Previously, in industrial plants, agricultural industries, smart greenhouses, or various smart projects, PLCs were popularly used as controller nodes to control the operation of machines, check the status of sensor devices, and various operating systems using the SCADA system to analyze real-time data and control operations. Some systems have an OPC Server to help communicate and send data between SCADA and PLC. This system works very well, is stable, and is widely accepted. However, remote monitoring is still a high investment and is complicated, requiring experts to develop the system.
The arrival of IoT and Cloud is a trend that has quickly gained attention because users can access remote systems via the Internet via smartphones or web applications. In addition, data can be exported to analyze behavioral trends (Data Analytics), set up notifications via social media channels and others (Notification), have a beautiful, easy-to-use, user-friendly dashboard, and the cost of system development is not very high.
Therefore, there has been more talk about the application of IoT in industrial factories, agricultural industries, smart agricultural greenhouses, or various smart projects. However, the application of IoT in industrial factories, agricultural industries, smart agricultural greenhouses, or various smart projects in the beginning still had many obstacles because IoT devices were not designed for specific uses. There were no communication ports such as RS485 to communicate with various devices. There were few communication channels to choose from with external devices. It did not support a 24VDC power supply system. Because of the aforementioned problems, Saijai Tech Co., Ltd. has developed a controller device with a built-in communication set called "MiniLink IIoT Node" for use in industrial factories, agricultural industries, smart agricultural greenhouses, or various smart projects.
What is MiniLink IIoT?
MiniLink is a low cost, programmable IIoT node with built-in communication module. It comes in two main versions: the first with ESP32 processor or the second with Arm Cortex M0+. The ESP32 version supports development of programs with Arduino IDE, ESP-IDF, MocroPython, JavaScript and Lua. The Arm Cortex M0+ version supports development of programs with Arduino IDE, MPLAB X IDE, Atmel Studio 7 IDE and CircuitPython.
The MiniLink IIoT Nod has ACER's LoRaWAN module and RS485 port on board. It has a DIN RAIL plastic case with status LEDs. It has a plastic antenna in the case and has detachable connectors for easy connection to sensors and power supply. It is compact in size.
MiniLink IIoT Key Features
MiniLink IIoT Node Main Board
Minilink DTU information
| Model | S93-DTU |
| Frequency | 920-925 MHz |
| Transmit Power | 14 dBm |
| Communication port | RS485, Modbus RTU |
| Power Supply | DC 12V-24V |
| Antenna connector | Female SMA |
| Operating temperature | -40°C ~ 85°C |
| Dimension | 30 x 66 x 92 mm |
Minilink Node IIoT PIN OUT Details
Product information
MiniLink IIoT – LoRa PtP
Demonstrates how to use the MiniLink IIoT – LoRa PtP node to remotely control light bulbs, send and receive data between the cloud and the LoRa PtP Gateway via a 3G/4G network using the MQTT protocol. The LoRa PtP Gateway can send commands to the MiniLink PtP Node using the LoRa protocol designed to turn on and off the light bulbs simultaneously or separately on a node.
Add-on board (Shield)
ACER LoRa PtP communication module model AS923
Standard: IEEE 802.15.4g
Frequency : 920-925MHz, AS923
Power: 19dBm
Port : RS485
SIMCOM NB-IoT communication module Model SIM7020E
Support frequency: Use in Thailand
Frequency band: FDD-LTE B1/B3/B5/B8/B20/B28
Data rate: Uplink≤62.5Kbps, Downlink≤26.15Kbps
Port: RS485
QUECTEL NB-IoT communication module BC95-G
Support frequency: Use in Thailand
Frequency band: B1/B3/B8/B5/B20/B28
Max. 125Kbps downlink / 150Kbps uplink
eSIM support
SIMCOM 3G/LTE/GNSS communication module SIM7600E
Support frequency: Use in Thailand
Multi-Band LTE-TDD/LTE-FDD/HSPA+
- Uplink up to 50Mbps
- Downlink up to 150Mbps
- GPS/BeiDou/Glonass/LBS
Example of using the MiniLink IIoT Node board in practice
Example diagram of Minilink application
