Analysis of SDN based IIoT networks Targeting Automation Processes in Smart Factory Environments

Communication and networking infrastructure is the backbone to Automation systems in the Industry 4.0. Performance improvements of IIoT networks using Software Defined Networking (SDN) can be analysed observing QoS metrics like Reliability, delay etc to make autonomous processes resilient. An example floor plan of the manufacturing industry with machines, sensors, actuators, equipment etc. connected to a wired/wireless networks is simulated in the mininet platform. Simulations are performed with respect to different network topologies, traffic patterns, node density etc. It is observed from the results that suggestions can be given to improve the network performance to dynamically adapt to optimal topology/traffic pattern for an existing or to be commissioned factory network. It is observed from the results of this work that the impact of the different topologies will affect the delay significantly and analysis of this work gives an insight of effects of topology, node density, no of hops, link breakages etc on IIoT networks. The SDN mesh topology showed an increased delay of 26% compared to the tree topology and industries may implement mesh topology if reliability is critical for the processes at the trade-off of increased delay.