A new genre of industrial data exchange between industrial machines and communication PCs is on the rise – the Open Platform Communications United Architecture (OPC UA). Interestingly, application manufacturers, system providers, programming languages, and operating systems have no bearing on this open interface standard. The most significant distinction between OPC UA and the previous versions of industrial communication protocol is how the machine data can be transferred – in bundles of information that machines and devices can understand. OPC UA allows devices communicate with each other (horizontally) and also with the upward components like PLCs, SCADA/HMI (Human Machine Interface), MES (Manufacturing Execution System), and up to the Enterprise Cloud (vertically). The horizontal and vertical spectrum comprises OPC UA components, including devices, machines, systems, gateways, and servers that are integrated with machines and devices.

is OPC UA Important in Industry 4.0?

The secure, standardized flow of data and information across devices, equipment, and services, are some of the problems for Industry 4.0 and the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The IEC 62541 standard OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) [I.1] was the only recommended option for creating the communication layer in the Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) in April 2015. The most fundamental prerequisite for adopting OPC UA for industrial 4.0 communication is an Internet Protocol-based network (IP). Anyone who wishes to promote themselves as “Industry 4.0-capable” must also be OPC-UA-capable (integrated or via a gateway).

Implementation of Industry 4.0 to Overcome Interoperability

OPC UA is a powerful solution for overcoming interoperability issues in Industry 4.0. Interoperability is one of the most significant problems that I4.0 presents to companies. Through its semantic communication standard, OPC UA demonstrates that it is a solution. OPC UA is a crucial contributor to Industry4.0 because it facilitates information transfer between devices and machines, which cannot understand confusing instructions. The more specific the instructions are, the better the outcome. The selection of tools is crucial for installing the finest OPC UA for any automation system. Because the devices in industrial automation systems are administered by software, a well-functioning software development kit (SDK) is required. It guarantees that end-users and software engineers have a good user experience.

Important factors to consider while implementing OPC UA :

The appropriate software development kit is essential for establishing an efficient OPC UA. We’ve compiled a list of ten considerations for an automation maker, OEM, discrete, and process manufacturer when selecting an SDK. The Ideal SDK Vendor Most businesses lack adequate resources, both technological and human. Such gaps force organizations to outsource their requirements. As a result, the chosen SDK must fulfill its application requirements while improving the time to market. An ideal SDK must be advantageous in terms of both money and performance. A majority of SDK consultants provide the core functionalities that offer fundamental OPC UA advantages such as security and API. Scalability A scalable SDK empowers OPC UA to support both new and existing systems. It allows the platform-independent toolkits to function efficiently for both lightweight and enterprise-level applications. As a result, manufacturers must consider a scalable SDK that is platform or OS agnostic and supports vendor-independent hardware. Utilization Ease It is one of the most preferred yet neglected features. An SDK should be simple to use so that OEMs or small-scale manufacturers can save time and resources learning the OPC UA specification. It must support a basic application and provide API connectivity. CPU Helper An OPC UA SDK developed using architectural principles for embedded devices uses considerably less CPU. It also means that the software program may do a lot of work on a single thread. It is useful when multi-threads aren’t accessible. It is also economical because it offers a low-cost CPU that can perform majority of the work in multi-thread scenarios. Excellent Memory A decent OPC UA implementation should be light on RAM and have a small footprint. Generally, memory leaks can build up over time and put the entire system to a halt. There must be no memory leaks in the OP UA SDK (under any use case situations). Security and Compatibility The OPC UA SDK toolkit must be interoperable with diverse applications and meet stringent security requirements. The OPC UA standards provide various security options, and an ideal SDK should support them all. Language Assistance Even though C++ is the most common language for writing SDK programming, other languages like Java, C, .NET, and others are also utilized based on the needs. Developing an OPC UA SDK in multiple languages facilitates incremental enhancements to their products based on specifications such as AMQP, Pub/Sub, and UDP. Third-party Libraries Because most businesses have preferred libraries, SDK suppliers usually include wrappers such as standard crypto libraries, use-case examples, manuals, and API references to utilize wrappers such as NanoSSL, mBed TLS, TinyXML2, and Lib2XML. Scope for Future Improvements An SDK must be capable of evolving to support emerging technologies and processes. Because of the continuing advances in SDKs and OPC Foundation-based technologies such as AMQP Pub/Sub, UDP, and TSN, manufacturers must guarantee that SDK suppliers are equipped with the required capabilities while implementing industry-relevant protocols. Vendor Assistance SDK suppliers must provide knowledge and support to manufacturers at every stage of their OPC UA deployment. An efficient OPC UA deployment requires a partnership built on trust, mutual benefits, and understanding. OEMs, discrete and process manufacturers must collaborate to understand and execute OPC UA requirements for everybody’s benefit.

How OPC UA contributes to Industry 4.0 and overcomes interoperability challenges?

OPC UA provides a mechanism for safe and reliable data sharing. As the world’s most popular open connectivity standard, it plays a crucial role in achieving Industry 4.0 goals. OPC UA fulfills the Industry4.0 requirements of platform independence and time-durability. Additionally, OPC UA is designed to enable future factories to include ‘invisible’ components into their permanent data exchange, thereby significantly enhancing OPC UA’s position in the realm of Internet of Things. Embedded OPC UA technology allows open connection to devices, sensors, and controllers, providing many benefits to businesses. End-users gain from speedier decision-making due to the data it delivers, and the integrated corporate architecture becomes a reality. The notion of an interconnected industry is central to Industry 4.0. As the precursor to OPC UA, OPC Classic pioneered an ‘open data connection’ revolution, removing proprietary connectivity barriers between the management, control systems, and the rest of the organization. OPC UA takes the notion of a unified solution a step further with its platform & operating system agnostic approach and data modelling features. These enable UA to natively represent data from practically any data source on one side while retaining data context and delivering it to consumers in the best possible way. Correctly expressing data structures using consistent UA data models successfully abstracts the physical layer devices.

Future Scope:

All components in the ‘factory of the future’ will operate independently, relying on interconnections. Whether such elements are people, machines, equipment, or systems, they must be designed to gather and exchange meaningful information. As a result, future components will communicate and operate intelligently. While the industry is on the verge of the latest industrial revolution, interconnection is the essential enabler. OPC UA, a standard that facilitates interoperability at all levels – device to device, a device to business, and beyond – is a critical component of this process.

Conclusion

While a fully functional Industry 4.0 may seem like a pipe dream at this point, the industrial transformation at the grass-root level is already in full swing. Controlling the flow of resources, commodities, and information, enabling speedier decision-making, and simplifying reporting are advantages those businesses may anticipate as they transition to Industry 4.0. Intelligent materials will instruct machines on how to process them; maintenance and repair will evolve to transform inflexible production lines into modular and efficient systems. Eventually, a product’s complete lifespan can be road-mapped with its practical performance. OPC UA, which enables intelligent data exchanges across all levels of an organization, will play a significant role in evangelizing Industry 4.0

A new genre of industrial data exchange between industrial machines and communication PCs is on the rise – the Open Platform Communications United Architecture (OPC UA). Interestingly, application manufacturers, system providers, programming languages, and operating systems have no bearing on this open interface standard.

The most significant distinction between OPC UA and the previous versions of industrial communication protocol is how the machine data can be transferred – in bundles of information that machines and devices can understand. OPC UA allows devices communicate with each other (horizontally) and also with the upward components like PLCs, SCADA/HMI (Human Machine Interface), MES (Manufacturing Execution System), and up to the Enterprise Cloud (vertically). The horizontal and vertical spectrum comprises OPC UA components, including devices, machines, systems, gateways, and servers that are integrated with machines and devices.

is OPC UA Important in Industry 4.0?

The secure, standardized flow of data and information across devices, equipment, and services, are some of the problems for Industry 4.0 and the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The IEC 62541 standard OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) [I.1] was the only recommended option for creating the communication layer in the Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) in April 2015.

The most fundamental prerequisite for adopting OPC UA for industrial 4.0 communication is an Internet Protocol-based network (IP). Anyone who wishes to promote themselves as “Industry 4.0-capable” must also be OPC-UA-capable (integrated or via a gateway).

 

Implementation of Industry 4.0 to Overcome Interoperability

OPC UA is a powerful solution for overcoming interoperability issues in Industry 4.0.

Interoperability is one of the most significant problems that I4.0 presents to companies. Through its semantic communication standard, OPC UA demonstrates that it is a solution. OPC UA is a crucial contributor to Industry4.0 because it facilitates information transfer between devices and machines, which cannot understand confusing instructions. The more specific the instructions are, the better the outcome.

The selection of tools is crucial for installing the finest OPC UA for any automation system. Because the devices in industrial automation systems are administered by software, a well-functioning software development kit (SDK) is required. It guarantees that end-users and software engineers have a good user experience.

Important factors to consider while implementing OPC UA :

The appropriate software development kit is essential for establishing an efficient OPC UA. We’ve compiled a list of ten considerations for an automation maker, OEM, discrete, and process manufacturer when selecting an SDK.

The Ideal SDK Vendor

Most businesses lack adequate resources, both technological and human. Such gaps force organizations to outsource their requirements. As a result, the chosen SDK must fulfill its application requirements while improving the time to market. An ideal SDK must be advantageous in terms of both money and performance. A majority of SDK consultants provide the core functionalities that offer fundamental OPC UA advantages such as security and API.

Scalability

A scalable SDK empowers OPC UA to support both new and existing systems. It allows the platform-independent toolkits to function efficiently for both lightweight and enterprise-level applications. As a result, manufacturers must consider a scalable SDK that is platform or OS agnostic and supports vendor-independent hardware.

Utilization Ease

It is one of the most preferred yet neglected features. An SDK should be simple to use so that OEMs or small-scale manufacturers can save time and resources learning the OPC UA specification. It must support a basic application and provide API connectivity.

CPU Helper

An OPC UA SDK developed using architectural principles for embedded devices uses considerably less CPU. It also means that the software program may do a lot of work on a single thread. It is useful when multi-threads aren’t accessible. It is also economical because it offers a low-cost CPU that can perform majority of the work in multi-thread scenarios.

Excellent Memory

A decent OPC UA implementation should be light on RAM and have a small footprint. Generally, memory leaks can build up over time and put the entire system to a halt. There must be no memory leaks in the OP UA SDK (under any use case situations).

Security and Compatibility

The OPC UA SDK toolkit must be interoperable with diverse applications and meet stringent security requirements. The OPC UA standards provide various security options, and an ideal SDK should support them all.

Language Assistance

Even though C++ is the most common language for writing SDK programming, other languages like Java, C, .NET, and others are also utilized based on the needs. Developing an OPC UA SDK in multiple languages facilitates incremental enhancements to their products based on specifications such as AMQP, Pub/Sub, and UDP.

Third-party Libraries

Because most businesses have preferred libraries, SDK suppliers usually include wrappers such as standard crypto libraries, use-case examples, manuals, and API references to utilize wrappers such as NanoSSL, mBed TLS, TinyXML2, and Lib2XML. Scope for Future Improvements

An SDK must be capable of evolving to support emerging technologies and processes. Because of the continuing advances in SDKs and OPC Foundation-based technologies such as AMQP Pub/Sub, UDP, and TSN, manufacturers must guarantee that SDK suppliers are equipped with the required capabilities while implementing industry-relevant protocols.

Vendor Assistance

SDK suppliers must provide knowledge and support to manufacturers at every stage of their OPC UA deployment. An efficient OPC UA deployment requires a partnership built on trust, mutual benefits, and understanding.

 

OEMs, discrete and process manufacturers must collaborate to understand and execute OPC UA requirements for everybody’s benefit.

How OPC UA contributes to Industry 4.0 and overcomes interoperability challenges?

OPC UA provides a mechanism for safe and reliable data sharing. As the world’s most popular open connectivity standard, it plays a crucial role in achieving Industry 4.0 goals.

OPC UA fulfills the Industry4.0 requirements of platform independence and time-durability. Additionally, OPC UA is designed to enable future factories to include ‘invisible’ components into their permanent data exchange, thereby significantly enhancing OPC UA’s position in the realm of Internet of Things.

Embedded OPC UA technology allows open connection to devices, sensors, and controllers, providing many benefits to businesses. End-users gain from speedier decision-making due to the data it delivers, and the integrated corporate architecture becomes a reality.

The notion of an interconnected industry is central to Industry 4.0. As the precursor to OPC UA, OPC Classic pioneered an ‘open data connection’ revolution, removing proprietary connectivity barriers between the management, control systems, and the rest of the organization.

OPC UA takes the notion of a unified solution a step further with its platform & operating system agnostic approach and data modelling features. These enable UA to natively represent data from practically any data source on one side while retaining data context and delivering it to consumers in the best possible way. Correctly expressing data structures using consistent UA data models successfully abstracts the physical layer devices.

Future Scope:

All components in the ‘factory of the future’ will operate independently, relying on interconnections. Whether such elements are people, machines, equipment, or systems, they must be designed to gather and exchange meaningful information. As a result, future components will communicate and operate intelligently.

While the industry is on the verge of the latest industrial revolution, interconnection is the essential enabler. OPC UA, a standard that facilitates interoperability at all levels – device to device, a device to business, and beyond – is a critical component of this process.

Conclusion

While a fully functional Industry 4.0 may seem like a pipe dream at this point, the industrial transformation at the grass-root level is already in full swing. Controlling the flow of resources, commodities, and information, enabling speedier decision-making, and simplifying reporting are advantages those businesses may anticipate as they transition to Industry 4.0.

Intelligent materials will instruct machines on how to process them; maintenance and repair will evolve to transform inflexible production lines into modular and efficient systems. Eventually, a product’s complete lifespan can be road-mapped with its practical performance. OPC UA, which enables intelligent data exchanges across all levels of an organization, will play a significant role in evangelizing Industry 4.0

Industrial automation has greatly influenced digital transformation in the oil and gas industry. It includes numerous connected devices that make this industry highly dependent on hardware and software components. As per the World Economic Forum, the digital transformation business for the Oil and Gas Industry is estimated to be $1.6 trillion by 2025.

One of the novel practices for effective implementation of digital transformation in the Industry 4.0 context is DevOps. In an industrial landscape, it refers to the combined efforts of the development(Dev) and Operations(Ops) teams in creating effective strategies that keep the company abreast of the technological, especially the digital trends.

Why is DevOps important?

Due to increased global competition and unexpected economic challenges, oil and gas companies are experiencing a strong need for digital transformation. Over the last decade, many organizations have reaped tremendous benefits by implementing DevOps in their business strategies. The positive results have encouraged the industry to incorporate software-driven innovations to improve productivity and achieve newer heights without causing significant disruptions to the existing business model.

In this scenario, DevOps plays a crucial role in helping industries roll up their manufacturing software faster because it:

• Promotes Automation:DevOps is not just a technology. It is a concept that leverages tools and processes such as Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD), real-time monitoring, incident response systems, and collaboration platforms. It promotes automation and introduces new tools for creating controllable iterations that drive high productivity with accurate results.
• Optimizes IT Infrastructure:DevOps synchronizes the communication between the hardware and software components in the IIoT setup. It ensures proactive, smooth, and efficient operations at various levels and help achieve operational excellence that is predictable and measurable against intended outcomes and goals.
• Improves Operational Stability:By applying DevOps practices systematically, oil and gas businesses can experience an incrimporved hydrocarbon recovery, better safety across the production plant, and enhanced overall operational stability. This approach relays effective solutions for all the connected operations until the endpoint.

Digital Transformation in the Oil and Gas Industry with DevOps

The urgency for digital transformation in business models of the oil and gas industry is on the rise. DevOps is one of the primary facilitators in helping companies increase their digital maturity and reap benefits by implementing the most appropriate technologies and processes across the business chain.

Here’s how DevOps helps O&G companies:

• Identifies patterns in new revenue streams and gauges the maximum potential of digitalization.
• Facilitates implementation of best IIoT practices to achieve condition-based performance that drives maximum efficiency of their IT and plant infrastructure.
• Streamlines a hybrid operational model that promotes agile manufacturing principles and practices.
• Assists companies through their journey of experimentation with digital transformation through continuous improvement and reliable transition.

Why is DevOps Better Than Agile?

The decision-makers of Oil & Gas companies are eager to deploy practices that bring fruitful digital transformation to their organizations. Often, it is hard to choose from the two most popular enterprise practices such as DevOps and Agile. This dilemma is mainly because both methodologies focus on accurate results in the most efficient manner possible.

According to recent industry trends, the DevOps market is expected to grow at a CAGR rate of 22.9%, signaling a greater adoption rate than Agile. Let us understand why oil and gas companies prefer DevOps over Agile in Industry 4.0.

Agile	DevOps
1.Focuses on software development.	1.Focusses on fast paced and effective end-to-end business solutions.
2.Aligns development processes with customer needs at all stages.	2. Promotes continuous testing and delivery of products. Identifies glitches before they can cause massive disruption to the company’s operations.
3.The development team works in incremental spirits for software delivery, deployment, and maintenance. Operations teams work individually.	3.Promotes a healthy collaboration between teams across various departments to deliver error-free software to achieve total safety in the oil and gas setup.
4.Core values are: Individuals & Interactions, Working Software, Customer Collaboration, and Responding to Change.	4.Core values are: Systems Thinking, Adopt & Promote Feedback Loops, Continuous Experimentation & Learning.

Benefits of DevOps for Industry CIOs

Digitalization in the oil and gas industry is highly data-driven. Also, it constantly faces uncertainties due to fluctuations in global commodity prices, pressure to reduce carbon emissions and reliance on renewable alternatives. To overcome such challenges through an impactful digital transformation, the CIOs don multiple roles like a technical architect, solution expert, visionary, innovator, and purposeful technology provider to the company.

The blended business model of development and operations through DevOps helps CIOs create a fruitful roadmap toward a true digital transformation. Here is how DevOps drives such a transformation :

• Fosters transparent and collaborative teamwork in creating quality software that ensures efficiency, productivity, and safety.
• Identifies and implements the most appropriate automation technology leveraging the best possible output from every department in the organization. Empowers CIOs with the capability to set up IT infrastructure that withstands constant changes amid continuous delivery.
• Enhances product quality by eliminating bottlenecks and errors.
• Introduces team flexibility and agility for achieving the common goal
• Enables the CIOs to adopt futuristic technology and processes to develop sustainable business plans.

Conclusion

The oil and gas industry is one of the most rapid embracers of new-age technologies. With more companies leveraging the software-hardware collaboration that IR4.0 offers, there is a dire need to deploy the best DevOps practices to reap its benefits.

Utthunga has the best automation tools and DevOps consulting services that cater to the oil and gas industry. Reach out to us at [email protected] to stride ahead of the competition by leveraging the power of DevOps.

How Smart Sensors are Driving the Industry

Sensors were traditionally employed to collect field data, which was then delivered to I/O modules and controllers to be processed and meaningful outputs were provided. Smart sensors can gather field data for a variety of critical activities, as well as process data, and make decisions using logic and machine learning algorithms, thanks to the integration of intelligence down to the component level.

Smart sensors are the driving force behind Industry 4.0. Almost every intelligent device in industrial automation relies on sensors. Sensors have been used to simplify and automate industrial processes in a variety of ways using their capacity to obtain important field device information. Some of the main operational factors taken by the sensors include diagnosing the health status of assets using signal noise to prevent breakdowns, generating alarms for functional safety, and so on. The list goes on and on, starting with condition-based monitoring and power management and ending with image sensing and environmental monitoring.

Now to make it more clear let’s check out the types of smart sensors that are primarily used in industrial units:

• Temperature Sensor: Product quality is a key element to consider in industrial operations and it is directly affected by room temperature. These intelligent sensors can detect the temperature of its environment and convert the signal into data to monitor, record, and/or raise alerts.
• Pressure Sensors: Pressure sensors have the ability to detect the changes in the pressure on any surface, gas, or liquid and convert the data into an electrical signal to measure and control it.
• Motion Sensors: Motion sensors are designed to trigger the signals that increase or decrease power supply in smart factories or industrial setups. When there is a physical presence of a human, a signal is detected to automatically switch on/off lights, fans, and any other in-house device. These can save a lot of energy in commercial buildings with wide spaces and a lot of people.
• Thermal Sensors: Thermal sensors enable smart buildings and workplaces to automatically modify room temperature to maintain a steady temperature in space regardless of changing environmental conditions.
• Smoke Sensors: These sensors ensure the security of homes and offices. When smoke is detected, for example, an immediate warning is triggered in fire burst circumstances, to increase safety and the possibility of escape from the accident scene.
• Other Sensors: Some of the other important sensors used in industries are MSME sensors, acceleration sensors, torque sensors, rotating sensors, etc.

What is IO-Link?

IO-Link is an open communication system and has been in use for quite some time. It integrates sensors and actuators and shifts to another level. It has been tried, tested, and operated in machinery process control over several years.

It has turned into one of the most eminent two-way interfaces accessible today, surpassing data to the machine-level control system via a standard three-wire cable which doesn’t require any extra time or cost to connect.

How IO-Link Connects Intelligent Sensors?

An IO-Link framework comprises of IO-Link gadgets, including sensors and actuators and an expert gadget. Since IO-Link is a highlight point engineering, just a single gadget can be associated with each port on the expert. Each port of an IO-Link expert can deal with parallel exchanging signs and simple qualities.

Every IO-Link gadget has an IO gadget portrayal (IODD) that determines the information structure, information substance, and essential usefulness—giving a uniform depiction and access for programming and regulators. The client can without much of a stretch read and cycle this data, and every gadget can be unambiguously recognized by means of the IODD just as through an inside gadget ID.

Importance of IO-Link in Industrial Automation Setup

In a few years, IO-Link has attracted many industries by providing advantages such as:

• Simplified Wiring: IO-Link can be easily connected by 3 core cables with cost-effectiveness. It eliminates unwanted wiring by reducing the variety of interfaces for sensors which saves inventory costs.
• Remote Monitoring: The data is transmitted over various networks, backplane buses by IO-Link master due to which the data can be easily accessible in immediate times and for long-term analysis. This provides more information regarding the devices and enables the remote monitoring feature of devices.
• Reduced Cost and Increased Efficiency: With the innovation of IO-Link the productivity has increased, the cost has been reduced, and the machine availability has increased. These changes have heavily worked towards reducing machine downtime.

To increase productivity by optimum measures, one needs to be aware of the machine parts running in factories to keep up the pace and get maximum output. Conventional sensors lack the ability to communicate parameter data to the controller. Smart Sensors show the continuous flow of processes to fit in the environment and system.

Conclusion

By combining Information Technology (IT) and Operations Technology (OT) into a single, unified architecture, the connected enterprise is transforming industrial automation. This unified architecture allows us to gather and analyze data, changing it into usable information, thanks to integrated control and the Internet of Things (IoT). Manufacturers can use integrated architecture to construct intelligent equipment that gives them access to such data and allows them to react quickly to changing market demands. Smart sensors and I/O, based on IO-Link technology, constitute the backbone of integrated control and information, allowing you to see field data in real time through your Integrated Architecture control system.

An Introduction to Industrial Connectivity

Industrial connectivity has come a long way since the first time a PLC was controlled by a computer. Well! it was a ‘Hurrah’ moment for industries as it created a whole new horizon for innovative technologies. However, amid the gradual shift towards digitalization, the lack of efficient exchange of data among systems and applications was hindering the communication. When ISA-95 reference model came into light, it compartmentalized the automation architecture into different vertical layers based on the nature of data generated. While this model allowed various industrial manufacturers to innovate technologies keeping the architecture layers in mind, it also helped them understand the communication interdependencies among the systems across the layers. Fast forwarding to today, the coining of the term ‘Industry 4.0’ has emphasized on interlinking various systems (machines, devices, applications, etc.) from plant floor to the enterprise applications of ISA-95 to become a smart factory. This interlinking is possible through efficient connectivity solutions enabling smooth data exchange across the layers. These connectivity solutions are designed keeping the communication needs in mind. While a proximity sensor has a single function, i.e., to detect an object within a certain range, a controller is expected to send sophisticated instructions in different scenarios. Historically, these different communication needs have given rise to the application of various industrial communication protocols.

Factors Influencing the Evolution of Industrial Communication Protocols

As mentioned earlier, the evolution of industry protocols goes back to various scenarios that led various industrial associations and independent OEMs to develop various protocols. Some of the factors that influenced the emergence of various modern protocols are:

• • Interoperability: With generations of electronics and technologies evolving over the decades, the industries started facing difficulties in establishing compatibility among the heterogeneous devices at various layers, especially at the OT level. The devices developed by different manufacturers supported either vendor-specific proprietary protocols or Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) protocols. Due to this, the need for establishing interoperability among the devices became one of the primary concerns for smooth connectivity from plant floor to the enterprise layers and beyond. This generated the need for common platforms like OPC UA that allows all the devices to communicate in a common language unlocking the potential of IIoT.
  • Real-time/Determinism: When it comes to communication, industries need connectivity solutions that enable fast responsiveness, ensure real-time delivery of time-sensitive messages, and reduce jitter. The OEMs and various protocol consortiums are constantly working to innovate solutions for aforementioned criteria and more. In fact, communication standards and protocols like TSN (Time Sensitive Network) and Profinet IRT are already making significant progress.
  • Operating Environment: One of the most discussed aspects in industries is the safe operating conditions on the plant floor. While some nodes may exhibit a certain amount of heat, vibration, or noise, others may operate in a hazardous environment. Therefore, having stable connectivity channels for such scenarios has always been a challenge. For example, PROFIBUS DP is suitable for manufacturing, whereas PROFIBUS PA has dominated the process industries. In fact, the recent developments in Added Physical Layer on Ethernet (Ethernet-APL) promise to deliver better communication speed along with intrinsic safety benefits to process industries.
  • Mobility: As the plant operations get more complex, newer inventions replace the legacy systems. For example, the use of Automated Guided Vehicles has minimized the number of workers needed to transport materials within the plant. However, the use of wired connectivity does not fulfil the communication need here as the plant asset is mobile. The evolution of wireless protocols has helped overcome this issue. 5G technology will not only allow plant devices to communicate faster than a human possibly can, but will also ensure the delivery of time-sensitive message by slicing the bandwidth.
  • Scalability: As and when industries scale-up, new nodes/devices/machines are added in the network. However, expanding the network always puts a challenge in terms of additional configurations, implementation overheads, implications on existing network architecture, etc. This is the reason why self-healing wireless networks like ZigBee are designed.
  • Power Consumption: With multiple machines deployed on a plant floor, connecting them using specific protocols consumes a lot of power. As a matter of fact, the devices that are battery-powered or electric-powered, a single fault in the power source can seriously damage the entire connectivity. This can be especially a crucial aspect when an end-node is installed at a remote location. Therefore, the invention of low-power wireless networks like Bluetooth low energy, Wi-Fi, etc.

While the conventional purpose of the communication protocols was to provide seamless connectivity among the devices, digital disruption in industries is demanding more than that. The panorama of modern industries needs smooth convergence of OT and IT, which were two different worlds altogether. Along with intelligent devices, industrial protocols are bridging this gap.

How Communication Protocols Converge OT and IT?

Industrial automation pyramid with all 5 layers is a way to look at the communication happening within the system. However, it is not necessary to have all these layers as part of all the industrial network architectures. Since the advent of edge computing, industries are actively deploying it to bypass all the middle layers between control layer and the cloud. This means that the automation pyramid is reduced in size, or in other words, it is flattening, i.e., from 5 layers to just 2 or 3 layers. However, if you look closely, the role of seamless communication is quite important at the moment. While field devices release data at a higher frequency in smaller sizes, client applications on cloud require larger messages in low frequency. Therefore, the connectivity solutions must fulfill the necessary demands of the end industries. In the light of convergence, the role of communication protocols can be discussed at two levels:

Field to Edge

Field devices like sensors and actuators need communication protocols that allow them to communicate in robust way. Some of the communication protocols that are widely used on the field level to connect various machines and devices are IO-Link and the fieldbus protocols like Modbus, HART, Profibus, FF, and Control Area Network (CAN). In fact, Industrial Ethernet protocols like Profinet, EtherCAT, Ethernet/IP, etc., offer great potential to the complex and field devices network. The data transferred to the control layer gets processed and sent to the above layers or specific instructions are sent to the field devices. Therefore, the communication protocols should enable scalability. Some of the communication protocols that provide a scalable connectivity from the PLCs all the way down to I/O and Sensors are EtherCAT, Profinet RT, Powerlink, IO-Link, Modbus, Ethernet/IP, S7, MELSEC, etc.

Edge to Cloud

Conventionally, the data coming from the field and control layers get converted into enterprise-compatible format. However, communication protocols like SigFox, OPC UA, TSN, MQTT, AMQP, etc., are enabling communication right from the sensor to the cloud. The field level specifications of OPC UA, called OPC FLC is under development that will redefine the communication across all the layers of automation pyramid.

Endnote

While connectivity is making a major progress in the industrial front, the OEMs are constantly on their toes to cater to the communication needs of the end industries. With varied demands of diverse industries, there is surely not one communication protocol that can fulfill them all. However, with continuous research and global consortiums coming forward, we can surely expect an influx of innovative technologies paving the way for seamless and improved communication. Utthunga is one of renowned names in industrial protocols that enables the various industry OEMs to engineer cutting-edge connectivity solutions. We are experts in providing device-level and software-level connectivity services along with verifying, verifying, and certifying the solutions at each step. Therefore, let us collaborate to help you fulfil your connectivity needs. Check out our Industrial Connectivity Services to know more.

Inspired to build a simple version of data aggregation and visualization for systems and applications, we have developed a dashboard builder tool for one of our clients. A global leader in industrial automation products and services, the client provides solution-based software and technology-driven industrial engineering solution. While there are many such tools in the market, what we have built is efficient and easy to use.

Building blocks of this tool are :

1. Widgets
2. Dashboards
3. Templates

Widgets: This is the basic component of the dashboard tool. It has configurable elements like Title, Type of Chart, and other options. These widgets can be resized to fit a specific layout and moved around the dashboard to customize the display.

Dashboards: It is a combination of one or more widgets that provide statistics of configured motors, sensors, or other components in the plant. The dashboard can be customized to suit specific requirements in terms of features, functionalities, or visualization layout.

Templates: These are the industry-standard formats used for aggregation and display of data for individual field devices or the entire plant. The Administrator of the dashboard builder can create such templates based on preferences and requirements at various levels such as an operator, plant supervisor, or the plant head.

The primary javascript plugins used for this dashboard builder tool are:

React Grid Layout (RGL)
The RGL system is used for rendering multiple widgets in the dashboard. This helps layout mapping based on breakpoints. It provides intuitive and easy-to-use layout features for dragging and resizing the widgets that enhance the efficiency and responsiveness of the entire application.

Uplot
We experimented with different types of data visualization charting tools such as Chartjs, Victoryjs, and Uplot for rendering a large number of data points. Finally, based on the best time-series data rendering performance, we selected Uplot. With more than 1 Million points to be rendered, Uplot performed intended functions very efficiently.

Plotly
Other than time-series data, we also used 3D mesh plots and indicators for building effective data statistics features in the tool. Among multiple open source libraries, we used the Plotly library. This provided an excellent set of plots that render simple, yet insightful information for detecting anomalies.

React Table
For certain widgets, we wanted more than just regular table features like sorting (client/server-side), footers, and pagination. Among various options, we chose React Table plugin for its versatile features. We have used the standard list as well as the embedded table in the widget that gives the complete solution.

React Calendar / Date Range
The Date-range option is a very common, and also an important feature for any dashboard. For our client, we introduce predefined options for the shortcuts like last-1 Hr, last-5 Hrs, last-12 Hrs, last-1 Day, last-7 Days, and so on for capturing real-time data. Also, the custom date-range option feature for viewing historical data is a crucial dashboard feature. We found the React Date Range plugin an excellent fit for the use cases.

React Filters / Select
Searchable filters are the obvious choice for long data tables or reports. In our case, however, we needed a dynamic searchable component with intuitive selecting features. The React- select plugin provided us with the exact functionality that suited our requirements. On focus, it displays default drop-down options. Also, powerful features like search functionality with async data, and the color options matched nicely with the default bootstrap theme.

 Foot Note:

The Dashboard Builder Tool was developed within a short span of 2 months. The application is live in the client’s production environment, delivering delightful performance.

Utthunga cherishes innovating value-added solutions for its customers in various fields of industrial automation. For your queries and requirements write to us at [email protected].