Industrial Communication Protocols Research Articles

Edge architecture for the automation and control of flexible manufacturing lines

The automation and control of industrial machines and processes is a task traditionally performed by PLCs and SCADA systems. However, with the advent of Industry 4.0 paradigm, which merges OT and IT domains, this task can also be performed inside the IT domain. This paper proposes an edge architecture where a flexible manufacturing line is led by a state machine programmed and running on the IT domain inside the Manufacturing Execution System. Each industrial asset has been modelled as a black-box, where security and hard real-time functionalities are programmed and controlled inside each black-box by traditional OT tools. Functionalities and variables required to synchronize each black-box, have been modelled as inputs and outputs. These input and output variables and methods are available using Industry 4.0 industrial communication protocols, such as OPC UA or MQTT. Then, a state machine programmed on a high-level IT language model inside the MES, automates the manufacturing line reacting to the inputs and outputs of each black-box. This architecture has been successfully validated automating a manufacturing line composed by a conveyor, a robot and a vision based quality control system.

A Petri net model for Time‐Delay Attack detection in Precision Time Protocol‐based networks

AbstractAlong with the development of industrial and distributed systems, security concerns have also emerged in industrial communication protocols. PTP, Precision Time Protocol, is one of the most precise time synchronisation protocols for industrial devices. It ensures real‐time activity of the industrial control systems with precision equal to microseconds. In order to address the actual or potential security issues of PTP, this article firstly describes attack models applicable to PTP and then focuses on applying Coloured Petri Net to formally analyse the attack detection methods and also model PTP. The alignment of simulation results with the model and the considered assumptions show the suitability and accuracy of the proposed model.

Smart Platform for Monitoring and Control of Discrete Event System in Industry 4.0 Concept

We are now living in a time when the fourth industrial revolution is bringing new technologies with intensive digitalization of all levels of production. This paper presents a complex solution for the monitoring, diagnosis, and control of the production process, in our case, discrete event systems. The proposed solution—a mechatronic platform—further develops and extends our recent results where the overall concept was outlined and some partial tasks were studied. The present paper provides the complete structure of the proposed platform together with implementation details for all functionalities. The developed platform uses the latest technologies, such as OPC UA; industrial communication and visualization protocols and tools; and augmented reality, which enables comfortable interaction with real processes. The laboratory-scaled case study shows the qualities of the proposed solution.

Design and analysis of a low-cost potentiostat for application with microbial electrochemical sensors

Potentiostats are often limited to relatively costly laboratory-based analysis, which limits their access and application by researchers and practitioners, including for mobile in-field systems. This paper presents an alternative low-cost potentiostat design, sufficiently accurate for application with a microbial electrochemical sensor. The design of the device is described, evaluated using simulation and applied to a microbial electrochemical sensor to measure acetate. Incorporated into the design are a micro-controller, local data storage, and a standard industrial communication protocol to provide flexibility and data management. The device was able to produce a potential at ±2.5 V relative to an Ag-AgCl reference electrode and to measure current at ±2 mA, which was comparable to the performance of laboratory potentiostats on the market. Simulation analysis using fundamental electronic principles, such as Ohm's Law, confirmed that operation of the system was valid and as expected. Further testing using a pseudo-cell showed the device was accurate across a relevant potential range. Results from the initial calibration of the device show less than 1.6 % standard error of the mean. The device was further applied to a microbial electrochemical cell to measure acetate, which confirmed the device was functional for this application and recorded values were consistent with expectations based on the relevant literature.

Design, Application and Analysis of an OPC-based SCADA System

The main goal for our study is the design, implementation, and empirical test of the physical and software model of an OPC-based SCADA system comprising multiple industrial controllers of various commercial brands. In this study, an electro-pneumatic press prototype was prepared with four different PLCs, an open-source controller and an operator panel which have different industrial communication protocols. Each sub-task of the pressing unit was assigned to different industrial controllers, and the network infrastructure of the SCADA system was created with a star topology and taken into operation. The connectivity and interoperability for the designed networked system comprising significant number of devices with different industrial communication protocols was effectively provided. OPC-based SCADA system was tested in runtime mode and the controllers successfully talked to each other through the system. The hardware and software structural details, possibl1e malfunctions and data transmission speeds of the system were analyzed and shared.

Assessing Industrial Communication Protocols to Bridge the Gap between Machine Tools and Software Monitoring

Industrial communication protocols are protocols used to interconnect systems, interfaces, and machines in industrial environments. With the advent of hyper-connected factories, the role of these protocols is gaining relevance, as they enable the real-time acquisition of machine monitoring data, which can fuel real-time data analysis platforms that conduct tasks such as predictive maintenance. However, the effectiveness of these protocols is largely unknown and there is a lack of empirical evaluation which compares their performance. In this work, we evaluate OPC-UA, Modbus, and Ethernet/IP with three machine tools to assess their performance and their complexity of use from a software perspective. Our results show that Modbus provides the best latency figures and communication has different complexities depending on the used protocol, from the software perspective.

Virtual UR5 Robot for Online Learning of Inverse Kinematics and Independent Joint Control Validated with FSM Position Control

Virtual remote laboratories have already been successfully implemented in educational centers for practical learning of mechatronics and robotic systems. This article presents the development of a virtual articulated UR-type robot, designed as an educational tool that is suitable for programming and evaluating both the inverse kinematics control of the robot and the independent control of the robot joints. The 3D model of the virtual robot was developed in the Blender V2.79 software and uses the Modbus TCP industrial communication protocol for the communication to an external controller implemented in CoDeSys V3.5 software. The developed system allows the students to generate and test their own control algorithm for the robot joints with the visualization of the achieved performance in 3D and real time. Tailored control systems can be compared on the virtual robot. In this study, a novel technique for the joint position control based on an FSM is proposed and verified with the virtual UR5 robots to prove that the developed system is a suitable platform to teach and learn the inverse kinematics control and independent joint control of the UR5 robotic arm.

Formal Safety Assessment and Improvement of DDS Protocol for Industrial Data Distribution Service

The Data Distribution Service (DDS) for real-time systems is an industrial Internet communication protocol. Due to its distributed high reliability and the ability to transmit device data communication in real-time, it has been widely used in industry, medical care, transportation, and national defense. With the wide application of various protocols, protocol security has become a top priority. There are many studies on protocol security, but these studies lack a formal security assessment of protocols. Based on the above status, this paper evaluates and improves the security of the DDS protocol using a model detection method combining the Dolev–Yao attack model and the Coloring Petri Net (CPN) theory. Because of the security loopholes in the original protocol, a timestamp was introduced into the original protocol, and the shared key establishment process in the original protocol lacked fairness and consistency. We adopted a new establishment method to establish the shared secret and re-verified its security. The results show that the overall security of the protocol has been improved by 16.7% while effectively preventing current replay attack.

Improving efficiency and security of IIoT communications using in-network validation of server certificate

The use of advanced communications and smart mechanisms in industry is growing rapidly, making cybersecurity a critical aspect. Currently, most industrial communication protocols rely on the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol to build their secure version, providing confidentiality, integrity and authentication. In the case of UDP-based communications, frequently used in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) scenarios, the counterpart of TLS is Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS), which includes some mechanisms to deal with the high unreliability of the transport layer. However, the (D)TLS handshake is a heavy process, specially for resource-deprived IIoT devices and frequently, security is sacrificed in favour of performance. More specifically, the validation of digital certificates is an expensive process from the time and resource consumption point of view. For this reason, digital certificates are not always properly validated by IIoT devices, including the verification of their revocation status; and when it is done, it introduces an important delay in the communications. In this context, this paper presents the design and implementation of an in-network server certificate validation system that offloads this task from the constrained IIoT devices to a resource-richer network element, leveraging data plane programming (DPP). This approach enhances security as it guarantees that a comprehensive server certificate verification is always performed. Additionally, it increases performance as resource-expensive tasks are moved from IIoT devices to a resource-richer network element. Results show that the proposed solution reduces DTLS handshake times by 50–60 %. Furthermore, CPU use in IIoT devices is also reduced, resulting in an energy saving of about 40 % in such devices.

Towards post-quantum security for cyber-physical systems: Integrating PQC into industrial M2M communication1

The threat of a cryptographically relevant quantum computer contributes to an increasing interest in the field of post-quantum cryptography (PQC). Compared to existing research efforts regarding the integration of PQC into the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, industrial communication protocols have so far been neglected. Since industrial cyber-physical systems (CPS) are typically deployed for decades, protection against such long-term threats is needed. In this work, we propose two novel solutions for the integration of post-quantum (PQ) primitives (digital signatures and key establishment) into the industrial protocol Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA): a hybrid solution combining conventional cryptography with PQC and a solution solely based on PQC. Both approaches provide mutual authentication between client and server and are realized with certificates fully compliant to the X.509 standard. We implement the two solutions and measure and evaluate their performance across three different security levels. All selected algorithms (Kyber, Dilithium, and Falcon) are candidates for standardization by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). We show that Falcon is a suitable option – especially – when using floating-point hardware provided by our ARM-based evaluation platform. Our proposed hybrid solution provides PQ security for early adopters but comes with additional performance and communication requirements. Our solution solely based on PQC shows superior performance across all evaluated security levels in terms of handshake duration compared to conventional OPC UA but comes at the cost of increased handshake sizes. In addition to our performance evaluation, we provide a proof of security in the symbolic model for our two PQC-based variants of OPC UA. For this proof, we use the cryptographic protocol verifier ProVerif and formally verify confidentiality and authentication properties of our quantum-resistant variants.

Internet of Things Gateway for industrial communication protocol

The industrial sector usually suffers with the high cost of equipment and the high payback of them, in other words, the time in which the profits brought by the equipment will cover the amount initially spent is high, which can be a big problem since this sector is in constant development and evolution, new technologies appear all the time aiming to optimize the industrial processes. Taking this scenario into account, the project aims to unite low-cost hardware and software in order to leverage industrial technologies that do not have connectivity, thus making the data from them available in a cloud, for managerial access and quick decision-making, in a safe, fast and efficient way. Data are acquired through the Modbus TCP protocol on a raspberry with the aid of the “Py modbus” library, are sent to an AWS cloud through the MQTT protocol and its respective broker, finally displayed in a web environment in dashboard format using from Node.JS (a programming language that allows a robust, lightweight and flexible application)1. The project was implemented in an industrial place containing an extruder and seven frequency inverters, there was testing and acquisition of various data, thus, the response time in the system was monitored and considered satisfactory in terms of cost benefit.

Modbus Protocol Performance Analysis in a Variable Configuration of the Physical Fieldbus Architecture

Few developments have changed the evolution of the automation process as substantially as the development of industrial local area networks and communication protocols. Especially fieldbus systems, networks created for the lowest levels of the automation hierarchy, have an enormous influence on the flexibility and performance of modern automation systems in all application areas. The technique of updating data on Modbus type devices involves a procedure of reading data at regular time intervals called pooling. Some automation processes include interdependence between different control variables belonging to different hardware devices. This paper presents and analyzes various scenarios related to a variable architecture configuration of physical modules based on Modbus communication protocol. The proposed Modbus Extension (ModbusE) concept is presented by defining the new optimized message format, and the structure of the acquisition cycle to obtain a deterministic temporal behavior, solutions for describing devices at the Modbus protocol level being presented. The status update of each Modbus module is done according to the address of the device, but also the number of registers per device. The paper analyses the worst-case scenario of communication involving Modbus devices on the same network and exchanging data corresponding to one or more server registers.

A Comparative Study on Industrial Communication Protocols Using IoT Platforms

In this study, the industrial communication protocols used in internet of things platforms are explained and compared with respect to pre-defined metrics which are gathered from devices in the industrial area, communication protocol principles, customer feedback and device hardware capabilities. They are explained in detail for end users and systems. Communication protocols in industrial area are given and illustrated with comparative table. The presented information and comparisons provide guidance for industrial internet of things projects. The selection of communication protocol is a critical process for surviving and sustaining of IoT platforms. IoT platforms provide solutions for industrial area for both on premise and cloud based applications compatible with industrial communication protocols. This study is shaped by the IoT platform which is developed by Klemsan, improved by industrial communication protocols which are widely used in industrial area, are explained briefly. There are 13 evaluation metrics which are presented in detail that is necessary to be chosen between industrial communication protocols for IoT platforms.

DDS and OPC UA Protocol Coexistence Solution in Real-Time and Industry 4.0 Context Using Non-Ideal Infrastructure.

Continuing the evolution towards Industry 4.0, the industrial communication protocols represent a significant topic of interest, as real-time data exchange between multiple devices constitute the pillar of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) scenarios. Although the legacy protocols are still persistent in the industry, the transition was initiated by the key Industry 4.0 facilitating protocol, the Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture (OPC UA). OPC UA has to reach the envisioned applicability, and it therefore has to consider coexistence with other emerging real-time oriented protocols in the production lines. The Data Distribution Service (DDS) will certainly be present in future architectures in some areas as robots, co-bots, and compact units. The current paper proposes a solution to evaluate the real-time coexistence of OPC UA and DDS protocols, functioning in parallel and in a gateway context. The purpose is to confirm the compatibility and feasibility between the two protocols alongside a general definition of criteria and expectations from an architectural point of view, pointing out advantages and disadvantages in a neutral manner, shaping a comprehensive view of the possibilities. The researched architecture is meant to comply with both performance comparison scenarios and interaction scenarios over a gateway application. Considering the industrial tendencies, the developed solution is applied using non-ideal infrastructures to provide a more feasible and faster applicability in the production lines.

A Reliability Assessment of an Industrial Communication Protocol on a Windows OS Embedded PC for an Oil Rig Control Application

The reliability is an important criterion for the applications. Especially when there are humans involved in activity. There are limited number of works addressing the reliability concerns of a digital industrial plant scenario with machine to machine (M2M) communications. Results on a windows embedded platform are rare as well. In this paper, we investigate the suitability of such devices for presenting the data of a digital oil rig to the humans. There can be two types of reads. A simple one regarding current values of observed variables. Also a period of their occurrences can be recalled, referred to as an Historic read. For the review made by Geological teams for residues of ore, an algorithm can consider both techniques. Our observations indicate: the simple reads are more resilient than the historical ones that represent a data past of a readable variable.

ICPFuzzer: proprietary communication protocol fuzzing by using machine learning and feedback strategies

The fuzzing test is able to discover various vulnerabilities and has more chances to hit the zero-day targets. And ICS(Industrial control system) is currently facing huge security threats and requires security standards, like ISO 62443, to ensure the quality of the device. However, some industrial proprietary communication protocols can be customized and have complicated structures, the fuzzing system cannot quickly generate test data that adapt to various protocols. It also struggles to define the mutation field without having prior knowledge of the protocols. Therefore, we propose a fuzzing system named ICPFuzzer that uses LSTM(Long short-term memory) to learn the features of a protocol and generates mutated test data automatically. We also use the responses of testing and adjust the weight strategies to further test the device under testing (DUT) to find more data that cause unusual connection status. We verified the effectiveness of the approach by comparing with the open-source and commercial fuzzers. Furthermore, in a real case, we experimented with the DLMS/COSEM for a smart meter and found that the test data can cause a unusual response. In summary, ICPFuzzer is a black-box fuzzing system that can automatically execute the testing process and reveal vulnerabilities that interrupt and crash industrial control communication. Not only improves the quality of ICS but also improves safety.

Maximum Power Point Box (MPPB) Design to Advance BIPV Installations on Residential Properties

Photovoltaic installations on residential properties gained high momentums during the past decade. Building integrated photovoltaic materials are well developed and has the potential to advance the photovoltaic systems installations on residential and commercial buildings. One of the main limitations on residential system is the utility allowable AC power generation. The installation of BIPV on houses offer numerous orientation and tilts of the PV system which ensure sun energy is harvested for wider timeframe. The different orientations and tilts reflect changes in the generate output power. The available residential inverters have one of two MPPTs which limit the orientation and tilts of the system to a maximum of two options per inverter. Adding more inverters will add cost burden on the system, exceed the utility maximum allowable AC power generation, and additional inverters will not work at rated power throughout the day. The works in this paper include the detail design of a maximum power point box (MPPB) that harvest the sun energy for different orientations and tilts, manage and regulate the DC Bus Bar voltage level as well as generated DC power prior the inverter input terminal. The process is governed by an input from the inverter using an industrial communication protocol such as MODBUS. The aim of the box is to reduce the number of inverters required for maximum power generation while maintaining the maximum AC limits set the by utilities. The paper includes the details design with the proposed circuit along its optimum logics. Case study is also included Photovoltaic installations on residential properties gained high momentums during the past decade. Building integrated photovoltaic materials are well developed and has the potential to advance the photovoltaic systems installations on residential and commercial buildings. One of the main limitations on residential system is the utility allowable AC power generation. The installation of BIPV on houses offer numerous orientation and tilts of the PV system which ensure sun energy is harvested for wider timeframe. The different orientations and tilts reflect changes in the generate output power. The available residential inverters have one of two MPPTs which limit the orientation and tilts of the system to a maximum of two options per inverter. Adding more inverters will add cost burden on the system, exceed the utility maximum allowable AC power generation, and additional inverters will not work at rated power throughout the day. The works in this paper include the detail design of a maximum power point box (MPPB) that harvest the sun energy for different orientations and tilts, manage and regulate the DC Bus Bar voltage level as well as generated DC power prior the inverter input terminal. The process is governed by an input from the inverter using an industrial communication protocol such as MODBUS. The aim of the box is to reduce the number of inverters required for maximum power generation while maintaining the maximum AC limits set the by utilities. The paper includes the details design with the proposed circuit along its optimum logics. Case study is also included

Maximum Power Point Box (MPPB) Design to Advance BIPV Installations on Residential Properties

Photovoltaic installations on residential properties gained high momentums during the past decade. Building integrated photovoltaic materials are well developed and has the potential to advance the photovoltaic systems installations on residential and commercial buildings. One of the main limitations on residential system is the utility allowable AC power generation. The installation of BIPV on houses offer numerous orientation and tilts of the PV system which ensure sun energy is harvested for wider timeframe. The different orientations and tilts reflect changes in the generate output power. The available residential inverters have one of two MPPTs which limit the orientation and tilts of the system to a maximum of two options per inverter. Adding more inverters will add cost burden on the system, exceed the utility maximum allowable AC power generation, and additional inverters will not work at rated power throughout the day. The works in this paper include the detail design of a maximum power point box (MPPB) that harvest the sun energy for different orientations and tilts, manage and regulate the DC Bus Bar voltage level as well as generated DC power prior the inverter input terminal. The process is governed by an input from the inverter using an industrial communication protocol such as MODBUS. The aim of the box is to reduce the number of inverters required for maximum power generation while maintaining the maximum AC limits set the by utilities. The paper includes the details design with the proposed circuit along its optimum logics. Case study is also included Photovoltaic installations on residential properties gained high momentums during the past decade. Building integrated photovoltaic materials are well developed and has the potential to advance the photovoltaic systems installations on residential and commercial buildings. One of the main limitations on residential system is the utility allowable AC power generation. The installation of BIPV on houses offer numerous orientation and tilts of the PV system which ensure sun energy is harvested for wider timeframe. The different orientations and tilts reflect changes in the generate output power. The available residential inverters have one of two MPPTs which limit the orientation and tilts of the system to a maximum of two options per inverter. Adding more inverters will add cost burden on the system, exceed the utility maximum allowable AC power generation, and additional inverters will not work at rated power throughout the day. The works in this paper include the detail design of a maximum power point box (MPPB) that harvest the sun energy for different orientations and tilts, manage and regulate the DC Bus Bar voltage level as well as generated DC power prior the inverter input terminal. The process is governed by an input from the inverter using an industrial communication protocol such as MODBUS. The aim of the box is to reduce the number of inverters required for maximum power generation while maintaining the maximum AC limits set the by utilities. The paper includes the details design with the proposed circuit along its optimum logics. Case study is also included

이기종 공작기계 데이터 수집을 위한 IIoT 엣지 디바이스 설계 및 구현

In the manufacturing process, the interworking services with various production facilities are specialized and they use the manufacturer’s dependent protocol, it is difficult to collect equipment data of different manufacturers. In order to solve this problem, a standardized industrial communication protocol for integrating equipment data made by various manufacturers is required. However, FANUC, which has a high market share of domestic machine tools, does not follow standard manufacturing protocols and uses its own method, so smart factory companies that operate FANUC and other machine tools together need a system that can integrate and operate them.<BR> In this paper, we designed and implemented IIoT edge devices that support OPC UA and FANUC’s Fanuc Open CNC API Specifications (FOCAS), which are widely used as standard manufacturing protocols in smart factories. The proposed IIoT edge device also performs a function of transmitting limited data to the cloud through a predefined filtering method in order to prevent excessive transmission of collected data to the cloud, resulting in increased transmission delays and analysis targets.

가상 모델을 통한 스마트공장 Programmable Logical Controller 전문가 양성을 위한 훈련 시스템

These days, smart manufacturing has received growing attention and is leading a new trends in the manufacturing field. To keep up with this trend, it is required to improve the education program of manufacturing engineers in term of trainee quantity as well as program quality. However, these education programs relatively have limited resources due to huge requests of smart manufacturing training. The authors propose the framework for smart manufacturing education based on a virtual reality composed of both virtual PLC and virtual facility. We applied this framework to existing training kit which is currently being used for smart manufacturing training. We chose commercial PLC programming tool as a virtual PLC machine and adopted standardized industrial communication protocol to ensure the connectivity between different platforms. The virtual plant was firstly modeled by using CAD, later was imported to 3D game engine to implement physical property. The 3D game engine has the advantage of a possible extension to virtual reality. By doing so we made a full virtual training environment as effective as the real training kit.