MoTI: An MQTT-Oriented Architecture Enabling Interoperability of IoT Devices in Industry 4.0

Authors

Keywords:

Interoperability, Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, Decentralization, IPFS, MQTT

Abstract

The increasing adoption of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) systems intensifies the need for secure and interoperable communication across heterogeneous industrial environments. This paper proposes MoTI (MQTT-oriented Things Interoperability), a modular architecture that integrates MQTT-based communication, mutual TLS authentication, structured metadata logging, and decentralized storage through IPFS. The solution was implemented and experimentally validated using 1500 messages distributed across three Quality of Service (QoS) levels under controlled load conditions. Considering the complete end-to-end processing pipeline, including MQTT transmission, metadata registration, IPFS persistence, and acknowledgment, statistical analysis revealed significant variability differences across QoS levels. QoS levels 1 and 2 exhibited stable and predictable RTT behavior, whereas QoS level 0 showed substantially higher dispersion and extreme outliers. The results demonstrate that stronger delivery guarantees can be adopted without significant impact on average response time, reinforcing the suitability of QoS 2 for delay-sensitive industrial applications. MoTI provides a practical, experimentally validated approach for secure, traceable, and scalable cross-organizational data exchange in distributed industrial environments.

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Author Biographies

Camila Cabral de Barros, Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP)

Camila Cabral is an Electrical Engineer and Master in Technological Innovation from the Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP), Sao José dos Campos campus. Holds a postgraduate degree in Industrial Control and Automation Engineering from Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia (Sao Paulo) and an MBA in Business Management from Fundacao Getúlio Vargas (FGV). She has experience in Industrial Automation Engineering and Computer Systems, with a focus on research and development in the areas of Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning.

Arlindo Flavio da Conceição, Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP)

Arlindo Flavio is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Science and Technology (ICT), Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP), Sao José dos Campos campus. He holds a B.Sc. in Scientific Computing from the University of Taubate (UNITAU), an M.Sc. from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Sao Paulo (USP). He completed postdoctoral research at Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca (Italy) and the University of Oslo (Norway). He is a faculty member in the Graduate Program in Technological Innovation. His research interests include Distributed Systems and Blockchain.

Vladimir Emiliano Moreira Rocha, Federal University of ABC (UFABC)

Valdimir Emiliano holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the Polytechnic School of the University of Sao Paulo (USP), with a concentration in Software Engineering and Distributed Systems, and M.Sc. in Computer Science from USP. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC). He has over ten years of experience as a software architect and developer in distributed systems, including work with companies such as Red Hat and Infraero. His research interests include Software Engineering, Distributed Systems, Cloud Computing, Blockchain, and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) architectures.

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Published

2026-05-21

How to Cite

Cabral de Barros, C., Flavio da Conceição, A., & Emiliano Moreira Rocha, V. (2026). MoTI: An MQTT-Oriented Architecture Enabling Interoperability of IoT Devices in Industry 4.0. IEEE Latin America Transactions, 24(7), 648–658. Retrieved from https://latamt.ieeer9.org/index.php/transactions/article/view/10400