Development and Performance Evaluation of a PLC-Unity3D Sorting Conveyor Trainer Using FINS, Node-RED, and MQTT

Wirdiyan Dzakwan Hanif (Politeknik Manufaktur Bandung)
Sandy Bhawana Mulia (Politeknik Manufaktur Bandung)
Ridwan Ridwan (Politeknik Manufaktur Bandung)
Sarosa Castrena Abadi (Politeknik Manufaktur Bandung)
Danu Jaya Saputro (Politeknik Manufaktur Bandung)

Jurnal Mekanova : Mekanikal, Inovasi dan Teknologi
Vol 12, No 2 (2026): Oktober

The development of Industry 4.0 requires graduates to possess competencies beyond conventional PLC mastery, particularly in understanding physically and virtually integrated automation systems. This study addresses this by designing and developing a semi-physical trainer module for a sorting conveyor system, integrating a physical PLC controller with its real-time virtual counterpart in Unity3D. The system utilizes a communication architecture combining the FINS protocol, Node-RED, and MQTT to ensure seamless connectivity. Performance evaluation demonstrates the system's effectiveness, achieving an 80% sorting accuracy across various speeds. Furthermore, latency testing confirmed its near real-time capability, with an average end-to-end delay of 391.25ms from the PLC to the virtual plant's response. These results validate the proposed system as a functional and representative training tool to support automation learning in the Industry 4.0 era.