Towards Bridging Industrial Ethernet Networks: Protocol Translation and Runtime Verification

Technical interoperability is the first and foremost requirement for the Industrial Internet of Things. It ensures connectivity and networking between heterogeneous devices and systems, enabling their collaboration across different network protocols, both locally and over the Internet. Devices designed for industrial use are well known for their robustness, precision, and high-quality finish; however, they typically come with one or a few fixed industrial network protocols. One traditional method of connecting two devices using different protocols is to use a converter that translates messages between the two network interfaces. This paper proposes a unified protocol translation method for multiple network interfaces. The method is validated in a product assembly line use case, in which the involved devices use four different industrial Ethernet protocols and frameworks: Modbus TCP, EtherNet/IP Class 1, OPC UA PubSub, and ROS 2. Moreover, the correctness of such a complex networking system is verified using a runtime verification approach grounded in a formal interaction model, ensuring that the observed communication behaviors conform to the expected specification.