monitoring. Conventional conditional monitoring can be time-consuming and difficult to interpret by a non-

experienced operator, which increases the risks in such critical applications. Virtual Reality (VR) has been in

use for multiple applications to ease the usage of complex tasks via proper visualization. In this paper, a

visualization approach of industrial application that monitors the motor’s health connected with a vibration

sensor via a programmable logic controller (PLC) is presented. The Beckhoff PLC was programmed using

TwinCAT 3 software and linked with Unity VR headsets via MQTT protocol. The user is given the ability to

select the number of connected sensors and place them to mimic the actual environment, import their own 3D

machine design, test for MQTT broker connectivity, and visualize the machine's health as per the ISO 10826-3

standard. The proposed system has been tested successfully and it is expected to ease visualization in an

industrial setup.

Continuous production output in industrial settings

is a requirement, where any failure of the equipment

can result in high losses. This is why monitoring the

machine operation parameters has always been

important to assess the maintenance requirement of

a machine before a failure can occur. This will allow

the user to optimize the equipment performance,

reduce cost, and ensure the continuous operation of

methods, such as thermal monitoring, current

analysis, signal processing, vibration analysis, or

artificial intelligence (AI), [2], [3], [4], [5].

that employs motor current signature analysis and

used in remote monitoring of equipment, this can be

extremely useful in situations where it is not safe for

people to be physically present.

of 3D touch by applying vibrations and motion, [6],

are one of the key advantages of VR. This can

enhance the effectiveness of training for the

maintenance personnel, by familiarizing them with

the equipment without the equipment being

physically present.

(PLC) and Meta Quest 2 VR headset to enable the

user to visualize, interact, and monitor their

equipment in real time. The structure of this paper is

as follows: The design and implementation of the

hardware and software are described first. Then, the

test results are presented, and followed by a

discussion of the results. Finally, the conclusion and

future work are discussed.

the internet.

which is an industrial control system that can be

programmed to perform automation tasks is utilized

to acquire data from one vibration sensor, then

perform analysis on the data and publish it to the

MQTT broker.

Fig. 1: Conceptual Diagram

analysis program was developed on TwinCAT 3

using Structured Text programming language, and

then it was deployed to the CX5120 PLC. TwinCAT

3 Analytics Workbench, a user interface that was

developed by Beckhoff for the design and

deployment of analytics programs, along with

TwinCAT 3 Condition Monitoring library, were

utilized for the vibration assessment program. Some

parameters such as machine group, and machine

substructure, which are crucial for accurate

Unity 3D, which is a game engine that is widely

used for creating interactive applications, was

utilized to create the VR application. M2MQTT

library, [11], was used in Unity to enable

communication between the VR application and the

MQTT broker. The 3D model of the motor was

designed using Sketchup, [12] and then added to the

VR application to provide a realistic representation

of the motor’s health.

acceleration data. The RMS values of both the

vibration velocity and displacement are then

checked against the ISO standard limits for machine

group 2 tabulated in Table 1 to determine the

classification.

10816-3, zone A describes a recently commissioned

machine, and Zone B is for a machine suitable for

continuous operations without any restrictions.

Finally, unsuitable machines for continuous

operation and machines regarded as dangerous that

may damage machines are described as zones C and

D respectively. The limits described by the standard

are only intended as a general guideline, and in

some cases cannot apply to certain machinery or

operating conditions.

industrial setting, where the machine groups

described in the standard try to categorize the

machine while accounting for the variations in

design. However, due to differences in

motor/machine 3D model if required, instead of the

default 3D motor model, and then set the sensor

points as shown in Figure 7.

will be able to see the motor overview with the

details of the sensor and evaluation zones as shown

in Figure 8.

Fig. 8: Motor overview in the VR application

[1] P. Kumar, A. Namdeo, and A. Dixit,

[2] S. H. Chetwani, M. K. Shah, and M.

[4] Joao Rodrigues, Jose Torres Farinha, Antonio

[5] Mohamed I. Abu El-Sebah, Faeka M.H.

[10] “Meta Quest 2,” Meta, [Online].