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MQTT, OPC UA & Sparkplug B: Build a Unified Namespace
117 students
MQTT, OPC UA & Sparkplug B: Build a Unified Namespace
Build a complete industrial data pipeline with HiveMQ, Ignition Edge, Python, InfluxDB & Grafana — free tools
Created byJaimin S. Banker
Last updated 7/2026
English
What you'll learn
- Build a complete Unified Namespace from scratch using Ignition Edge, HiveMQ, Sparkplug B, InfluxDB and Grafana — entirely free tools, on your own laptop.
- Configure Ignition Edge as an OPC UA client and MQTT publisher — sending live Sparkplug B messages to a HiveMQ broker with birth certificates and death notice
- Write custom Python subscribers that decode Sparkplug B protobuf payloads and write time-series data to InfluxDB for queryable plant historian functionality.
- Build live Grafana dashboards connected to InfluxDB — visualising real plant tags like Temperature, Pressure and FlowRate updating in real time from the edge
- Understand and implement ISA-95 topic hierarchy — mapping OT tag folders to Sparkplug B metric names for site, area, line and equipment
- Test edge layer resilience — triggering NDEATH and NBIRTH cycles by stopping and restarting brokers, gateways and network connections to understand failure
- Subscribe to Sparkplug B topics using Node-RED — drag, drop, wire, deploy — and understand when to use low-code versus custom Python subscribers
- Bridge a local HiveMQ broker to IoT Hub using a Python cloud bridge — forwarding selected metrics to the cloud without changing the edge layer architecture
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Course content
8 sections • 51 lectures • 2h 28m total length
Requirements
- Basic familiarity with industrial automation concepts — PLC, SCADA, sensors, or OT networking. You do not need to be an expert. Curiosity about IIoT is enough.
- A Windows laptop with at least 8GB RAM and 10GB free disk space. All software used is free — no paid tools, no cloud subscriptions, no hardware required.
- Basic Python familiarity is helpful but not required. Every script is provided in full and explained line by line. You will understand every line before running it.
- No prior knowledge of MQTT, OPC UA, Sparkplug B or Unified Namespace is needed. These are taught from first principles with working demos in every lecture.
Description
Most engineers know the buzzwords — MQTT, OPC UA, Sparkplug B,
Unified Namespace. Very few have actually built one from scratch.
This course closes that gap.
In this hands-on masterclass, you will build a complete industrial
data pipeline on your own laptop using entirely free tools. No
vendor lock-in. No cloud subscription required. No hardware needed.
Just your machine, a working internet connection, and the same
open-source stack that real plants are deploying right now.
WHAT YOU WILL BUILD:
A complete end-to-end Unified Namespace — from OPC UA source through
Sparkplug B encoding, MQTT brokering, Python subscribers, time-series
storage, and live Grafana dashboards. Every layer. Every connection.
Every failure mode tested.
THE STACK YOU WILL MASTER:
- Ignition Edge — as OPC UA client and Sparkplug B publisher
- HiveMQ Community Edition — as your MQTT broker
- Eclipse Tahu — the Sparkplug B reference library
- Python with paho-mqtt — custom publishers and subscribers
- Node-RED — low-code MQTT subscriber in five minutes
- InfluxDB v2 — time-series historian for plant data
- Grafana — live plant dashboards from real data
- Azure IoT Hub — cloud bridge for multi-site analytics
WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR:
OT engineers being asked to build digital infrastructure they have
never seen before. Controls and automation engineers stepping into
IIoT. IT engineers entering the manufacturing space. Anyone who has
attended a UNS webinar and wants to actually build one, not just
understand it conceptually.
WHY THIS COURSE IS DIFFERENT:
Every other course stops at theory or covers one piece of the stack.
This course builds the complete vertical slice — OPC UA server to
Grafana dashboard — in a single coherent narrative. You will see
every component connect to the next. You will see failures and
understand why they happen. You will leave with a working demo you
can show in a job interview or a client meeting.
The instructor brings 20 years of plant-floor OT engineering
experience — hands-on PLC, DCS, SCADA, and instrumentation — combined
with enterprise IIoT advisory work across metals, chemicals, pharma,
and semiconductor verticals. This is not academic content. Every
pattern in this course came from a real plant problem.
PREREQUISITES:
Basic understanding of industrial automation concepts. Familiarity
with Python is helpful but not required — all scripts are provided
and explained line by line.
By the end of this course you will have built something real. Not a
toy project. A complete industrial data backbone — the same
architecture that powers Industry 4.0 at scale.
Who this course is for:
- OT and automation engineers — PLC, DCS, SCADA, instrumentation — being asked to build IIoT or Industry 4.0 infrastructure and not sure where to start.
- IT engineers and software developers entering the manufacturing or industrial space who need to understand OT protocols, edge architecture and plant data pipelines.
- Controls engineers, systems integrators and IIoT architects who want a complete hands-on reference implementation of a Unified Namespace they can demo.
- Engineering managers and digital transformation leads who want to understand the full technical stack — from OPC UA source to Grafana dashboard — without the fluff.