Electricity + Control March 2018

Future-Proof Industrial Networks Michael Bowne, PI North America

It’s an exciting time to be involved in industrial automation!

In the lifecycle of an industrial network, it only receives attention if something goes wrong.

N ew solutions are taking shape and stand to make automation networks easier to man- age, faster to run, and most importantly, provide value like never before. Concepts like the ‘Industrial Internet of Things’ IIoT, ‘Big Data’, and ‘IT/OT Convergence’ are making headlines and the race is on for companies to leverage each in order to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. There is no silver bullet, but industrial networks play a key role in turning these concepts into reality. Industrial networks are the humble foundation upon which an automation system is built. Often taken for granted, once a network is designed, in- stalled, and commissioned, there are other tasks engineers must tend to, not least of which include keeping their plant running at optimum efficiency. So, in reality there are two points in the life of an industrial network where it gets the most atten- tion – first, during specification, and later if some- thing goes wrong.

Choosing a network Choosing an industrial network, it turns out, is only a trivial task if it is allowed to become one. Many questions arise when a new automation system is specified: ‘Which suppliers am I already familiar with?’ ‘What new technologies are out there?’ ‘How much is all of this going to cost?’ But rarely does someone ask the question: ‘Which industrial network should I choose?’ The answer to this question should be easy, but unfortunately often is not because even deeper questions arise. • ‘What speeds and determinism are needed?’ • ‘Will other protocols run on the same network infrastructure?’ • ‘Are extras like functional safety or wireless rel- evant?’

26 Electricity + Control

MARCH 2018