A modern teaching environment for process automation

Emergence of the new technological trends such as Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA), Industrial Ethernet, cloud computing and the 5th wireless network (5G) enabled the implementation of Cyber-physical System (CPS) with flexible, configurable, scalable and interoperable business models. This provides new opportunities for the process automation systems. On the other hand, the constant urge of industries for cost and material efficient processes demands a new automation paradigm with the latest tools and technologies which should be taken into account while teaching future automation engineers. In this thesis, the modern teaching environment for process automation is designed, implemented and described. This work explains the connections, configurations and the test of three mini plants including the Multiple Heat Exchanger, the Three-tank system and the Mixing Tank. In addition, OPC UA communication between the server and its clients has been tested. The plants are a part of the state of the art of the architecture that provides the access of ABB 800xA to the cloud services via OPC UA over the 5G test wireless network. This new paradigm changes the old automation hierarchy and enables the cross layered communication in the old architecture. This modern teaching environment prepares the students for the future automation challenges with the latest tools and merges data analytics, cloud computing and wireless network studies with process automation. It also provides the unique chance of testing the future trends together in this unique process automation setup

A systematic literature review of communications standards in discrete manufacturing

Industry 4.0 has a particular emphasis on the data landscape of production facilities. Data is needed to gain essential insights from the production machinery to support operations management in better decision-making or indirectly by feeding decision support systems. Such data is encapsulated in an industrial communication standard to organize in a higher-level ontology. It is challenging for operation technology specialists to have an overview of all those standards because they are numerous. This work contributes a solution to this problem by systematically approaching the literature to give an overview of the industrial communication standards landscape. The method used is a systematic literature review with a backward and forward search consisting of three main phases: 1. keyword-based search on different platforms, 2. abstract screening, and 3. full-text screening. Over 2,100 article abstracts have been parsed systematically to condense it to the most relevant 309 full-text articles. This work presents an overview of the most significant industrial communication standards mentioned in these articles. Several use cases and some brief IT-security-relevant aspects are presented as well

INDUSTRIAL DEVICE INTEGRATION AND VIRTUALIZATION FOR SMART FACTORIES

Given the constant industry growth and modernization, several technologies have been introduced in the shop floor, in particular regarding industrial devices. Each device brand and model usually requires different interfaces and communication protocols, a technological diversity which renders the automatic interconnection with production management software extremely challenging. However, combining key technologies such as machine monitoring, digital twin and virtual commissioning, along with a complete communication protocol like OPC UA, it is possible to contribute towards industrial device integration on a Smart Factory environment. To achieve this goal, several methodologies and a set of tools were defined. This set of tools, as well as facilitating the integration tasks, should also be part of a virtual engineering environment, sharing the same virtual model, the digital twin, through the complete lifecycle of the industrial device, namely the project, simulation, implementation and execution/monitoring/supervision and, eventually, decommissioning phases. A key result of this work is the development of a set of virtual engineering tools and methodologies based on OPC UA communication, with the digital twin implemented using RobotStudio, in order to accomplish the complete lifecycle support of an industrial device, from the project and simulation phases, to monitoring and supervision, suitable for integration in Industry 4.0 factories. To evaluate the operation of the developed set of tools, experiments were performed for a test scenario with different devices. Other relevant result is related with the integration of a specific industrial device – CNC machining equipment. Given the variety of monitoring systems and communication protocols, an approach where various solutions available on the market are combined on a single system is followed. These kinds of all-in-one solutions would give production managers access to the information necessary for a continuous monitoring and improvement of the entire production process

Reaaliaikainen kaksisuuntainen tiedonsiirto digitaalisen kaksosen kanssa verkkorajapinnan kautta

Technological advancements in industry have paved way for the fourth industrial revolution called Industry 4.0. One critical aspect of this revolution is the usage of digital twins in product design, production, and service. A common depiction of a digital twin consists of three parts: a physical twin, its digital twin, and the data exchanged between them. In industry, one common solution for the data exchange between the digital twin and its physical twin is OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) communication protocol. The protocol provides a solution to collect data from devices along an entire production line. Communication with OPC UA servers requires carefully studying the protocol specification, which can deter new developers from creating applications with the data collected by the servers. The goal of this thesis is to develop a web-based application program interface (API) that simplifies transferring data with an OPC UA server. The API is intended to be made with a popular technology that is already widely known among developers. It would lower the learning curve for utilizing the data on OPC UA servers. Thus, more developers can be tempted to start developing applications with the data. As the API is web-based, it is accessible by any web capable device bringing the data available to virtually any programming language and platform. Requirements for the API beyond the functionalities concern its efficiency and capability of handling real-time data exchange situations. To test the API’s performance, a case study is made: a web-based control application. The control application uses the API in real-time to both write control signals to and read sensor values from the OPC UA server. The API performance is evaluated by measuring its request completion time in both controlled environment and real use cases. The developed API was considered to be fast enough for user-based input and even applications that required fast synchronisation of values from different data sources. However, the API did add considerable latency compared using the OPC UA server directly which might be a problem in some applications that require extremely time sensitive data from the data server.Teknologian kehitys teollisuudessa on mahdollistanut neljännen teollisuuden vallankumouksen, jota kutsutaan myös nimellä Industry 4.0. Yksi tämän vallankumouksen tärkeitä puolia on digitaalisten kaksosten hyödyntäminen tuotesuunnittelussa, tuotannossa, sekä huoltamisessa. Yleensä digitaalisen kaksosen käsitteen sanotaan koostuvan kolmesta osasta: fyysisestä kaksosesta, sen digitaalisesta kaksosesta ja niiden välisestä tiedonsiirrosta. Teollisuudessa eräs yleinen tapa toteuttaa tiedonsiirto fyysisen ja digitaalisen kaksosen välillä on OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) -kommunikaatioprotokollalla. Protokolla tarjoaa ratkaisun datan keruuseen koko tuotantolinjan prosesseista. Kommunikointi OPC UA -palvelimen kanssa vaatii protokollan määrittelyyn syventymistä, mikä saattaa lannistaa uusia kehittäjiä, jotka voisivat luoda sovelluksia palvelimen keräämälle datalle. Työn tavoitteena on kehittää web-pohjainen ohjelmointirajapinta, joka yksinkertaistaa sovellusten kehittämistä OPC UA -palvelimen kanssa. Ohjelmointirajapinta on tarkoitus kehittää ohjelmistokehittäjille tunnetulla teknologialla. Web-rajapinnalla voi laskea oppimiskynnystä OPC UA -palvelimen datan hyödyntämiseen. Tällöin uudet kehittäjät saattavat olla kiinnostuneempia kehittämään käyttökohteita datalle. Web-rajapinnalla on mahdollista tarjota data mille tahansa alustalle tai ohjelmointikielelle, jolla on webominaisuudet. Toiminnallisuuksien lisäksi rajapinnan vaatimukset kohdistuvat sen tehokkuuteen ja kykyyn käsitellä reaaliaikaista tiedonsiirtoa. Rajapinnan testausta varten tehdään tapaustutkimus: Web-pohjainen ohjaussovellus. Ohjaussovellus käyttää rajapintaa reaaliajassa kirjoittamaan ohjaussignaaleja, sekä lukemaan anturiarvoja OPC UA -palvelimelta. Rajapinnan suorituskykyä arvioidaan mittaamalla sen pyyntöjen suoritusaikoja sekä hallitussa ympäristössä, että tosikäyttötilanteissa. Kehitetty ohjelmointirajapinta todetaan testeissä tarpeeksi nopeaksi käyttäjäsyötteelle, sekä ohjelmille, jotka tarvitsevat nopeaa synkronointia arvoille eri tietolähteistä. Rajapinta kuitenkin lisäsi merkittävän viiveen verratessa sitä OPC UA -palvelimen suoraan käyttöön. Tämä saattaa aiheuttaa ongelmia joissain käyttötilanteissa, jotka tarvitsevat tarkkaa aikariippuvaista dataa palvelimelta

Data science on industrial data -- Today's challenges in brown field applications

Much research is done on data analytics and machine learning. In industrial processes large amounts of data are available and many researchers are trying to work with this data. In practical approaches one finds many pitfalls restraining the application of modern technologies especially in brown field applications. With this paper we want to show state of the art and what to expect when working with stock machines in the field. A major focus in this paper is on data collection which can be more cumbersome than most people might expect. Also data quality for machine learning applications is a challenge once leaving the laboratory. In this area one has to expect the lack of semantic description of the data as well as very little ground truth being available for training and verification of machine learning models. A last challenge is IT security and passing data through firewalls

Cyber-security of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS)

This master's thesis reports on security of a Cyber-Physical System (CPS) in the department of industrial engineering at UiT campus Narvik. The CPS targets connecting distinctive robots in the laboratory in the department of industrial engineering. The ultimate objective of the department is to propose such a system for the industry. The thesis focuses on the network architecture of the CPS and the availability principle of security. This report states three research questions that are aimed to be answered. The questions are: what a secure CPS architecture for the purpose of the existing system is, how far the current state of system is from the defined secure architecture, and how to reach the proposed architecture. Among the three question, the first questions has absorbed the most attention of this project. The reason is that a secure and robust architecture would provide a touchstone that makes answering the second and third questions easier. In order to answer the questions, Cisco SAFE for IoT threat defense for manufacturing approach is chosen. The architectural approach of Cisco SAFE for IoT, with similarities to the Cisco SAFE for secure campus networks, provides a secure network architecture based on business flows/use cases and defining related security capabilities. This approach supplies examples of scenarios, business flows, and security capabilities that encouraged selecting it. It should be noted that Cisco suggests its proprietary technologies for security capabilities. According to the need of the project owners and the fact that allocating funds are not favorable for them, all the suggested security capabilities are intended to be open-source, replacing the costly Cisco-proprietary suggestions. Utilizing the approach and the computer networking fundamentals resulted in the proposed secure network architecture. The proposed architecture is used as a touchstone to evaluate the existing state of the CPS in the department of industrial engineering. Following that, the required security measures are presented to approach the system to the proposed architecture. Attempting to apply the method of Cisco SAFE, the identities using the system and their specific activities are presented as the business flow. Based on the defined business flow, the required security capabilities are selected. Finally, utilizing the provided examples of Cisco SAFE documentations, a complete network architecture is generated. The architecture consists of five zones that include the main components, security capabilities, and networking devices (such as switches and access points). Investigating the current state of the CPS and evaluating it by the proposed architecture and the computer networking fundamentals, helped identifying six important shortcomings. Developing on the noted shortcomings, and identification of open-source alternatives for the Cisco-proprietary technologies, nine security measures are proposed. The goal is to perform all the security measures. Thus, the implementations and solutions for each security measure is noted at the end of the presented results. The security measures that require purchasing a device were not considered in this project. The reasons for this decision are the time-consuming process of selecting an option among different alternatives, and the prior need for grasping the features of the network with the proposed security capabilities; features such as amount and type of traffic inside the network, and possible incidents detected using an Intrusion Detection Prevention System. The attempts to construct a secure cyber-physical system is an everlasting procedure. New threats, best practices, guidelines, and standards are introduced on a daily basis. Moreover, business needs could vary from time to time. Therefore, the selected security life-cycle is required and encouraged to be used in order to supply a robust lasting cyber-physical system

Kommunikation und Bildverarbeitung in der Automation

In diesem Open Access-Tagungsband sind die besten Beiträge des 11. Jahreskolloquiums "Kommunikation in der Automation" (KommA 2020) und des 7. Jahreskolloquiums "Bildverarbeitung in der Automation" (BVAu 2020) enthalten. Die Kolloquien fanden am 28. und 29. Oktober 2020 statt und wurden erstmalig als digitale Webveranstaltung auf dem Innovation Campus Lemgo organisiert. Die vorgestellten neuesten Forschungsergebnisse auf den Gebieten der industriellen Kommunikationstechnik und Bildverarbeitung erweitern den aktuellen Stand der Forschung und Technik. Die in den Beiträgen enthaltenen anschauliche Anwendungsbeispiele aus dem Bereich der Automation setzen die Ergebnisse in den direkten Anwendungsbezug