While HMI is generally associated with industrial manufacturing, advances in HMI hardware and software capability have opened the doors for HMI to be used in a wider array of applications. At Weintek, we have put together a proof-of-concept miniature plant factory. Essentially, a plant is placed in a “factory” box of which we monitor environmental indicators and provide lighting, air, and humidity control with our HMI. Moreover, new features has enabled us to do it in a more user-friendly, creative, and innovative way.

Plant Factory

Synergy of Past and Present

For this plant factory, we utilize two of the leading HMI models, eMT3070 and cMT-SVR. We can note the synergy of them from this demo setup.

1. Despite the fact that cMT architecture is new, cMT-SVR’s communication capability has remained as powerful; both eMT3070 and cMT-SVR have direct access to the PLC.
2. Even though only one HMI can access temperature sensor due to physical constraint, it poses no issue. Data can easily be shared between cMT and non-cMT devices. In this particular case, data is transmitted via serial port over Modbus client/server relation.

EasyAccess 2.0

With both HMI connected to the Internet, they can be easily accessed, with the help of EasyAccess 2.0. Weintek’s EasyAccess 2.0 provides a hassle-free, minimal setup remote access technology for users to monitor an HMI faraway. For eMT3070, one can use VNC to view the screen exactly as it appears on site. On the other hand, cMT-SVR can be accessed simply with cMT Viewer. As cMT Viewer requires much lower bandwidth, it is considered a preferred way when it comes to remote access.

Monitor screen on cMT-Viewer

A Different Point of View

In addition to monitoring and logging of key environmental data in numeric, each HMI has a USB camera attached for real-time view of the factory. eMT3070 will show camera feed on its screen, and it is also programmed to capture snapshots of camera video on a regular basis. This kind of pictorial information can be archived to track and monitor in a different way, more than just numbers and trend graphs.

Video Streaming on cMT-SVR

For cMT-SVR, video monitoring is done by video streaming, which is the latest addition to the rich repository of cMT-SVR functions. With video streaming, one can stream video from a USB camera on the cMT-SVR. Since a web browser is the only thing required, video can be practically viewed on almost all devices with minimum setup. Combining video streaming with EasyAccess 2.0 means that it is now easy to get live monitoring video on any device, anytime, anywhere.

Video Streaming on iPad’s Safari