Looking Below the Surface
When you hear the words “industrial automation” or “Industry 4.0,” what comes to mind? Do you immediately think of the advanced technologies driving industrial transformation – like AI and machine learning? Maybe you’re more intrigued by the impact that Industry-4.0-powered capabilities, like predictive maintenance or improved big-data analytics, can have on your production and manufacturing processes, but not things like Cloud PLC.
These are certainly some of the most visible and exciting aspects of industrial automation, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. What’s happening under the surface is a whole-scale shift in industrial networking architectures.
"One of the more under-played, but critical aspects of enabling the next era of intelligent automation is a reinvention of industrial networking architectures, away from proprietary protocols and locked-down information silos to support of open standards, interoperability, and real-time data exchange."
Automation World
From manufacturing plants to smart cities to oil refineries and beyond, industrial operators are increasingly making the shift from traditional master/slave protocols to ones that enable efficient communication between the wide variety of distributed sensors and devices that are necessary to support the most cutting-edge intelligent automation applications.
Key Transformational Advancements
1. Publication/Subscribe (Pub/Sub) Architecture
Traditional PLC/SCADA architectures are built around a master/slave communication model, wherein the master (e.g., the PLC) sends the request for information, and the slave (e.g., a sensor or device) responds at set intervals. This model can become cumbersome as more sensors and devices are added and connected to the “master” and to each other. The Pub/Sub architecture decouples endpoint devices from the applications and uses a central broker (see an example of a broker below with MQTT) to receive and distribute all data. Think of this model as a telephone operator – routing messages and calls directly from the source to the desired endpoint.
The benefits of the Pub/Sub model are threefold:
- Improves Network Traffic – It only communicates data when it changes, avoiding the repeated transmission of static data.
- Improves Device/Sensor Speed – It centralizes communication, ensuring data is relayed to any dependent applications or devices that need it.
- Lowers Development Costs & Time – It improves interoperability between devices that might have traditionally required custom code to communicate.
2. Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) Protocol
MQTT is an open standard, lightweight, pub/sub network protocol that transports messages between devices. According to The Eclipse Foundation’s 2019 IoT Developer Survey, it is emerging as the standard for Internet of Things (IoT) and IIoT applications. That’s because its unique communication model dramatically increases the efficiency and security of industrial networks while enabling applications to easily hook into public cloud infrastructures:
- MQTT acts like a central broker, helping industrial systems overcome congestion inherent in one-to-one or one-to-many communication of traditional PLC/SCADA applications.
- MQTT has small data overhead, leading to fast data transfers—ideal for IIoT applications.
- MQTT enhances security by centralizing data access rights and removing the need for firewall exceptions for inbound MQTT traffic.
- MQTT is supported by cloud services like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, making it essential for transitioning to cloud PLC/IIoT.
3. Cloud PLC Infrastructure
Empowered by improvements to cloud reliability, security, and development tools, industrial organizations are transitioning away from on-site PLCs and SCADA systems where possible. They are leveraging IIoT applications that push data directly to the cloud. Unlike on-premise software that requires regular installations and updates, Cloud PLC infrastructure offers a more efficient option for monitoring, operating, and analyzing the data gathered by industrial sensors and devices.
- Cloud PLC reduces the need for on-premise software and application updates.
- Cloud PLC allows system admins to access systems from anywhere, on nearly any device—essential for maintaining operations during disruptions like a global health crisis.
- Cloud PLC provides access to machine learning tools that help organizations make sense of their big data output.
These three advancements are driving Industry 4.0 forward—powering a significant shift in how industrial networks operate and communicate. As a result, industrial architectures are becoming more efficient, resilient, and capable of leveraging data to improve the safety, health, and performance of their assets.