Today is a big day at Blues, as we’re releasing the Wireless for PLC, an expansion module that can quickly add cellular or LoRa connectivity to any Arduino Opta PLC.
In this article we’ll break down what this new hardware does in detail, and how you can get started building with it today.
What is the Arduino Opta?
Made by our friends at Arduino, the Arduino Opta is a secure, easy-to-use micro PLC with industrial IoT capabilities.
Designed for flexibility and ease of integration, the Opta is an ideal platform for deploying connected IoT solutions that enable real-time monitoring, cloud connectivity, and a myriad of edge AI scenarios.
The Arduino Opta comes in three flavors, providing either Ethernet, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi capabilities—but none of the Optas have a built-in way of providing cellular- or LoRa-based connectivity.
That’s where we at Blues come in.
What is the Blues Wireless for PLC?
A year in the making, the Blues Wireless for PLC is an expansion module that can quickly add cellular or LoRa capability to any Arduino Opta PLC (powered by the Notecard and Notehub!).
More specifically, the Wireless for PLC offers:
- Cellular communication powered by the Notecard (LTE Cat 1 North America or LTE Cat 1 EMEA) including 500 MB of data and 10-years of service with no activation fees or monthly commitments. (For the cellular version.)
- LoRa communication powered by the Notecard and The Things Network. (For the LoRa version.)
- Network backhaul via Blues Notehub, with support for the Arduino IoT cloud, AWS, Azure, GCP and dozens of other cloud services.
- Power outage detection and notification via an integrated lithium-ion capacitor.
- A communication test button and Neopixel for connectivity status.
- An external SIM slot for bringing your own cellular connectivity.
How do the two work together?
The Opta connects to the Blues expansion with a standard AUX connector (it’s at easy as connecting two LEGO pieces), and the Opta uses that connection to communicate with the expansion’s Notecard via I2C.
Once connected, you can leverage either the Arduino IoT Cloud SDK or the note-arduino library to configure the Notecard and its backhaul.
With everything connected, this workflow allows you to add seamless cellular or LoRa connectivity to your PLC-based applications.
How do you get started?
New today in our shop is the Wireless for PLC Bundle, a kit that includes both an Arduino Opta Lite and a Blues Opta Expansion at a temporarily discounted price of $299.
Note: Only the cellular expansion is currently available. The LoRa-based expansion will be available in our shop in the near future.
Once you have your hardware, we have a comprehensive new quickstart tutorial that will guide you through connecting your hardware and building your first project.
If you have any questions along the way, our community forum is a great place to reach out and let us know. We can’t wait to see what you build!
