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EDWartens UK

Free course · AI and machine learning

Industrial Data with Python

The plumbing nobody teaches: values out of PLCs and meters over Modbus and OPC UA from Python, published over MQTT, stored as time series, cleaned and gridded, forecast and scored for anomalies, and wired to a dashboard — every stage built against a simulator on your own laptop, so no plant is needed and nothing you break matters.

See the modules

Free to learn. Verifiable certificate £19 when you pass the final exam (optional, VAT included).

Level
Intermediate
Modules
12
Video
16 hours
Price
Free

Outcome

What you will be able to do

Read Modbus TCP and RTU devices and OPC UA servers from Python and run simulators of both; subscribe rather than poll; publish on well-designed MQTT topics with quality and timestamps; store in SQLite or InfluxDB with Grafana; clean and grid live process data honestly; forecast day-ahead load and beat the seasonal-naive baseline; detect anomaly episodes on process tags; and assemble the whole pipeline with Node-RED and a model served over HTTP, run as services with security and documentation.

  • Read holding registers over Modbus TCP and RTU from Python and decode floats, offsets and scaling correctly
  • Run an OPC UA server and client in Python, subscribe to changes and log value, quality and source timestamp
  • Design MQTT topics and payloads and bridge OPC UA to a broker with retain and last will
  • Store time series in SQLite or InfluxDB, downsample honestly and dashboard with Grafana
  • Clean live process data: quality masks, grids, frozen sensors, coverage, joins by time
  • Forecast day-ahead load against a seasonal-naive baseline and detect anomaly episodes on process tags

Software

Python on your own laptop (not only Colab): pymodbus, minimalmodbus, asyncua, paho-mqtt, Mosquitto, SQLite, optionally InfluxDB, Grafana and Node-RED. All free.

Hardware

None. A USB–RS485 adapter and any Modbus meter make the serial module real; a Raspberry Pi makes the OPC UA server a device.

Syllabus

12 modules

Each module has video lessons, notes and a short quiz. The final exam closes the course.

  1. 1Where plant data lives, and where Python fits2 lessons
  2. 2Modbus TCP from Python4 lessonsLab
  3. 3Modbus RTU and serial devices3 lessons
  4. 4OPC UA from Python7 lessons
  5. 5OPC UA security, and a Pi as a server4 lessonsLab
  6. 6MQTT: publish once, subscribe anywhere3 lessonsLab
  7. 7Storing time series3 lessons
  8. 8Cleaning and resampling process data1 lessonLab
  9. 9Time-series analysis and forecasting3 lessonsLab
  10. 10Anomaly detection on process tags2 lessonsLab
  11. 11Node-RED, dashboards and the end-to-end pipeline2 lessons
  12. 12Final assessment0 lessons

How it works

How this course works

  1. Watch the video lessonsOne module at a time, at your own pace.
  2. Take the module quizA short quiz at the end of each module shows what stuck.
  3. Keep your notesWrite in My notes beside each module and ask the trainer if you are stuck.
  4. Practise in the labOptionalTry a task from the module in the EDWartens Lab, in your browser.
  5. Sit the final examPass it once you have been through the modules.
  6. Certificate, if you want oneOptionalPaid, and only after you pass. Anyone can check it online.

EDWartens Lab

Practise this in the EDWartens Lab

Train a model on plant data, move the decision threshold and weigh the cost of errors in the Lab's AI workbench.

Works alongside Industrial Data with Python. The Lab is ai for industry practice in your browser: no install, no hardware, free to use. Sign in as a learner and it opens with your account.

Open the free lab See the Lab
AI for industry: Build AI models.

Levels to try with this course

Optional. Skip it whenever you like: it never blocks your progress or your certificate.

Why practise in a lab

Technical work is judged on what you can do: wiring, commissioning, finding a fault. Doing a task yourself teaches more than watching it a second time, and a lab lets you try it safely before you meet real equipment. It does not replace working on real hardware.

  • Practise safely, so a mistake costs nothing.
  • The lab checks your work like a site test, so you know when it is right.
  • Free, in your browser, with nothing to install.

Certificate

An optional certificate when you pass

Learning is free. Pass the final exam and you can have a certificate for £19, including VAT, with a number employers can check online. It records that you completed a free online course; it is not a regulated qualification or a CPD certificate.

  • Your name, the course, its study time and your final exam score
  • A unique certificate number and a QR code to its verification page
  • Issued by Wartens Ltd; add it to your LinkedIn profile in one click
  • Pay now or after you pass: it is issued the moment you pass the final

How the certificate works

Sample certificate for Industrial Data with Python

Credits

Who made the lessons

The video lessons belong to their creators. EDWartens wrote the study plan, notes, quizzes and the final exam.

Questions

About this course

Do I need a PLC or a meter?
No. Every module runs against a simulator you write in Python — a Modbus slave, an OPC UA server, a local MQTT broker. A USB–RS485 adapter and any meter make the serial module real if you have them.
Why not just use Node-RED?
Node-RED is excellent glue and has its own free course here. This course is for the parts Node-RED does not do well — decoding, cleaning, storing at scale, forecasting, anomaly detection — and for understanding what the glue is gluing. The last module wires the two together.
What are the projects?
A complete bench pipeline: an OPC UA simulator with an injected fault, a subscribing client publishing to MQTT, a logger to SQLite, cleaning and gridding, an anomaly detector with a baseline and persistence, episodes published back and a dashboard — with the detection lag measured against the injection time. And a day-ahead load forecast on a year of compressor data that must beat the seasonal-naive baseline, with the improvement converted to money saved.
Is the course really free?
Yes. Every module, practice task, project and assessment. You create an account so your progress is saved and the assessments can be marked. The certificate is the only paid item, and only if you want it.
What certificate do I get?
An EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you have finished the modules and passed the final assessment (the project is optional practice), with a verification code anyone can check. It is not a vendor credential and is never described as one.
Who made the video lessons?
The creators named in the Credits block at the foot of this page, on their own YouTube channels. EDWartens did not make the videos and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks, the projects and the assessments.
How long does the course take?
Plan on about 16 hours in all, including the video lessons, notes and practice tasks. It is self-paced, so you work through the twelve modules at your own speed.

Industrial AI engineer

Take it with

See the whole path

The Professional Module is five live days of Siemens PLC, HMI and SCADA with an instructor, then a resume session and a CPD certificate.

See the Professional Module