What is Pulse?
Pulse is a monitoring solution for operational technology (OT) infrastructure. It provides real-time visibility into industrial control systems, including OPC UA servers and Siemens S7 PLCs.
Key Capabilities
- Data Sources -- Connect to OPC UA servers, S7 PLCs, and Prometheus endpoints, and read their values continuously
- Condition Monitoring -- Alert on a reading, on a connection going quiet, or on a combination of both
- Incident Management -- Automatic incident creation when monitors detect problems, with acknowledgment and resolution workflows
- Escalation Policies -- Define multi-step notification rules with configurable severities, delays, and recipient teams
- Team Management -- Organize users into teams with role-based access control (Admin / Member)
Supported Protocols
OPC UA
Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture is a machine-to-machine communication protocol used in industrial automation. Pulse supports:
- Server connectivity, as a signal a condition can read
- Individual node values
- Security modes: None, Sign, Sign & Encrypt
- Authentication: Anonymous, Username/Password, Certificate
Siemens S7
The S7 communication protocol is used by Siemens SIMATIC PLCs. Pulse supports:
- PLC connectivity (IP, Rack, Slot), as a signal a condition can read
- Tag values in S7 address format (e.g.,
DB1.DBW0) - S7-1200 and S7-1500 series
Architecture Overview
Pulse consists of several components:
- Web Application -- React-based dashboard for monitoring and configuration
- Backend Server -- Haskell-based API server handling business logic
- Protocol Services -- Dedicated Go services for OPC UA and S7 communication
- Database -- PostgreSQL for persistent storage of monitors, incidents, and configuration