The expansion of the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT), together with wireless sensor networks, has given rise to a wide range of IoT applications. This paper presents and describes the concept, theory of operation, and practical results of a Telecare-ECG (Electrocardiogram) Monitoring device, designed for the remote monitoring of out-of-hospital cardiac patients. ECG monitoring using the Telecare-ECG Monitor system ensures a better quality of life for patients and greater possibilities for the real-time monitoring and signaling of sporadic cardiac events, by recording instantaneous cardiac arrhythmias captured during certain activities or in the daily environment of the patient; furthermore, hospital resources are less impacted by this device than other devices. In accordance with the novelty and contribution of this paper to the field of ECG investigations, the results obtained in the analysis, testing, and validation of the Telecare-ECG Monitor system refer to the optimization of the functionality of the mobile ECG device under conditions that were as similar to reality as possible.

Few developments have changed the evolution of the automation process as substantially as the development of industrial local area networks and communication protocols. Especially fieldbus systems, networks created for the lowest levels of the automation hierarchy, have an enormous influence on the flexibility and performance of modern automation systems in all application areas. The technique of updating data on Modbus type devices involves a procedure of reading data at regular time intervals called pooling. Some automation processes include interdependence between different control variables belonging to different hardware devices. This paper presents and analyzes various scenarios related to a variable architecture configuration of physical modules based on Modbus communication protocol. The proposed Modbus Extension (ModbusE) concept is presented by defining the new optimized message format, and the structure of the acquisition cycle to obtain a deterministic temporal behavior, solutions for describing devices at the Modbus protocol level being presented. The status update of each Modbus module is done according to the address of the device, but also the number of registers per device. The paper analyses the worst-case scenario of communication involving Modbus devices on the same network and exchanging data corresponding to one or more server registers.

This paper presents the relevant aspects regarding the experimental implementation and performance evaluation of an Internet of things (IoT) gateway for the Modbus extension. The proposed Modbus extension specifications are extended by defining the new optimized message format, and the structure of the acquisition cycle for obtaining a deterministic temporal behavior and solutions are presented for the description of devices at the MODBUS protocol level. Three different implementations are presented, and the Modbus extension’s performance is validated regarding the efficiency in the use of the acquisition cycle time. The software and hardware processing time and the importance and effect of the various components are analyzed and evaluated. They all support the implementation of an Internet of things gateway for Modbus extension. This paper introduces solutions for the structure of the acquisition cycle to include other valuable extensions, discusses the performance of a real implementation in the form of a gateway, adds new features to the Modbus extension specification, and strengthens some of the existing ones. In accordance with the novelty and contribution of this paper to the field of local industrial networks, the results obtained in the analysis, testing, and validation of the Modbus extension protocol refer to the extending of the Modbus functions for industrial process monitoring and control management.

The primary function of a distributed bus is to connect sensors, actuators, and control units that are used for an acquisition process. Application domains, such as industrial monitoring and control systems, manufacturing processes, or building automation, present different requirements that are not exactly invariable and coherent. Updating data from Modbus-type devices involves updating data through a technique called polling, which involves repeatedly scanning the registers from each device. This paper highlights the performance of Modbus communication, considering scenarios in which distributed devices are integrated and accessed registers are or are not at consecutive addresses. The Modbus protocol allows reading one or more holding-type data registers. If the registers are not at consecutive addresses, multiple requests are required, with implications for the real-time characteristics of the data acquisition system. We studied the data update times within the SMARTConvert application when variable numbers of registers are accessed, and we designed an extension for the Modbus protocol. The major reason Modbus is used in current research is that no assumptions are required about application semantics, and the performance/resource ratio for generic services is excellent.

The general evolution of fieldbus systems has been variously affected by both computer electrical engineering and science. First, the main contribution undoubtedly originated from network IT systems, when the Open Systems Interconnection model was presented. This reference model with seven layers was and remains the foundation for the development of numerous advanced communication protocols. In this paper, the conducted research resulted in a major contribution; specifically, it describes the mathematical model for the Modbus protocol and defines the acquisition cycle model that corresponds to incompletely defined protocols in order to provide a timestamp and achieve temporal consistency for proposed Modbus Extension. The derived technical contribution of the authors is to exemplify the functionality of a typical industrial protocol that can be decomposed to improve the performance of data acquisition systems. Research results in this area have significant implications for innovations in industrial automation networking because of increasing distributed installations and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications.

In parallel with the development of data transmission in the telecommunications sector to connect peripheral devices, hardware engineers have defined interfaces for independent communication systems. The basic idea of having standardized interfaces for external devices was quickly extended to control and instrumentation equipment, as the real-time characteristic of distributed systems became a challenge in the field. The proposed Modbus Extension (ModbusE) builds on these new techniques introduced in the UART interface, so that the newly introduced extension retains all the characteristics of the Modbus RTU except for the character bit structure. The validation of the ModbusE protocol allowed the proposal of a new communication message structure, a description of Modbus devices, an acquisition cycle to attain a deterministic temporal response behavior and the definition of an architecture for IIoT integration. In this work, practical research is based on data update times in SMARTConvert software when between 1 and 50 registers are accessed. These registers can, in the most favorable case, be at consecutive addresses and can all be read in a single bus query request, or at addresses 1 to 50, or the registers must be read in separate requests. The contributions of this paper are related to highlighting cases where Modbus modules are incorporated, the addressed registers are not consecutive and the Modbus reads 1 or more holding register records and the ModbusE proposal. As these registers must not be on consecutive addresses, it is necessary to make several requests, defining the function of a Modbus acquisition cycle, adapting the equations to the purpose of the tests carried out, measuring the Modbus communication signals and describing the ModbusE communication concept.