wilamowski-b-m-irwin-j-d-industrial-communication-systems-2011

56-2 Industrial Communication Systems
56.2 application of Internet Technologies in Industry
The trend of applying Internet technologies in different application areas can hardly be stopped. The
promising features like instant and ubiquitous information access without any additional efforts, no
costs for software installation and maintenance, and finally the manifold de facto standards lead to a
spreading application of Internet technologies also in industrial application, characterized by the term
“Industrial Internet.”
The application of Internet technologies seems to solve most major problems in the industrial
automation domain. Exchange and presentation of information is greatly simplified by applying those
methods and technologies that are well known from application in general IT systems. Because of
communication system independence, Internet technologies seem to perfectly fit the requirements for
vertical integration in automation. Especially, the trend to use Ethernet-based systems at the factory
floor will simplify the steps needed for seamless integration of automation systems and company IT
systems. This will reduce the efforts for data communication, conversion, and presentation, thus finally
reducing complexity and costs for such systems. In addition, the adoption of Internet technologies
introduces new concepts and offers new chances for tasks in different stages of an automation system’s
life cycle. Especially, Web technologies are state of the art and have developed into de facto standards
(see Figure 56.1).
Browsers and servers exist for nearly every platform; they are widely accepted by different classes
of users. The browser as a platform-independent application framework should allow re-using software
components. Finally, location independence, multiple client access, and easy installation of
software components are in the users’ focus. On the other hand, this “promised land” has some
drawbacks, which mostly encompass dealing with the heterogeneity of the different technologies
with typically very short life cycles.
However, the application in industrial automation produces some additional requirements for
the effective use of Internet technologies. Besides commonly mentioned requirements like real-time
aspects, communication structures, and security aspects, in addition the availability and maturity of
the technologies, as well as the acceptance and the knowledge of users and developers have to be considered.
Finally, the selection of suitable technologies or technology combinations appears to be difficult.
It is mainly based on the use cases to be addressed by an Industrial Internet application, but also on the
automation and IT systems’ design, and on considerations regarding the total cost of ownership (TCO).
Client
Forms
***
(de facto) standards
(D)COM
CORBA
SOAP
Different types of data
from different sources
***
On-line
data
Data
base
Static
text
Picture
Multimedia
FIGURE 56.1
Internet and Web technologies as de facto standards.
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC