Architecture Details

This section provides a detailed technical reference on the components and data flows in Nodum’s architecture.

Data Flow

The flow of information in Nodum follows a clear and structured path, from the plant floor to enterprise systems.

graph TD
    subgraph "Plant (OT)"
        direction LR
        PLC[PLCs]
        Sensors[Sensors]
        Machines[Machinery]
    end

    subgraph "EDGE Layer"
        EdgeDevice[Nodum EDGE Device]
    end

    subgraph "ENTERPRISE / CLOUD Layer"
        direction TB
        Enterprise[Nodum ENTERPRISE]

        subgraph "Internal Data Flow"
            direction LR
            UNS[Unified Namespace]
            NodeRED["Transformation (Node-RED)"]
        end

        BI[BI Systems]
        ERP["ERP/MES"]
        Cloud["Cloud (AWS, Azure)"]
    end

    %% --- Connections ---
    PLC & Sensors & Machines -- "Extraction (Multiple Protocols)" --> EdgeDevice
    EdgeDevice -- "Data transmission" --> Enterprise
    Enterprise -- "Creates and manages" --> UNS
    UNS -- "Data for" --> NodeRED
    NodeRED -- "Enriched data to" --> UNS
    Enterprise -- "Distributes to" --> BI & ERP & Cloud

Key Components

• Nodum EDGE: Software or hardware deployed locally. Its responsibility is to communicate with OT hardware, collect data, and publish it in a standardized format to the Enterprise layer.
• Nodum ENTERPRISE: A central server (On-Premise or Cloud) that aggregates data from all EDGE nodes. This is where the UNS is built, business logic is applied, and data is exposed to final consumers.
• MQTT Broker: The message broker that facilitates real-time communication between the EDGE and ENTERPRISE layers. Nodum manages its own broker to ensure integrity and performance.
• Unified Namespace (UNS): The hierarchical data structure that models the entire enterprise. It is implemented on top of the MQTT broker.