The Role of OPC UA TSN in IT and OT Convergence

The Industrial Internet is a kind of infrastructure that is closely connected with people, industries, and network, and it can realize the low cost and high efficiency of intelligent production. Promoting the convergence of Information Technology (IT) and Operation Technology (OT) is the foundation to realize the Industrial Internet. However, IT and OT exist independently and cannot be unified all the time. How can they work together effectively? We describe the model of OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) and Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) in this paper that will effectively solve the problem of IT and OT convergence. We also compare three TSN models, discuss which obstacles to IT and OT convergence will be addressed by OPC UA TSN in detail, and analyze the features of OPC UA TSN. It proves that OPC UA TSN will play an important role in the process of IT and OT convergence.