub provides the mechanism for connecting to physical devices (PLCs, sensors, etc.) to collect data from them.

DeviceHub needs to be configured for southbound connections, including connections to PLCs.
DeviceHub collects data from physical devices and publishes it to an internal message broker. The data can be sent securely to the cloud via DataHub, or it can be managed locally and sent to any desired destination, or both.
DeviceHub's main purpose is to collect data from PLCs (Programmable Logic Controller), classify the data by adding OMA tagging, and publish it to a Message Broker subject for further distribution.
PLC-level statistics and input/output data can be obtained at the edge using DeviceHub.
There are 35+ device drivers included in DeviceHub. DeviceHub supports many PLC manufacturers, such as Siemens, Allen-Bradley, Mitsubishi, Omron, etc.

These Voice of the Machine Edge components are independent and need separate configurations. To get the maximum value out of their Voice of the Machine Edge environments, however, most customers require both configurations.
DeviceHub is the component that needs to be configured for southbound connections, including connections to PLCs.
DataHub needs to be configured for northbound connections. Upon activation from LoopCloud, a DataHub Cloud Connector is configured, by default. This connector must then be enabled to send data to the cloud. Local NATS topics can then be connected to the cloud connector in DataHub.

Flows offers flow-based programming with a drag-and-drop flow editor. It can be used for data manipulation, data normalization, and visualization.
Refer to

I thought I exported a flow to the clipboard, but when I try to import from the clipboard, the text is not in the clipboard.

Before exporting nodes, select the nodes and connecting wires within a flow tab.

A DeviceHub device tag refers to the PLC tag/register. PLC registers hold PLC runtime information.
Tags are the actual input and output registers in a device to which sensors are connected. Every PLC has a tag and tags differ from PLC to PLC.
Examples of tags include: digital input, digital output, analog input, analog output, timers, counters, etc.

No. The PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) needs to be already programmed. Voice of the Machine Edge reads the PLC data.