With the introduction of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Internet of Things
(IoT) into industrial applications, industrial automation is undergoing
tremendous change, especially with regard to improving efficiency and reducing
the cost of products. Industrial automation applications are often required to
transmit time- and safety-critical data to monitor and control industrial
processes, especially for critical control systems. There are a number of
solutions to meet these requirements (e.g., priority-based real-time schedules
and closed-loop feedback control systems). However, due to their different
processing capabilities (e.g., in the end devices and network switches),
different vendors may come out with distinct solutions, and this makes the
large-scale integration of devices from different vendors difficult or
impossible. IEEE 802.1 Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is a standardization
group formed to enhance and optimize the IEEE 802.1 network standards,
especially for Ethernet-based networks. These solutions can be evolved and
adapted into a cross-industry scenario, such as a large-scale distributed
industrial plant, which requires multiple industrial entities working
collaboratively. This paper provides a comprehensive review on the current
advances in TSN standards for industrial automation. We present the
state-of-the-art IEEE TSN standards and discuss the opportunities and
challenges when integrating each protocol into the industry domains. Finally,
we discuss some promising research about applying the TSN technology to
industrial automation applications