A Guide to Managing Industrial IoT Edge Devices

by utthunga | Dec 4, 2021 | Blogs

Build Vs. Buy an Edge Device Stack. Find Out What Suits Your Business.

by utthunga | Dec 4, 2021 | Blogs

How to Select the Right Edge Device Manager for My IIoT Network?

by utthunga | Dec 4, 2021 | Blogs

Smooth IIoT operations go far beyond deploying smart devices and flawless networking capabilities. To harness the power of IIoT with multiple edge devices scattered over distributed locations, an edge device manager solution is highly crucial. These edge device managers not only automate the firmware, software, and security patch updates, but also enable secure provisioning, and much more that save operational expenses a big time.

Therefore, it is important to pay attention while choosing the right Edge Devices Manager for your IIOT network.

Edge device management in IIOT setup is of the utmost importance as it has been rapidly evolving, and the edge device/stack vendors are struggling to match the pace of device management requirements. While choosing a right edge device manager for your IIOT network, make sure to check the device management platform’s ability to ensure a future-proofing IIoT ecosystem.

IIOT devices are evolving at an unprecedented rate as more and more devices are anticipated to join. This blog is everything you need to know about selecting the right edge device manager for your IIOT network.

Why do I Need Edge Devices in Industrial IoT?

As IIoT projects are maturing and spreading across multiple avenues in the automation arena, most of the use cases like resources industries, smart cities, supply chain, logistics, etc., will require multiple edge devices to gather the field information. However, these edge devices should be maintained and optimized to make sure they operate smoothly. Edge devices in IIOT can ensure the complete automation of the devices and let users know to find recharging points and take that action.

Since industrial automation is predicted to be the significant growth driver of edge devices, having a dedicated edge device management solution is imperative.

Selecting the Best Edge Platform

For industrial enterprises, getting crucial field data is highly important, which becomes a lot easier with edge platforms working as the middleware. Nonetheless, selecting the right edge stack that fits your business needs and enables seamless communication, efficient data processing ability, and real-time responsiveness, depends on variety of factors. Read below. Since technology innovations are rising, industries need to monitor, control, provision, and debug large-scale IIoT edge deployments. Businesses looking to take their IIoT success to the next level must select an IIOT device management platform at the start of their IIoT journey. Look for the following edge device capabilities for your IIoT success:

• Device compatibility: Some devices will be broadly compatible, while a few will be universally compatible. You need to evaluate what kinds of devices you will use the and make sure that the edge platform is capable to support those devices and upcoming device versions as well.
• Configuration & Control: Your edge platform should be able to remotely rollback the devices to enable them to recover from errors. To maintain the device’s security, the edge platform should remotely provide commands to update the firmware, implement new features, and fix any glitch or bug that can hinder the devices.
• Easy Provisioning: Your edge device manager should be able to on-board new edge devices with least time required for complex configurations. Not just this, but the ability to manage the device lifecycle (security patches, firmware updates, etc.) remotely.
• Authentication Provisions: To safely integrate IIoT device management into your platform, make sure you establish your device’s identity. This is to make your device know that they can trust and rely on that device to check for faultiness and hacking whenever it connects to your cloud-hosted service.
• Monitoring and Diagnostics: To get maximum benefits from an IIoT system, you need to make sure every edge device is operating to its full potential. Whenever an edge device goes down, it can disturb the entire process along with business results. So, have precise and speedy diagnostics to catch bugs and devices when they’re down.
• Remote Upgrades: The right edge device management solution should be able to support all the activities related to troubleshooting, upgrading, updating, etc., remotely with one click.
• Support for Connectivity Protocols: All IIOT edge devices gather data and communicate via IIoT protocols. The edge manager you are going to choose should be able to support all the popular communication protocols.
• Edge Device Health Monitoring: As the complexity of the edge devices grows, it is more difficult to evaluate and recognize the device bottlenecks in IIOT environment. Your EDM solution should quickly identify system bottlenecks in the edge device and configure the system accordingly in near real-time.
• Interoperability: Your edge device management solution should have Interoperability between legacy and modern devices and multiple IoT platforms from different vendors.

Conclusion

Deploying an edge device management platform at the design state enables manufacturers to plan out the large-scale distribution and avoid costly fixes in later stages. Your platform choice depends upon your business model, your resources, and the type of device you are trying to build. Partnering with an experienced edge device management solution provider enables organizations to speed up their IIoT journey and implement a highly reliable device management solution for the entire IoT device lifecycle.

We hope the above points will help you choose the right edge device manager for your IIOT network. Utthanga edge device management solution helps you automate on-boarding, monitoring, and remotely managing your edge devices throughout the entire lifecycle with security. We create strategies and frameworks to engage with our partners for mutual success in the Industrial IoT ecosystem.

Top 4 Tools to Diagnose and Troubleshoot Your PROFIBUS Network

by utthunga | Dec 1, 2021 | Blogs

What is PROFIBUS?

PROFIBUS is one of the oldest networking technologies enabling all kinds of discrete and process manufacturing industries to gain digital advantages. Been in the market since 1987, PROFIBUS has become the primary choice to form a robust network at the field level.

Profibus is a part of IEC 61158 and is a set of two separate protocols,PRIFIBUS DP- for discrete applications and PROFIBUS PA- for process applications.

Though PROFIBUS is one of the preferred and reliable industrial communication technologies, it experiences intermittent downtimes during commissioning and operations. Not being able to address these issues on time can affect production efficiency and seamless data transmission. Hence, having an understanding of troubleshooting the PROFIBUS network will always give you an upper hand.

Errors in the PROFIBUS Network

Profibus requires maintenance and periodic review as it is sensitive to disturbances in installations. Any deviations from the PI standard guidelines may cause a negative impact on the data transmission behavior. For an instance, a fault in connector installation may cause the impedance to change, which causes the signals to deteriorate. Therefore, installing PROFIBUS network requires following the recommendations strictly.

Some of the errors in the PROFIBUS network are:

Physical Faults

Most of the faults in the PROFIBUS networks are experienced due to some physical faults or damages. Some of them are:

• Shielding and Grounding: PROFIBUS cables have overall foil and braided shielding. If the shielding is not done properly, it increases the leakage current which causes reflections and errors in the message. Ideally, the PROFIBUS cables work best when both ends are shields are appropriately connected to the equipotential bond. The PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI) has provided a set of guidelines for PROFIBUS installations, which is not followed strictly can introduce noises or in the power source lines.
• Faulty Terminations: PROFIBUS networks require terminators to eliminate the distortion in the signal caused due to long length cables. Therefore, terminators are required at both the ends of a network segment. According to PI set of guidelines, the method and position of terminators matter a lot. If the terminator is positioned at the wrong place it can cause reflections in the signals which will ultimately introduce errors. Ideally, the connectors on both ends should have the terminators in ‘ON’ mode, while the rest of the terminators should be in the ‘OFF’ mode.
• Cable Length Exceeding Baud Rate: Baud rate is the speed of data transmission. The cable lengths in a PROFIBUS network requires to adhere to the baud rate pre-decided for PROFIBUS PA and PROFIBUS DP networks. While PROFIBUS PA network has a fixed baud rate of 31.25 kbps, PROFIBUS DP varies between 9.6 kbps- 12 Mbps and requires the plant network operators to keep the cable lengths per segment as per the baud rates defined in the PI recommendations. Failing to follow the given cable length guidelines, will slow down the speed of the data transmission.

• 9.6 kbps = 1200 meter
• 19.2 kbps = 1200 meter
• 45.45 kbps = 1200 meter
• 93.75 kbps = 1200 meter
• 187.5 kbps = 1000 meter
• 500 kbps = 400 meter
• 1.5 Mbps = 200 meter
• 3 Mbps = 100 meter
• 6 Mbps = 100 meter
• 12 Mbps = 100 meter
• Short Circuit and Wire Break: Short circuit is common phenomenon in a plant network. However, it causes a lot of damage to the smooth functioning of PROFIBUS network. It causes damage to the node and disconnects the data communication from the master. Wire break is another challenge that stops data transmission from that point and onwards.
• Electromagnetic Interference: PROFIBUS cables despite being shielded are exposed to the threats of electromagnetic interferences (EMI). This is a challenge that is caused due to improper installations of the cable. When the network cables are installed next to Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) cables and other EMI sources. This causes errors and network failures.
• Too Many Nodes: According to PI guidelines the number of nodes in a segment should not exceed 32, and in a network should not exceed 126. If the number of nodes is more then it causes delays in message transmission which eventually causes failures of machines.

Logical Errors

Apart from physical factors, there are a few logical errors that pose hurdles in smooth data transmission. Logical challenges are caused due to physical problems:

• Repeat Telegram: If a bus device, i.e., PROFIBUS slave, does not respond to the master in a pre-defined time slot, then the master repeats the message several times. This can happen due to either of these issues:
• Device issues
• Application issues
• Set-up issues
• Device design issues
• Error Telegram: Error telegram is a scenario when a PROFIBUS slave responds to the master with a faulty message caused due to any physical damage/failure or local event on the slave. Error telegram can occur due to any logical error such as parity issue in the slave.
• Diagnostic Telegrams: If a slave does not receive any message from the master in a watchdog cycle, then it is assumed that the slave is not being controlled. This scenario is defined as a diagnostic telegram. There are basically two types of diagnostic telegrams. Internal diagnostic telegrams are caused by internal technical issues like internal wire break or sensor wire break. On the other hand, external diagnostic telegrams are caused by external technical issues like loose backplane connections.
• Missing Telegrams: When a data packet is entirely missing, it is considered that there has been no communication between the master and the slave.

Troubleshooting the PROFIBUS Network

Before troubleshooting the PROFIBUS network, diagnosing the physical parameters of the network is highly important. Usually, the PLCs and SCADA systems identify the bus failures but are unable to identify the PROFIBUS-specific parameters that require attention. Some of the ways and tools that will help you capture the physical parameters of a PROFIBUS network are as follows:

1. Physical Evaluation in Online Mode: Physical challenges occur quite frequently and if not addressed, it hampers the data transmission badly. If the physical challenges are identified while commissioning the nodes, appropriate measures can be taken to fail-proof the network. Indu-Sol’s PB-QONE is a handy signal quality tester that allows diagnosing network errors like noise, voltage drop, reflection, termination problem, wire break, configuration fault, etc., in an easy and comprehensive way. Some of the highlighting features of PB-QONE are:
   • Comprehensive dashboard reflecting all the quality and telegrams related values
   • Network related reports are available in *.pdf or *.doc formats to process
   • Measuring results available within seconds

1. Physical Evaluation in Offline Mode: Detecting cable parameters can be really difficult and there are not many tools available in the market that can detect the right cable issues. Indu-Sol’s PROFtest II is a handheld device that allows detecting various cable-related issues like short-circuit, incorrect connectors, termination issues, and much more with RS 485 technology.

• Cable length
• Cable impedance
• Incorrect termination
• Cable interrupts
• Shielding interruptions
• Mixed up cables A-B
• Short-circuit cables A-B
• Connection of cables A/B with shield
• Incorrect cable types
• Detection of reflections

1. Diagnostic Repeaters: Repeaters also act as a slave and carry diagnostic data to the master. Every PROFIBUS network requires repeaters and deploying them allows identifying various faults like cable break, conductor short circuit with the shield, terminator resistor break, nodes diagnostics, etc. Indu-Sol’s PROFIBUS HUB MULTIrep REPEATER can be added as the 32nd node in the segment. It amplifies the signals to PROFIBUS standard level and allows more devices to be added. It allows adding up to 7 isolated segments which will in turn make it possible to build network stubs along the main bus.

1. PROFIBUS Network Maintenance Tool: After diagnosing and troubleshooting, maintaining the network is very important. With massive devices installed on a plant floor, it is difficult to detect the anomalies and rectify them immediately. However, if avoided, it can damage the network and cause crucial operations to stop. In order to keep PROFIBUS network in check, Indu-Sol’s PROFIBUS INSPEKTOR can be immensely beneficial. It is a permanent monitoring tool that can be installed as a node in the network and monitor the logical data traffic and raises alarms when anomalies are detected.

Factors like are analyzed, stored, and evaluated for each device:

• Repeat telegrams
• Error telegrams
• Device diagnostics
• Device failures and restarts
• Bus cycle time
• Bus speed

The device allows storing up to 2000 alarms where each alarm has a snapshot of 500 telegrams. It gives a detailed overview of the errors like error time, device, type of fault, etc., and reflects on a web interface.

Conclusion

Reliable communication networks ensure a smooth flow of production data. Hence, constant monitoring and upkeeping of the network are highly crucial to avoid sporadic downtimes. Utthunga’s engineering capabilities combined with Indu-Sol’s intelligent solutions will allow you to maintain your entire plant network effectively.

Check out the network diagnostic solutions and services here: https://utthunga.com/products/network-diagnostics/

Overcoming the Security Challenges of IIoT Edge Devices

by utthunga | Nov 26, 2021 | Blogs

IIoT edge devices play a key role in processing, handling, and delivering an enormous amount of data coming from a vast array of field devices installed across the plant(s). It has opened great opportunities for both revenue generation as well as cost optimization by gathering critical field information.

Though industries can reap a plethora of benefits from edge computing, it is also subject to many security vulnerabilities. IoT edge devices are the target for attackers since these devices are the entry/exit point for data flow between the IT and OT worlds. A minor leakage of critical field data may cause a huge loss to the enterprise.

Various Common Security Challenges with IIoT Edge Devices in 2021

Some of the common security challenges faced by the industrial enterprises when comes to edge devices are:

• Physical Damage: Edge devices can be placed at remote locations which can attract an array of attackers to tamper with the edge device. Damaging the edge device may not only cause troubles in network, but can cause a whole lot of contingencies for the network.
• Lack of Proper Security Measures: At times, the security measures taken to protect the edge devices are not efficient. Weak and outdated password may give way to serious security attacks.
• Inefficient Wireless Security Settings: When edge devices are connected with each other or to the IT layer wirelessly, an outdated or insecure WEP or WPS wireless security services may allow the attackers to breach the network and gain access to critical data.
• Out-of-date Firmware: Edge devices regularly require firmware updates. If the edge devices do not receive firmware updates, some of the critical updated security features may remain absent. Such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation. Updated security features in the firmware would help mitigate the security risks.
• Challenges in Scaling the Architecture: Having weak security measures in place, it becomes really challenging to scale up the architecture to support more edge devices.

How to Overcome the Security Challenges of IoT Edge Devices?

With increasing importance of field data, the significance of edge security is gaining momentum. Some of the prominent ways, the security risks on the edge devices can be mitigated are:

• Implement a Hardware Security Module and End-to-end Encryption: Companies must assess the flaws in all their IIoT edge devices by focusing on the fundamental security measures. The sensitive information that is communicated between multiple edge devices is usually unencrypted. You can secure your IoT edge devices by implementing end-to-end encryption keys in a random mechanism.
• Secured Interfaces: The industries should try to keep the management interfaces from getting exposed to public networks as it can be risky. For this purpose, the industries should impose strict access control and device configuration settings to keep the secure the hosts.
• Multi-factor Authentication(MFA): Multi-factor authentication is a method of combining two or more levels of security to gain access to IIoT edge devices. It comprises of a knowledge factor that asks the username, a password , a possession factor that typically verifies a detail via a smartphone, and biometric details such as voice or facial recognition, fingerprints, retina scans, etc. Adding MFA to your IoT devices is essential and you can hire trusted testing as a service provider to get a secure MFA solution.
• Automated Monitoring: The edge devices should have the capability of remote logging with special emphasis on sensitive commands and account functions. Remote logging records the accesses which can be identified later on to assess the device health information and to detect any anomalous behavior. This can be efficiently done with edge device management solution.
• Robust Access Control: A strong access control solution can help prevent a security breach. There are various kinds of access control and authentication models. Some of the mainstream models are discussed below:
  • RBAC– Role-based Access Control model manages the access according to the hierarchy of rights and permissions that are given to specific roles. Multiple users are grouped to enable access to similar resources.
  • ORBAC– Organizational Based Access Control model was designed to address RBAC issues, thus, increasing its flexibility.
  • ABAC– Attribute-based Access Control or Policy-based Access Control model grants access to the users based on the policies that combine different attributes. This model allows more fine-grained access and is more appropriate for the edge computing environment as compared to the other models.
  • CapBAC– Capability-based Access Control model has a distributed approach where authorization decisions can be made conveniently without deferring to any centralized authority. This model is ideal for IoT edge devices that are resource-constrained as there is no need to manage complex policies or lengthy protocols.
  • UCON– Usage Control model is apt for a distributed environment that comprises a grid as well as cloud computing platforms. It covers authorizations, conditions, obligations, continuity, and mutability, boasting more flexibility than other traditional models.
• Patch the Loopholes: The malicious attackers constantly look for new ways to gain access to the existing IIoT edge devices through the weak points. In case you find any vulnerability, it is important to patch it soon and prevent any unauthorized access by hiring the best product engineering services.

Conclusion

Edge computing has transformed the way industries manage their data and it has indeed great prospects, but they also need to address possible security implications as IIoT edge devices are an easy target for attackers. Since the IIoT market is growing rapidly, cyber security professionals must be updated with the latest practices to ensure complete security of their edge computing infrastructure.

Utthunga is a reputed product engineering company that provides a wide range of industrial automation solutions, data migration services, digital transformation consulting, automated functional testing, and security engineering services to secure edge computing infrastructure of any size or type of industry.