Ready to see groov EPIC in action? Have some holiday fun by taking control of our lobby Christmas Tree lights and Lionel Train.

Visit our live groov demo site and you'll find a section dedicated to Holiday Lights.

Here is the log in information you'll need to access the demo site:

Username: opto
Password: opto22

You can dispatch the train or enjoy the holiday tree light show...all made possible by the groov EPIC system.

Happy Holidays to all, and have an EPIC New Year!

-Benson

Demo Details

So, what's at play here?

The groov EPIC controller is running a PAC Control strategy that starts and stops the EPIC train based on your input, and counts how many times the train laps the EPIC Christmas Tree, and how long each lap takes to complete. The strategy is also controlling the tree light show sequence.

The groov EPIC controller is also running a Node-RED project to control the Pan-Tilt-Zoom IP cameras based on the start of the tree light show and train departures.

Pressing the "Tree Light Show" and "Dispatch the Train" control buttons triggers both PAC Control and Node-RED to coordinate camera movements, commence the light show routine, and dispatch the train around the tree.

A Node-RED flow also sends time-stamped records of your actions to a Microsoft SQL Server database on Amazon Web Services' Relational Database Service (RDS), and simultaneously posts actions to IBM's Watson IoT Platform. Everything is accomplished directly on the groov EPIC platform; no PCs or middleware are required.

To see a web-based report of the time-series data pulled from the SQL Server running on AWS's RDS, navigate to: http://epicxmas.opto22.com.

The groov EPIC publishes the live, real-time data changes using MQTT transport and Sparkplug payloads to an MQTT broker running on AWS. Then, Ignition, Cirrus Link's MQTT Engine, and groov Server for Windows are running on a Windows Server (demo.groov.com) at Opto 22 headquarters that subscribes to the data changes from the broker and displays the information in the groov View screens.

Your button presses in the groov View screen to control the tree and train are also published using MQTT to the broker, and the groov EPIC subscribes to those commands and carries them out, all over a secure, bi-directional connection through the Internet. There's no need to open firewall ports or access the groov EPIC directly–one of the major benefits of MQTT.

For more information about how this demo works–including the software and hardware used–contact us at systemseng@opto22.com or call us at 951-695-3000 and ask to speak with an engineer. We'd be happy to tell you more!

EDIT: 12/18/2018 - Added illustration to show pieces and parts, and how data flows.