Industrial Intelligence: AI’s Implications on Security, Seamlessness and Services for the IIoT
welcomed into everyday life. The result is a
virtuous cycle where AI has gained consumer
trust and business interest that has led to a
snowballing growth.
are raised. AI may be used to develop
context-aware security systems and alarms
for IoT devices.
This AI leverages the fact that most IoT
devices are mirrored in the Cloud or another
central repository with scalable computing.
Physical system behavior is observed, with
sparse data being sent to a digital duplicate
using a model to “interpolate” these data
into a rich representation. This model starts
out as generalized by object type, but over
time adapts to the particular nuances of the
mirrored
object’s
own
sensors,
environment, and use cases. These models
interact with one another in the Cloud so
that they learn their place in a larger system.
T HREE C ASES FOR A RTIFICIAL
I NTELLIGENCE
Just as in the consumer space, industry has
seen the benefit of AI as an effective force
(revenue) multiplier. Corporations have
visions of synthesizing AI and IoT to improve
operational efficiency while reducing cost
and to provide process analytics, though the
biggest opportunities have yet to be
explored.
We present a non-exhaustive list of three
areas where AI can transform the IoT, and in
turn industry:
“Cognitive Firewalls” and “Cognitive
Supervisors” use each model to evaluate the
impact of commands to ensure they are
benign prior to execution, or to identify
when a process behaves anomalously. 2 The
Firewall uses the adaptively-learned model
to “test” a command digitally to ensure it
does not violate any known or learned limits
prior to forwarding it to the related physical
device. For example, the Cognitive Firewall
could be used to protect a robot arm from
malicious commands. When the arm is sent
commands that cause the arm’s mirror to
intersect with a second robotic arm in the
same Cloud Factory, the command is
rejected. Similarly, an oven may learn that it
is located within a food processing facility
and that its purpose is to bake cookies, so a
safe maximum temperature limit is 500F.
1. Context-aware security
2. Building seamless “human” IoT
interactions
3. Intelligent services
Security
IoT relies on the ability to collect data and
control systems at scale. Collection and
control demand a high level of practitioner
and end-user trust.
Trusting users are more likely to share
valuable data, while trusting companies are
more likely to use IoT to control core
operations where analytics may unlock the
biggest efficiency improvements. Creating
systems that can adequately secure
equipment from intentional and accidental
malicious use is challenging. When sensitive
actuators such as power infrastructure or
connected vehicles join the mix, the stakes
2
The Cognitive Supervisor may be used to
identify process problems. For example, the
Supervisor may learn that a particular
smelting furnace at 80% duty cycle reaches a
The Future Internet of Things: Secure, Efficient, and Model-Based http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8055694/
IIC Journal of Innovation
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