Overview of Industrial Communication in Process Automation

The industrial world is facing a dramatic challenge environment with the respect of more and more limited resources. Digital transformation (DT) is a key process for all industries and markets these days. It comprises the complete processes starting from planning of products and production process till the actual production of the products and its export to the end customers. Innovations available behind Industry 4.0 bring us to a new level of products and solutions developments in the industries. Some of the key benefits of digitalization process are increased efficiency and productivity, faster "time-to-market", better utilization of resources, increased business flexibility and agility. In addition, a new set of opportunities appears as greater innovations, new business models, better customer experience, data driven customer insights, etc. In the bases of all processes is the real time data collection and data exploration. That is why data infrastructure is essential for DT. This paper gives an overview of industrial communication used in Process Automation systems, challenges, practical automation network topologies and technology outlook. Topics like redundant topologies for process automation systems, typical network protocols and industrial security and are also addressed in the paper.