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Bahrain --:--:-- AST

Automation · Smart Home · Web

Signal in. Control out.

I build the systems between the sensor and the screen — a plant control loop, a Home Assistant automation and a website like this one.

Start a project Explore capabilities

PIC-101 Pressure loop

This is a live demonstration, not plant data. A simulated PI controller drives a process towards a setpoint. Change the setpoint with the gold handle at the right edge of the chart: drag it, press the arrow keys while it is focused, or click the chart. Then watch the loop respond.

Simulated loop — a first-order process with dead time under PI control with anti-windup. Illustrative, not plant data.

AUTOPI

Fluent in

  • 4–20 mA
  • HART
  • Modbus RTU/TCP
  • PROFIBUS
  • PROFINET
  • EtherNet/IP
  • OPC UA
  • MQTT
  • IEC 61131-3
  • ISA-5.1
  • ISA-101

01Capabilities

Everything between the sensor and the screen.

Every system is a chain — input, logic, output, someone reading the result. I design, build and commission each link, whether it runs in a plant, a home or a browser tab.

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Nine capabilities · one engineer

  1. C-01–03 Automation & instrumentation

  2. Control systems programming

    I program PLC and DCS systems in IEC 61131-3 languages, design SCADA and HMI screens, and write a clear alarm philosophy — so operators read the plant at a glance.

    • PLC
    • DCS
    • SCADA
    • HMI

  3. Instrumentation & calibration

    I select, install, loop-check and calibrate field instruments — pressure, flow, level, temperature, analytical — on 4–20 mA and HART.

    • 4–20 mA
    • HART
    • Loop checks
    • Calibration

  4. Systems integration

    I connect OT and IT over OPC UA, MQTT, Modbus and PROFINET, retrofit legacy systems while the plant keeps running, and sometimes bridge that network into a Home Assistant/MQTT layer.

    • OPC UA
    • MQTT
    • Modbus
    • PROFINET

  5. C-04–06 Smart home & embedded

  6. Home Assistant systems

    I design and build Home Assistant setups — automations, Lovelace dashboards, integrations — local-first where it makes sense, so the home still runs when the internet doesn’t.

    • Home Assistant
    • Automations
    • Lovelace
    • Local-first

  7. ESP32 & microcontroller firmware

    I build custom sensors and actuators on ESP32 and similar boards, with firmware in C++, MicroPython or ESPHome, talking MQTT, HTTP or BLE to Home Assistant — or to anything else.

    • ESP32
    • C++
    • ESPHome
    • MQTT

  8. Monitoring & dashboards

    I build real-time trends, alarms and dashboards — whether the source is a plant historian, a home energy meter, or a small sensor network.

    • Trends
    • Alarms
    • Historian
    • Energy

  9. C-07–09 Web development

  10. Websites & web apps

    I design and build websites and small web apps — from a landing page to a working tool. This very site, bilingual and hand-built, is one example.

    • Design
    • Front-end
    • Bilingual
    • RTL

  11. Industrial & product software

    I write the software layer that sits on top of a machine or a sensor network — dashboards, APIs, edge gateways — so the data becomes something people can act on.

    • Dashboards
    • APIs
    • Edge
    • Reports

  12. Commissioning & support

    FAT and SAT for a plant loop, a final walkthrough for a smart home or a website — then start-up, documentation, training and support that keeps going long after handover.

    • FAT
    • SAT
    • Docs
    • Training

02The loop

Measure. Decide. Act. Repeat.

Every plant is made of loops. A sensor reports, a controller decides, a valve or a drive acts, and the process answers back. I work on every part of that circle, and on the screens above it.

Loop 101 · Pressure control Signal Data
PT 101 Measure Transmitter PIC Decide PLC · DCS Act Valve · drive Process The plant Supervise SCADA · HMI PT 101 Measure PIC Decide PLC · DCS Act Process The plant Supervise SCADA · HMI

  1. Measure

    Instrumentation

    A sensor reports what is happening — a pressure transmitter on a loop, an ESP32 sensor feeding Home Assistant, a log line or analytics event on a website. I select, wire and calibrate the reading behind it.

    Pressure4–20 mA

  2. Decide

    Programming

    The reading meets a setpoint and a decision follows — PLC or DCS logic, a Home Assistant automation, an API handler on a website. I write it, structure it and test it before it meets the real world.

    Signal + setpointOutput

  3. Act

    Automation & integration

    The decision becomes motion — a control valve or drive, a smart plug or actuator, a deployed change or a notification. I commission it, tune it and tie it into what is around it.

    Output signalValve position

  4. Process

    Monitoring & support

    The plant answers, and the loop begins again. I stay with it after handover: diagnostics, tuning, fixes and small improvements as operations change.

    FlowPressure

  5. Supervise

    Supervision layer

    Above the loop, someone needs the whole picture — a SCADA or HMI screen, a Home Assistant dashboard, a web dashboard. I build that view so the state of things is clear in one look.

    Loop dataOperator view

Hover or focus a stage to read about it.Tap a stage to read about it.

Field note

Why 4–20 mA? Because zero should never be silence.

Four milliamps is a live zero: proof the loop is alive, and enough current to power a two-wire transmitter. If a wire breaks, the loop reads 0 mA, which is not the same thing as a measurement of zero. The controller can tell the difference, and so can the operator.

Try it

NAMUR NE43: valid readings run 3.8 to 20.5 mA. 3.6 mA or less and 21 mA or more are failure signals. Exact limits are set per instrument and per project.

How I deliver

Five steps, then I stay.

  1. Survey

    Walk the plant, read the drawings, list every signal.

    I/O list

  2. Design

    Architecture, control narrative and screens, agreed on paper first.

    Design pack

  3. Program

    Logic, alarms and HMI in clear, versioned, documented code.

    Code & screens

  4. Test (FAT)

    Factory acceptance: simulate the plant and prove it before it ships.

    FAT record

  5. Commission & accept (SAT)

    On site: check every loop, tune it, run the site acceptance test and hand over.

    Handover pack

  6. Support

    I stay close: fixes, changes and steady improvements.

    Ongoing

03Sectors

Every sector has its own signal.

The instruments change from job to job. My method doesn’t: measure it properly, control it simply, and hand over documentation you can use.

  • PVProcess variable
  • SPSetpoint
  • Latest reading

Illustrative traces, not live data — tags are examples.

  • Oil, gas & petrochemicals

    I run pressure, flow and gas-detection loops, with the alarm and interlock logic around them.

    • Pressure
    • Flow
    • Gas detection

  • Water & desalination

    I measure and control tank levels, pumping stations and treatment trains, reported to one screen.

    • Level
    • Pump control
    • Telemetry

  • Power & utilities

    I bring metering, motor and switchgear monitoring, and utility-plant control into one SCADA view.

    • Metering
    • Switchgear
    • SCADA

  • Metals & heavy industry

    I handle furnace temperature profiles, drives and conveyors, with the interlocks and permissives heavy plant relies on.

    • Temperature
    • Drives
    • Conveyors

  • Food, beverage & manufacturing

    I run batch and recipe control, dosing and filling lines, with production data that stays traceable.

    • Batch control
    • Recipes
    • Traceability

  • Buildings & facilities

    I handle BMS integration, HVAC and chiller control, energy metering and one dashboard for the whole facility.

    • BMS
    • HVAC
    • Energy metering

  • Smart homes & residential

    I build Home Assistant setups, ESP32 sensors and automations, and energy monitoring for real homes.

    • Home Assistant
    • ESP32
    • Automations
    • Energy

  • Startups & small business

    I design, build and look after websites and small web apps, from the first line of code onward.

    • Websites
    • Web apps
    • Hosting
    • Uptime

Not on the list? Every system has a signal — tell me yours.

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04Work

Case studies, coming soon.

I am writing up my projects in one short, honest format: the challenge, the system, the measured result. They will appear here.

Building something worth showing? Let’s make it the next case study.

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Follow along for updates @ioai.bh

05About

An acronym with a job to do.

Four letters, one job: measure the process, decide what it needs and make it happen.

05.1The name, decoded

  1. I/O · signals in

    Input

    Everything a system can tell me: a plant’s pressure and flow, a sensor at home, a request a page receives.

  2. I/O · control out

    Output

    Everything I can ask of it in return: a valve to move, a smart plug to switch, a page to respond.

  3. logic

    Automation

    PLC and SCADA logic, a Home Assistant automation, or the code behind a website — the layer that turns a reading into a decision.

  4. measurement

    Instrumentation

    Sensors, transmitters and calibration: the part that makes a signal worth trusting.

05.2Who I am

Portrait of Sayed Abdulla, engineer and developer, Bahrain.

Sayed Abdulla Engineer & Developer Kingdom of Bahrain

I automate plants, build smart-home systems around Home Assistant and ESP32, and design and build the websites in between — one instinct at every scale: measure the signal, decide simply, and turn it into control.

05.3How I work

Four beliefs I work by. Not certificates on a wall, but habits you can hold me to.

  1. Measure before I automate.

    Automation built on a bad signal only hides the problem faster — whether that signal is a 4–20 mA loop, a sensor reading or an API response. So I check the instrument, the wiring or the request first, and write the logic second.

    • Sensors
    • Loops
    • APIs

  2. Open standards over lock-in.

    I reach for protocols anyone can read before anything proprietary. What I build should stay free to change vendors or platforms, without starting over.

    • 4–20 mA
    • HART
    • Modbus
    • MQTT
    • OPC UA

  3. Documentation is a deliverable.

    Drawings and loop sheets for a plant, a README and a wiring diagram for a sensor node, comments in the code for a site — part of the job, not an afterthought. If it is not written down, it is not finished.

    • Drawings
    • Loop sheets
    • READMEs

  4. Built to be maintained by you.

    I name things clearly, comment the logic and hand over what you need to keep it running yourself. I would rather you call me because you want to than because you have to.

    • Clear names
    • Commented logic
    • Handover

05.4The mark

The IOAI mark: a vertical bar, a ring, and a red hexagonal bead orbiting the ring.
Fig. 1 · The Marker

Three shapes, one signal path.

The logo is a loop diagram in miniature. A bar goes in, a ring closes, a red bead reports.

  • The barInput

    One straight line: the signal arriving from the field.

  • The ringOutput

    A loop that closes: control returned to the process.

  • The beadA live signal

    A hexagon on purpose — a dial pointer and a PCB pad in one shape. It stands for whatever a system is reporting right now, so it never sits still for long.

05.5Language & place

I write in English and Arabic, from Bahrain.

The interface, the documentation and this website itself — in either language.

Read this page in Arabic

Bahrain time

--:--:--

AST · UTC+03:00

06Contact

Tell me what you want to measure, automate or build.

Describe the plant, the home or the website in a few lines. I read every brief and reply in English or Arabic.

English · العربية Bahrain time · --:--:-- · AST (UTC+3)

Project brief

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