🛠 Deploying an Industrial Automation Station on BIWCL-PAT

Objectifs

This tutorial aims to configure the BIWCL-PAT board as a robust industrial control node. We will leverage its four serial ports for communication with PLCs or sensors, utilize NVMe storage for high-frequency data logging, and ensure reliable network connectivity via the 2.5GbE ports. The goal is to create an autonomous system capable of collecting, processing, and transmitting critical data.

Matériel nécessaire

• BIWCL-PAT Motherboard (Intel Core Series 3 "Wildcat Lake").
• M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 Storage Module (minimum 256 GB).
• SO-DIMM DDR5-6400 RAM Stick (8 GB minimum recommended).
• Stable 9-24V DC Power Supply (12V/3A recommended).
• RS232/485 Cables adapted to industrial peripherals.
• Bootable USB Drive with Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS.
• HDMI Monitor for initial configuration.

Étapes

1. Physical Assembly: Insert the DDR5 stick into the SO-DIMM slot until it clicks. Install the NVMe module into the M.2 M-Key slot and secure it with the provided screw. Connect the 12V DC power supply to the appropriate connector.
2. System Installation: Connect the HDMI monitor and USB drive. Power on the board and access the BIOS (Delete or F2 key). Ensure boot priority is set to USB. Launch the Ubuntu Server 24.04 installation, selecting the NVMe drive as the target. Configure the network to use the first Ethernet port (Intel i226-LM).
3. Serial Port Configuration: Once installed, identify serial ports with ls /dev/ttyS*. For RS485 ports, you may need to configure hardware flow control via stty. Example configuration for ttyS0: sudo stty -F /dev/ttyS0 9600 cs8 -cstopb -parenb.
4. Storage Optimization: Mount a dedicated partition on the NVMe for industrial logs to prevent system saturation. Use ext4 with the noatime option to reduce write wear.
5. Supervision Script: Create a Python or C script using the pyserial library to read data from serial ports and write it to CSV files on the NVMe every second.

Vérification

Verify component detection with lspci (for NVMe and network controllers) and dmesg | grep tty for serial ports. Connect a serial device and use cat /dev/ttyS0 to confirm data reception. Check disk performance with fio to ensure the NVMe handles continuous write loads.

Pour aller plus loin

Explore using 5G modules via the M.2 B-Key slot for critical wireless data transmission. Also, configure the 8-bit DIO header to send output signals to simple actuators, turning the board into a true logic controller.