Electricity + Control March 2018

INDUSTRY 4.0 AND IIOT

people treat the network. OT networks are not the same as IT networks.

Now, more than ever however, the question of which industrial network you choose is one not to be overlooked. This is because industrial automation is current- ly on the cusp of a transformation.There is no need to elaborate on the ways the IIoT might change in- dustry. Enough has been said on that topic already. Instead, the focus turns to the eventual conclusion of all of this prognostication: future-proofing. No- body truly knows how all of this IIoT business will shake out. But like the foundation for a home, independent of future renovations made to the house, if the foundation is solid, it will not matter. Since the winners and losers in the race to IIoT dominance remain uncertain, a future-proof indus- trial network is one that allows you to ‘have your cake and eat it too’. In other words, it should be robust yet flexible. Robustness means an industrial network can handle whatever timing requirements are thrown at it, no matter how demanding. Flexibility means an industrial network is not just a network unto itself (like traditional fieldbuses), but an infrastruc- ture for other protocols as well. That is the key point with regards to IIoT uncertainty. As IT net- works and OT networks converge, IT protocols are finding their way onto OT networks. But which ones? There is a myriad of them. As long as those protocols are open standards, to a future-proof in- dustrial network, it should not matter. If something breaks The other point in the lifecycle of an industrial net- work when it receives attention is if something goes wrong. Nine times out of ten, the root cause of network downtime is due to poor policies and procedures. For example: installation policies. In some com- panies, the control engineers are responsible for the entire automation system, including network installation. In others, it is the electrician’s duty, or the IT department’s job to install the cabling. Not following proper procedures leads to wires without shielding, insulation being cut off, bend- ing radii limits exceeded, poor grounding, and the list goes on.This is one reason why we at PROFI- BUS/PROFINET International (PI) continue to put so much effort into our Design, Installation, and Commissioning Guidelines for PROFINET. Anoth- er example of following poor procedures is how

Take Note!

New solutions are being created to make auto- mation networks better than ever before. If robustness and flexibility are key to a future-proof industrial network, Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) is one technology that stands to make a big impact. Still in the development stages, TSN is one to look out for.

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PRIORITIES

IT

OT

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1. Confidentiality

1. Availability 2. Integrity

2. Integrity 3. Availability

3. Confidentiality

Proper training is required to ensure that industri- al networks are not only designed, installed, and commissioned correctly but that they are also treated properly. Further future-proofing If robustness and flexibility are the keys to a fu- ture-proof industrial network then there is one technology on the horizon that stands to make a big impact: Time Sensitive Networking (TSN). Ro- bustness and flexibility in PROFINET is nothing new. From the outset, the protocol was created to be not only fast and deterministic for control, but an open network for other standard protocols. Need microsecond-level speeds? Just use IRT (Isochronous Real Time). Need an open infrastruc- ture for TCP/IP or OPC UA? No sweat. But now, the IEEE organisation is taking many of the con- cepts formalised in PROFINET IRT and standardis- ing them in a new version of Ethernet called TSN. Conclusion Therefore, companies looking to future-proof their industrial networks even further should choose a network that plans to utilise TSN from the device level, to the machine level, up to the plant level. The technology will not be available tomorrow, but look for it in the coming months and years. It provides future converged IT/OT networks a har- monised footing and eases possible pain points by providing robustness and flexibility.

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Acknowledgement This article was first published in ProfiNews.

Michael Bowne is an Executive Director at PI North America. Email: michael.bowne@profinet.us Visit: us.profinet.com

Electricity + Control

MARCH 2018

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