The protocols that turn bytes into readings, and readings into decisions.

Two kinds of protocol

Every sensor network has a radio layer and a language layer, and integration problems almost always come from the second. LoRaWAN and LTE-M move bytes from a device to the cloud. The protocols on this page decide what those bytes mean: how a flow meter's pulses become gallons, how a pump controller's registers become a status, and how a reading becomes a message a dashboard or SCADA system can use. Most of our integration work is translating between these languages so that equipment from different decades and vendors ends up in one view.

Field interfaces: talking to the equipment

Pulse outputs

The simplest interface there is. A water meter, gas meter or rain gauge closes a contact once per unit (a gallon, ten gallons, a hundredth of an inch), and the sensor counts the closures. We add pulse readers to existing meters more than any other retrofit because it needs no plumbing and no calibration beyond knowing the meter's pulse factor. The counter is battery-powered, sits in the meter box and reports totals over LoRaWAN or LTE-M.

Analog 4 to 20 mA and 0 to 10 V

Pressure transducers, level sensors and many industrial instruments speak in current or voltage. A 4 to 20 mA loop is robust over long wires and makes a broken wire obvious (it reads zero, not four). A LoRaWAN or cellular transmitter with an analog input converts the reading and the scaling is set once on the platform.

SDI-12

The standard for soil and environmental probes. A single three-wire bus carries power and data to several sensors, each with an address, and returns calibrated values such as volumetric water content, temperature and electrical conductivity. Most professional soil moisture probes use it, and our multi-depth turf and green roof sensors do too.

Modbus RTU and Modbus TCP

The most common industrial protocol we meet. Modbus RTU runs over RS-485 wiring, usually at 9600 or 19200 baud, and Modbus TCP runs over Ethernet. A device exposes its data as numbered registers, and the integrator's job is to know which register holds what and in what format. Pump controllers, variable frequency drives, flow computers, weather stations, power meters and irrigation central controllers all speak it. We read Modbus with a LoRaWAN or cellular gateway that polls the equipment locally and sends only the values that matter, which keeps traffic and battery use low.

RS-485 and RS-232 serial

Beneath Modbus, and sometimes carrying a vendor's own protocol, are plain serial links. RS-485 is a two-wire, multi-drop bus good for a few thousand feet; RS-232 is point-to-point and short. Our weigh-scale integration is a typical serial project: a device that was designed to print to a ticket printer now reports to the cloud.

Dry contacts and relays

Doors, floats, flow switches and alarm outputs are contacts that are open or closed. In the other direction, a relay output on a LoRaWAN or cellular controller opens a valve, starts a pump or resets a controller. Wireless valve control for medians and parks is exactly this: a solenoid driven by a battery-powered controller with a pulse meter alongside it.

Cloud protocols: moving data between systems

MQTT

A lightweight publish-and-subscribe protocol that has become the default for IoT. Devices and network servers publish readings to named topics on a broker; platforms subscribe to the topics they care about. It handles unreliable links well, supports delivery guarantees, and carries a small message with very little overhead. Nearly every LoRaWAN network server and cloud platform speaks it, and it is how our data reaches MODURA, AWS IoT Core, Azure and Ubidots.

HTTP, REST and webhooks

The web's own protocol. A REST API lets a platform ask for data ("give me yesterday's readings for site 12") or push commands. A webhook is the reverse: the network server calls a URL every time a device reports, delivering the reading as JSON. Webhooks are the simplest way to feed a customer's existing system, and JSON is the format almost everything accepts.

CoAP

A compact request-and-response protocol designed for constrained devices on cellular links. It looks like a stripped-down HTTP over UDP and pairs naturally with LTE-M and NB-IoT devices that need to save every byte and every milliamp.

Payload codecs

A LoRaWAN device sends a handful of raw bytes, not a readable message. A codec, a small piece of decoder code on the network or application server, turns those bytes into named fields such as moisture, temperature and battery. Writing and maintaining codecs for every device model in a fleet is unglamorous and essential, and it is part of every deployment we deliver.

Building and plant systems

BACnet

The language of building automation: HVAC controllers, cooling towers, boilers and the building management system. We bring water and environmental readings into BACnet so facility teams see them next to the equipment they already watch, and we read BACnet points out to the cloud where a BMS has data the owner cannot otherwise reach.

OPC UA and SCADA

Utilities and industrial plants run on SCADA, and OPC UA is the modern way in and out of it. Tank levels, pressures and pump states from LoRaWAN or cellular sensors are delivered as tags the historian and the operators' screens already understand, so field data from remote sites lands where the operations team lives.

How we approach an integration

1. Inventory the interfaces. Every meter, controller and instrument, with its make, model, wiring and protocol, before anything is ordered.
2. Pick the adapter. Pulse reader, analog transmitter, Modbus gateway or serial bridge, on LoRaWAN or cellular depending on the site.
3. Map the data. Registers, pulse factors and scaling documented and tested against the live equipment, not the manual.
4. Deliver it where it is used. MQTT or webhooks into the customer's platform, BACnet into the BMS, OPC UA into SCADA, and MODURA for the field teams.
5. Prove it. A week of side-by-side readings against the source before anyone relies on the numbers.

This is the work behind our System Integration and Custom Hardware & Software services.