Implementing Sparkplug B payload handling on nRF9160DK

[Lars Uglem]

Hey

I'm currently writing a thesis on IIoT and implementation in remote areas. We're trying to setup the nRF9160DK as EON device with all implementations on the board, as an edge device with sparkplug b capabilities, sim card root of trust, TLS/SSL, and data-storage using SD-card. Right now our main priority is implementing sparkplug B on the nRF9160, but we're having a lot of issues implementing the standalone sample in c provided by Eclipse. 

What sample would be best to build on top of, and how would we best implement sparkplug B? We have been able to communicate using MQTT, with the samples simple_mqtt, mqtt-publisher and SLM, but which one of these would be best suited to program sparkplug B, and how?

Best Regards

Lars

[Didrik Rokhaug]

Hi,

Right now our main priority is implementing sparkplug B on the nRF9160, but we're having a lot of issues implementing the standalone sample in c provided by Eclipse. 

Is this the sample you are referring to?

https://github.com/eclipse/tahu/blob/master/sparkplug_b/stand_alone_examples/c/udt_example/example.c

What problems are you having?

How did you try to implement it on the nRF9160?

What sample would be best to build on top of, and how would we best implement sparkplug B? We have been able to communicate using MQTT, with the samples simple_mqtt, mqtt-publisher and SLM, but which one of these would be best suited to program sparkplug B, and how?

The mqtt_simple sample is the best place to start building a custom application on.

The SLM is best suited if the application logic recides in a different MCU, and the nRF9160 is only used as a modem.

Best regards,

Didrik

[Lars Uglem]

Hey, 

Thank you for the reply. That's the sample we tried, as well as this:

https://github.com/eclipse/tahu/blob/master/sparkplug_b/stand_alone_examples/c/template_as_custom_props/example.c

We tried building it on top of mqtt_simple, but what kind of configurations would we have to implement on the prj.conf file?

We put the sample in the src-folder, and tried adding the header files required under modules.

[Didrik Rokhaug]

Unfortunately, it's not going to be that simple.

The sample itself doesn't look too complicated, but there are two important problems we must handle:

1. We must make the tahu and protobuf libraries work in NCS

2. The sample is based on the Mosquitto MQTT client, which either must be ported to NCS, or the sample must be changed to use Zephyr's MQTT client

For problem 1, Zephyr's documentation on third-party library code might be a good starting place.

For problem 2, I expect it will be easier to make everything work with Zephyr's MQTT client, than it will be to port Mosquitto. But it doesn't look like these two libraries does things too differently, so this part should not be too complicated.

[Lars Uglem]

Thanks for the clarification. I understand, and I have tried following Zephyr's documentation on third-party library code, but is it possible to use eg. docker to build the application?

[Didrik Rokhaug]

Lars Uglem said:

is it possible to use eg. docker to build the application?

I am not very familiar with Docker myself, but yes, I believe it is possible.