Radar, ultrasonic and pressure sensors on diesel, chemical, LPG, oil and bulk tanks publish level, volume and temperature over cellular. Your inventory, ERP and dispatch tools subscribe, so refills are planned on real data — not on manual dips or run-outs.
No card required
PUBLISH vmi/region-north/cust-0412/tank-02/level
{"ts":"2026-10-22T05:00:00Z","product":"diesel","level_pct":23.4,"volume_l":7020,"ullage_l":22980,"temp_c":11.2,"batt_pct":81}QoS 1 · TLS 8883 · PUBACK
Distributors and suppliers still plan deliveries from fixed schedules, phone calls and dipstick readings. Trucks top up tanks that are half full while another customer runs dry, and a leak or theft only shows up at the next reconciliation. Tank monitors from different vendors each bring their own portal, so nobody sees all tanks in one place.
A radar, ultrasonic or hydrostatic sensor with a cellular (LTE-M, NB-IoT) or gateway connection measures level and temperature on a schedule — and right away on a sharp change.
The device wakes up, connects over TLS, publishes level, volume and battery to its tank topic with QoS 1 and goes back to sleep. Its configuration waits for it as a retained message.
Your VMI platform, ERP and route planning subscribe to the tank topics and turn levels into days-to-empty forecasts and delivery orders.
Threshold rules notify dispatch when a tank crosses its reorder or critical level; your backend flags sudden drops that may point to a leak or theft.
Short connect–publish–disconnect cycles, or persistent sessions with a long keep-alive — whichever suits the device. MQTT’s two-byte header keeps every wake-up short.
Publish new alert levels, report intervals or strapping tables as retained messages; a sleeping sensor receives them the next time it connects and subscribes.
Per-device credentials and topic ACLs separate each customer’s or region’s tanks, and a customer portal can get read-only access to its own tanks only.
Threshold rules on level and battery send notifications straight from ConnectMQ, while the live dashboard and topic monitor show every reading as it arrives.
vmi/region-north/cust-0412/tank-02/level
vmi/region-north/cust-0412/tank-02/alerts
vmi/region-north/cust-0412/tank-02/config (retained)
vmi/region-north/cust-0412/tank-02/status (retained)Fit each tank with a level sensor that has a cellular or gateway connection, let it publish level and volume to one topic per tank, and subscribe your inventory or ERP system to those topics. ConnectMQ provides the broker, per-device credentials, alerts and a live dashboard; forecasting and ordering run in your own software.
Non-contact radar and ultrasonic sensors are common for fuel, oil and many chemicals; LPG tanks often use a float gauge with a Hall-effect reader; silos use radar or load cells. Any of them works with ConnectMQ as long as the device or its gateway publishes MQTT. In hazardous areas, choose devices rated for the zone.
Yes. Most battery sensors connect, publish and disconnect a few times a day instead of staying online. With a persistent session and QoS 1, messages for the device are kept until it reconnects, and retained configuration is delivered as soon as it subscribes.
Start on the Free plan — no card required — connect your first devices today and upgrade when you go live.
