On the Importance of Traffic Control Subsystem in ICN-based Industrial Networks

The Industrial Automation Control Systems (IACS) are currently dominated by IP-based protocols. Industry 4.0 demands an efficient and scalable networking infrastructure that facilitates data sharing to drive operational improvements and develop business intelligence. The deterministic requirements in industrial networks have led to the emergence of a new IEEE standard in the form of Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN). TSN enables having an upper bound on the latency of data communication, thereby partially fulfilling the requirements of Industry 4.0. However, TSN alone cannot provide the level of determinism required in industrial networks. The efficiency of the layers above TSN can significantly affect the network performance. Information Centric Networking (ICN), which contrasts with IP-based protocols by focusing on the data rather than on the endpoints, is emerging as a promising network layer paradigm. In this paper, we evaluate what it takes for ICN to be integrated with IACS, and thereby meet the requirements of industrial networks.