Industrial Internet: Towards Interoperability and Composability
is increasingly influential in how interoperability is achieved. All of these approaches are expected
to play a role in achieving interoperability in the Industrial Internet.
The Industrial Internet, as an extension of the Internet to the physical world, including devices
and machines, has its own unique challenges. Let us first examine its communication or
interaction patterns.
Until now, the Internet communication pattern is predominantly a point-to-point client-server
model where a client (as a service consumer) initiates a service request to a server (as an
aggregated service point), which replies with a service response, as depicted in Figure 2. When
two clients interact with each other (peer-to-peer interaction), they are likely to go through a
server as an intermediary. In this way, the interoperability of peers is made possible through the
client-server interaction.
Initially, the Industrial Internet
may adapt this pattern while it
seeks to connect the industrial
assets (industrial devices and
machines) to a broader system
(an aggregated service point).
The immediate challenge lies in
how to provide the connectivity
to the industrial assets, some of
which were built without any
consideration
of
being
connected to a broader
network while some others
Figure 2: Interaction patterns between the Internet and the Industrial Internet
were equipped with one
version or another proprietary communication protocols. Moreover, many new sensors are being
attached to the existing industrial assets to gain better insight on their operations. How to
provide connectivity to the assortment of new sensors made by different vendors with
proprietary specifications is another big challenge. Interoperability is an important factor in both
cases. Before cross-industrial sector standards can be established and implemented and before
the industrial assets are retrofitted or upgraded, the broker approach may be an effective tool to
provide connectivity and ensure interoperability between the industrial assets and the broader
system. Internet of Things (IoT) Gateways may be deployed as brokers (which can also be
considered as an aggregated service point) to connect the industrial assets to the broader
systems. Assets to assets interactions may be brokered by the brokers or by a higher level
aggregated service points if the interacting assets are connected to different brokers. As the
Industrial Internet matures, an increasing number of industrial assets will be upgraded to modern
CPSs. With the increasing computational capability of these CPSs, the industrial assets will shift
from automation to autonomy in their operations. Consequently, there is an increasing need for
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June 2016