A PoV on the IIC Industrial Internet Reference Architecture
3.6
Advanced Data Processing and Analytics
The role of advanced data processing and analytics in an IIS is to analyze large volumes of sensor
observation data to gain insights into the nature of data, discover patterns and build models that
can be used to estimate non-observable states as well as predict future outcomes.
The IIRA lists the following types of advanced analytics:
Descriptive Analytics – concerned with getting insights into historical data via reports,
dashboards, aggregations, trending, clustering, decomposition, etc.
Predictive Analytics – concerned with building models that can be used to predict future
outcomes
Prescriptive Analytics –concerned with generating recommendations or control setpoints
for the purpose of taking the IIS to optimal operating conditions
3.7
Intelligent and Resilient Control Systems
The IIRA discusses the characteristics of Control Systems in the context of an IIS.
In an IIS, the scope of control loops is much larger than is usual for Industrial Control Systems.
Instead of local control loops, the control action is intended to achieve certain higher-level
business objectives. It is distributed rather than localized. Operating conditions and
environments in an IIS are dynamic and unpredictable, creating a need to make control systems
resilient within the dynamic environment and working satisfactorily even when the desired
inputs are not available.
The key characteristics of an IIS that present challenges to the design of control systems include:
Limited observability and incomplete knowledge of the world
Outcomes of control action may not be non-deterministic
Prior control action planning may not be possible due to system uncertainties
There are many alternative control strategies that need to be considered
3.8
Dynamic Composition and Automated Interoperability
IIS will often deliver end-to-end services to users by creating composite services combined from
many diverse components and sources. The IIRA brings out the need for the ability to dynamically
thread together and orchestrate interoperable services from a diverse and distributed set of
components. Traditional Service Orientation tools and SOA are not suited for complex IIS: The
compositions are brittle in nature and they are required to be fixed at the design stage and
remain fairly static. The IIRA suggests the use of dynamic compositions at run time.
IIC Journal of Innovation
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