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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Industrial digital transformation refers to many development and progress arrangements towards new plans of action and revenue streams comprising three major columns; automation, improved manufacturing cycles, and production advancement.
The Coronavirus pandemic has disturbed almost every business regardless of type and size, and manufacturing is no exception. Amid the social distancing and mandated closures, manufacturers have had to face disruptions in supply chains, inventory shortages, limited availability of employees, and a lot more.
During these 1.5 years of surviving this global pandemic, manufacturers realized the sheer importance of introducing automation into manufacturing processes. With lockdown and social distancing measures, manufacturers started rethinking about restructuring their operations and rely more on automation.
Innovative automated solutions can benefit the industries during this manufacturing downturn, enabling them complete tasks with unprecedented speed, precision, and increase real-time visibility into the production cycle.
Digital transformation is imperative to make the industries able to harness the power of Industry 4.0. While legacy systems and architecture have allowed the factories to work efficiently over the years, radically redefining the technology architecture will enable better data accessibility, streamlined production cycle, and scope of using the big data in smarter fashion. IIoT, for an instance, has far-reaching applications that can play a large role in driving commercial growth for the manufacturers.
With data being the new oil for modern business, deploying solutions that drive a quantum of value supported by a heap of information and analytical inferences.
A smart factory is an industrial facility where your sensors are capable of interacting with the IT level applications and central data framework over high speed networking. This information is used to streamline the manufacturing process and enable end-to-end visibility into the factory’s technology architecture.
This results in increased effectiveness, functional upgrades, improved production, targeted maintenance, improved collaboration, to name a few.
Let’s move forward with our step-by-step guide to building smart factories.
Merely defining the goals is not enough. A manufacturer needs to introspect his strategies and decided course of actions based on concrete vision. The “WHYs” lay the foundation to ensure that you put your resources into the right areas.
Start Small
Start with the most sensitive areas from where you can get the most benefits. Adapt to market changes, demands, and be flexible. Since you need to change your business strategy every five years or less, your technological systems should be flexible to be able to adapt to the updates and modifications as part of continuous improvement. You need to make sure that you keep an eye on the industrial resources and do not overspend on them.
Start with Your People
As most of the manufacturing plants still operate with legacy systems in place, deploying smart systems may not come easy at first. While ripping and replacing the legacy systems with the innovative solutions can incur huge CapEx and OpEx, having lesser digitally skilled workforce can prove to be an added overhead. Therefore, acquiring a skilled workforce and upskilling the existing workforce is a must.
Be Aware of Security
Cybercriminals are becoming smarter day by day. With increased IIoT devices in the network, the threat to data security becomes a rising concern. To future-proof your factory from unwanted security threats, updated security measures should be implemented on time.
Be Prepared for New Investments
Upgrading the factory environment, calls for some new investments. Sensors and monitors will likely be the main requirement for your smart factory to get up and running. However, these are not enough to ensure an improved performance. Make yourself ready for infrastructure upgrades like increased bandwidth and smarter platforms to store, analyze, and manage the large sets of data collected.
Hire a Data Analyst
Collecting and storing data do not serve the purpose. The capabilities should be extended towards digging the collected data to find insightful trends and patterns based on which critical management decisions can be made.
You may need to hire a data analyst who will turn your factory data into something usable and valuable.
Be Open to Change
Flexible and responsive factories are capable of performing in a dynamic environment. Industrial automation has to have sufficient flexibility to adapt to new technologies and innovations in the market.
Keep Upgrading Your Smart Factory Implementation.
The best way to deploy smart manufacturing technology is a step-by-step approach. You should continually extend the smart technology to additional parts of your facility.
A smart factory project consists of many phases, and each step relies on the maturity level of the manufacturer. The end-to-end integrated enterprise, regardless of the method you choose, will produce the ultimate result.
Incorporate an evidence-based approach while following a smart manufacturing plan. Measurements may be taken in the beginning with real-time data gathering, which includes MES installation as well as manufacturing intelligence dashboarding.
Conclusion
Implementing a smart factory can be a challenging and time-consuming process for many industries. At Utthunga, we have extensive expertise in smart technology and maintenance and factory solutions. We have a thorough knowledge of the implementation and management of smart technology.
Connect with us to start your smart factory journey today!
One of the prominent effects of Industry 4.0 is the massive change to the industrial equipments usage and their management. This involves not only maintaining their aging electronic components but also adding new ones, while ensuring it doesn’t disrupt their existing operations. Not only this; the adoption of the new age technologies has been accelerated by Industry 4.0 trends. This has pushed industries towards chalking an obsolescence management strategy.
The International Institute of Obsolescence Management defines “obsolescence” as an activity when electronic components age and require replacement or repair. In some cases, the manufacturers of such components like parts of PLCs or chips of PCBs stop producing such components to shift to an upgraded version of the same. For manufacturing industries, this could trigger a panic situation at times of unexpected malfunction or maintenance services.
Obsolescence management is a strategic technique that makes sure the risks associated with resources becoming obsolete, especially due to the lightning-fast speed of technological advancements, is kept at a minimum.
Implementing the best IR4.0 strategies to run the manufacturing industry is in itself an intimidating process for many. While we gain efficiency from technological advancements, many of these advantages leave behind a trail of obsolescent products. The rate at which the current technology is evolving affects the rate of obsolescence as well.
Industries are now dependent on electronic products for control and safety more than ever. However, with time the components that make up these devices like electronic chips of PCBs tend to age and are usually no longer available to purchase. Here obsolescence occurs when aging of various components goes beyond the point where you can repair or replace such products.
Such a scenario may push industries to buy a completely new set of electronic equipments with newer and available technology. This in turn increases the cost of application and may also pave way to unmanageable electronic waste and increase the financial burden of the company.
While obsolescence cannot be eliminated, on-time obsolescence risk assessment services that focus on electronic components by product engineering companies like Utthunga, can help in creating an efficient obsolescence management for the company.
10 Steps to Obsolescence Management in Industry 4.0
The basic idea behind obsolescence management is to maintain the existing systems by bringing in proactive strategies to preserve electronic equipment and finding suitable perfect or near perfect replacements. You can carry out these following 10 step process.
Assess the current system scenario: The first and foremost step to creating a wholesome obsolescence management strategy is to assess the electronic components used in the plants. Understand the present state of the system and look for the age of each of the machinery to get an idea of which of the lot is at the last leg of their lifecycle. This gives you a rough idea about the components that may become obsolete shortly.
Gauge your company’s financial and operational capabilities: Once you note down your findings from step one, the next thing you need to know is how capable are you to undertake this financially. Also understand the operational capability of your plant, how well new digital resources can be integrated with or replaced with the soon-to-be-obsolete electronic components. An obsolescence management software can aid in finding components that are near their fag-end.
Plan your resources: Next, of course, now that you know your capabilities well, you can plan the resources required, of course, that is within your budget. Here every single thing needs to be considered. For example, can you can hire a dedicated obsolescence management team that keeps track of components and plans maintenance and repairs when required? You need to have everything planned and be ready to face unforeseen situations to avoid maximum damage to your business.
Analyze the risks: Analyze the critical areas which need to be prioritized first in your obsolescence strategy. For example, the extent to which the absence of a component like those used for electronic control equipment will affect the overall productivity of your plant? Come up with a risk assessment plan and be wary of all the possible ways a breakdown can affect your business. This helps you to understand if any preventive maintenance is required or replacement is the only option you have.
Create a strategy: Once you understand the possible risks and whether or not to carry out any preventive measures you must create a blueprint of your strategy. This step requires a lot of time and brainstorming sessions to come out with an optimum obsolescence management plan.
Consider second sourcing: You must consider second sourcing, a standard obsolescence management technique. So even if one manufacturer stops producing the electronic components, you have a second option to choose from. These may not be a perfect fit, but still could help save the electronic component from going to the trash. Also, always ensure you buy industry standard components. Since they are mass-produced components, they have a longer production life, so you can be assured of continuous supply for a longer period.
Analyze the upgrades required: Not all the obsolete equipments can be reused where either replacing come parts or maintenance would do the magic. Some need upgrades either to match the technological constraints or simply because they have completely reached the fag end of their lifecycle. An in-depth analysis of the required upgrades is therefore crucial and needs to be in conjunction with the obsolete maintenance activities.
Create a Database: Having a record of every transaction, every replacement, and every upgrade of the electronics is an important part of obsolescence management. Create a centralized database either on premise or on cloud and make it accessible for the concerned stakeholders to check upon.
Review the process: The database helps the obsolete managers review the entire process and check its actionability and effectiveness. Does it improve the overall production or is it just a waste of time, effort and money? You get to review and analyze the loopholes in the entire process.
Redesign board, if required: Sometimes, there is no other option but to redesign a board that can incorporate the alternative components. Even while redesigning, you need to ensure the performance is not compromised and that it is still compatible with other components of the system.
Crafting bespoke and proactive obsolescence management of your components is no joke. It requires meticulous management and expert guidance from product engineering companies like Utthunga. Our comprehensive expertise in design engineering ensures that you have access to the latest set of API’s, technology status and market trends of components over time. We provide up to date information and reports on the various compliance requirements such as ROHS, REACH, and more. Our experts provide guidance for customers to ensure that with every component that’s being replaced, it should be compliant with an already certified component to ensure product function is maintained.
We help you to keep your automated systems pitch-perfect while assisting you via proper risk analysis and obsolescence forecasting. This way you can leverage our knowledge pool and years of experience to minimize the effect of obsolescence of electronic product components and ensure a smooth operation of your plant.
OPC Classic is the most widely used technology for linking different automation devices in the world. It is an open, secure, and reliable technology for sending data in factories, enterprise applications, and the cloud. Numerous OPC–based systems are in use throughout the globe, allowing for the safe and reliable exchange of data between industrial software components.
standard for transferring information vertically across the enterprise of multi-vendor systems while also ensuring compatibility between devices on various industrial networks from different manufacturers. This blog will see how the OPC UA tunnel works and its role in migration from classic OPC to OPC UA.
The term “tunnel” has a particular meaning and application when using the OPC standard for software-to-software data transmission. The OPC UA Tunneller is a simple interface that allows you to quickly and easily set up Classic-to-Classic OPC connections and Classic-to-OPC UA bridging.
The OPC UA Tunneller connects OPC UA clients to classic COM/DCOM based OPC DA and HDA servers implementing OPC UA standards. The UA-to-Classic Bridge exposes COM OPC Servers as open ports/files in the OPC UA Server’s address space and may host many OPC Servers.
Modern manufacturing processes must be able to utilize their existing OPC Classic-based equipment fully. An OPC UA Tunneller enables OPC UA-enabled client applications to interact with OPC Classic Servers, the Clients as well as with OPC UA Servers, and vice versa.
COM (Component Object Model), a Windows technology is used to transmit OPC data from an OPC server to an OPC client. An example of an OPC client is the HMI software you use in your operations. The OPC server is the driver that communicates with your PLCs, DCSs, and other control systems. Here the human-machine interface (HMI) that uses OPC Classic may be modified to interact with OPC UA devices. Consequently, operators may continue to use their existing systems while obtaining new insights and connecting to UA-enabled equipment as it becomes available.
Why OPC UA Tunneller is used in migrating from classic to OPC UA?
When multiple remote clients require data from same controllers, a remote OPC client/server architecture is used. Having those remote clients use their drivers or separate local OPC server instances for each client would waste control network bandwidth. Instead, a single OPC server can be placed on a separate, centrally accessible system, to achieve communication efficiency by not having too many clients making separate calls to the control hardware for the same data.
Distributed COM, or DCOM, is used when the server and client are not on the same network. DCOM is difficult to set up and leaves an exposed area on your OPC servers for software threats/attacks when it operates.
DCOM has three major constraints, translating into three distinct reasons for migrating to a tunnel for OPC data.
DCOM configuration and support are complex and, and expensive.
DCOM lacks dependability, resilience, and efficiency.
DCOM notification is delayed during a network outage.
There is also a distinction between OPC tunneling and the tunneling of OPC data. OPC tunneling was developed as a more convenient and secure alternative to DCOM for remote OPC connections.
The OPC UA Tunneller’s role in migration:
The OPC UA Tunneller (UAT) is a simple, dependable, and secure connection between OPC Classic components and any combination of OPC Classic and OPC UA components.
Using the OPC tunneling solution during migration from Classic OPC to OPC UA provides the following advantages:
Firewall-friendly easier setup and configuration than the earlier DCOM, with a robust array of client interfaces and devices
Secure and dependable data transmission through 256-bit AES message signing and encryption, multi-threaded design
OPC Classic is built on the COM/DCOM technology from Microsoft. Typically, in an OPC Classic arrangement, an OPC Classic client needs the proper DCOM configuration to connect to an OPC Classic server operating on separate networks. DCOM configuration settings are subject to change as a result of security or Windows patch updates.
The DCOM security model also specifies the user accounts that access the program and the user accounts from which the application may accept connections. Furthermore, the Windows firewall needs you to add the COM programs to the exclusion list to communicate across a network.
To put it simply, utilizing an OPC Tunneller removes the uncertainty of guaranteeing reliable OPC Classic/OPC UA compatibility and cross-network connections. This solution is ideal for rapidly and effectively establishing OPC Classic-to-Classic connections and Classic-to-UA bridging.
When connecting OPC clients to servers, a tunneller avoids the difficulties associated with DCOM. The OPC bridging tunneller is a hybrid of an OPC wrapper and a proxy. A short description of how they operate is provided below.
Devices having OPC Classic are not capable of connecting with OPC UA on their own. Meaning, you need to use a device( tunnel) for handling communication between OPC Classic Servers and OPC UA Clients or between any combination of OPC Classic and OPC UA components. OPC UA Tunneller establishes a connection from OPC Classic to OPC UA and vice versa, simplifying the OPC UA migration process.
The two OPC Tunneller components (OPC wrapper and OPC proxy) communicate with one another via OPC UA. IT engineers managing the network infrastructure will add the port number and IP addresses of the servers and clients details in the firewall settings of the router as part of the port forwarding mechanism. Additional DCOM configuration is not required and Windows firewall configuration is limited to allowing access to the port being used by the uOPC Tunneller components on the respective machines.
Conclusion
Tunneling OPC data, in essence, reduces the time, effort, and cost needed for connecting and exchanging data between various computers, whether they are next to each other, on the same network in the same building, or the other side of the world.
Utthunga’s uOPC® Tunneling and related OPC bridging solutions help industrial enterprises to build a secure and reliable communication network without facing frequent configuration and security issues. To prepare your legacy communication systems future ready for an IIoT based ecosystem, get in touch with our OPC Tunneller experts now!
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