Real-time networks and protocols for factory automation and process control systems [scanning the issue]

Information is the key element in modern factory automation and process control systems, and one of the most difficult tasks is to provide, distribute, and properly process it. Information transfer and processing in this scenario depend to a large extent on appropriate communication systems, usually referred to as “industrial networks.” Significance, content, and properties of information may, of course, vary within a given application context. For instance, a distributed control system typically handles sensor and actuator information with stringent real-time requirements, whereas production planning needs to cope with huge amounts of data, such as those concerned with customer orders or bills of material, with more relaxed timing. The industrial networks deployed at the various hierarchical levels of automation systems thus have to meet different requirements, to ensure that timely and reliable data flows are maintained among the different components they connect, such as field devices, controllers, human–machine interface (HMI) systems, cloud computers, manufacturing execution systems (MES), and so on
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. According to the specific needs of the numerous application fields such as manufacturing, electrical power distribution, motion control, environmental monitoring, and chemical processes, to mention but a few
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, industrial networks may have diverse architectures, traffic types, and performance.