Industrial use cases
fluxrig is a high-performance distributed edge runtime engineered for the convergence of Operational Technology (OT) and institutional IT infrastructure. It functions as a Specialized Industrial Patchbay, providing a memory-safe execution layer for protocol normalization, heterogeneous signal summing, and deterministic logic at the factory edge.
By composing specialized Gears, industrial engineers can transform raw PLC registers and mesh-network signals into semantic, cloud-ready events without modifying mission-critical control hardware.
The Unified Namespace (UNS) strategy
fluxrig is a native implementation of the Unified Namespace architectural pattern. By using the Mixer as the central source of truth for the entity registry and the Snake Tunnel as the high-fidelity transport, the platform enables a single, contextualized hierarchy for all industrial data—bridging the gap between the shop floor (OT) and the boardroom (IT).
TIP
This strategy is central to modern Industrial DataOps. For more context on the terminology and industry alignment, see the Foundation Components guide.
The industrial signal spectrum
Unlike monolithic IIoT gateways, fluxrig provides a flexible spectrum of operational patterns for high-fidelity industrial automation.
Non-intrusive signal tap (SPAN)
For legacy environments where touching the PLC cycle is restricted, fluxrig operates as a passive observer.
- Zero Impact: Capturing OT traffic from a switch mirror port allows for full telemetry acquisition with absolute isolation from the industrial physical process.
- Shadow Verification: Running a digital twin in parallel with legacy SCADA systems to validate new logic before a production cutover.
Active normalization and control
In this pattern, fluxrig acts as an inline gateway, actively polling OT signals and applying real-time logic before transmission to the central ecosystem.
- Heterogeneous Summing: Direct translation from bit-level binary registers (Modbus, Profinet) or mesh signals (LoRaWAN, Zigbee) to semantic
fluxMsgevents via the Bento Gear. - Autonomous Edge Filtering: Executing high-frequency thresholding and filtering at the edge. Only relevant "Logic Signals" (e.g., Pressure Variance > 5%) are transmitted, significantly reducing bandwidth and cloud ingestion costs.
Visualization: The Industrial Verification Rig
Architectural logic
- Heterogeneous Summing (1-2): Disparate signals from PLCs and mesh sensors are merged into a unified internal bus.
- Signal Normalization (3): Data is masterised into the standard
fluxMsgformat, attaching sovereign metadata (traceID, MachineID). - Audit Integrity (4): The Correlator Gear ensures every industrial event is logged to the local immutable archive before external transmission.
- Anomaly Detection (5): Real-time deviations are diverted to the SRE alerting tier for immediate operational response.
Sovereign security: inbound zero
Industrial environments require absolute isolation. fluxrig enforces a strict Inbound Zero policy via the Snake Tunnel (mTLS):
- Outbound Initiation: The Edge Rack initiates the connection to the Central Mixer; no inbound ports are opened on the industrial firewall.
- Surface Attack Elimination: By maintaining a closed-firewall profile, the factory floor remains invisible to public internet scanning and lateral movement attacks.
CAUTION
Industrial Warning: Signal Jitter
Running complex logic on resource-constrained distributed edge nodes can introduce execution jitter.
- Impact: High CPU contention may delay high-frequency poller signals (e.g., sub-10ms RTU acquisition).
- Recommendation: Prioritize the Stable Bento Gear for data acquisition and maintain lean edge logic profiles to ensure deterministic signal gathering.
Implementation reference
| Gear | Function | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Bento | Universal Protocol Bridge (Modbus, MQTT, SMTP) | Stable |
| io_modbus | Native TCP/RTU High-Speed Poller | Planned |
| network_sniffer | Passive OT Traffic Capture | Planned |
| Wasm Logic | Custom Edge Filtering & Autonomy | Planned |