Telemetry is increasingly present in industry, where the need to know, optimize and monitor processes poses new challenges for integration and operability. The main technological trend in systems management is the use of internet connectivity, either wired or mobile, due to its portability. The number of connected devices has grown significantly in recent years, which is an evolution that further intensifies over time and as new technologies are developed. However, regardless of the intended solution, aspects related to information security and reliability are still a cause for great concern and should always be addressed in the connection system.

In this scenario, routers with VPN protocols stand out as a great alternative because they offer security and connection availability, as well as providing flexibility in monitoring systems with mobile data service. An example of this kind of router is the NOVUS AirGate-3G. It operates as both VPN client and server, meeting the demands of the main protocols for external connections in private networks, such as the IPsec encryption protocol, OpenVPN (widely used due to its cross-platform structure, with support for the main operating systems), PPTP, L2TP (also configurable for applications using IPsec encryption) and GRE.

The working principle of this solution is to communicate with the VPN server, get authenticated in the firewall of the architecture in question, and act as a gateway to the equipment just below it, enabling data access and reading. The equipment and sensors of a plant or process can thus be integrated and located in any geographic position, securely (encrypted data) and continuously (preventing data loss when internet connection is lost), all combined with a single data server. Apart from security, easy configuration and installation make this router a cost-effective alternative that is ideal for remote access and monitoring projects.

Some sectors, such as energy and sanitation which have multiple plants scattered throughout a given territory, can benefit from this solution by reducing operating costs due to data availability on a server. Where in the past a professional would need to physically go to the installation site, today all the data is available for remote handling, providing accurate information about the process.

Figure 1 - Example of topology using the VPN resources of AirGate-3G.