Selected issues of industrial computer systems design

Abstract

This monograph is devoted to the design of the industrial computer systems and analysis of the major terms related to such process. The main body of the book is divided into three parts: models, systems elements, and security and safety. In the first part, the standard terms are defined, the system models and its constituent elements are presented, as well as some abstract models are suggested, all of which concern the structure and the functionality of the industrial system. The knowledge of abstract descriptions and the skill to use them allow to make a design work independently from the given hardware and software solutions and technologies. Thus, besides showing the approaches based on existing standards, an insight into the issue is proposed which uses broader and much more universal terms than the ones usually employed. The utilization of the well-known design patterns is discussed, as well as adaptation of brand new ideas of constructing distributed systems. The issues of system testing are taken into account and appropriate guidelines are delivered. The presented considerations are illustrated by research results and by references to practice, including the scientific work and applications experience of the author. In the second part of the book, the hardware and software elements which allow to build up the system are presented. The description of the usage domain, typical tasks, and a place and a role of the given element in the considered system kind is included. The descriptions do not refer to specific products but to their classes. This makes the cognitive process independent from producers, and forces the reader to consider the system structure, data flows and models, applications relations, and ways of processing, but not only to fit the specific components. The issues of distributed system communication are also taken into consideration, both in local and remote context. The relevant questions of media usage are deliberated within the context of industrial networks. The intersystem integration issues are also described, as well as collaboration of heterogeneous elements on the various levels of abstraction. The third part of the book is devoted to broadly defined problems connected with the process of designing industrial informatics systems in a safe way, as well as to the security of the systems’ operation. The issues of the system construction concerning security and safety, as well as issues related to the system and the dependency of its elements are shown. The standard terms of security and safety, measure and norms, typical threats and risks used in the considered domain, as well as threats coming from the new technologies are described. The design guidelines are proposed which can increase the security and safety level, starting from the planning, through implementation and commissioning, to deployment process. The book also contains examples of real solutions, which highlight the considered issues, as well as a rich set of bibliography and sources. The considered topics are discussed in relation to both past and current research lead by domestic and foreign entities, including research, projects, applications and implementations being made by the author.