Connectivity Framework 9: Other Connectivity Technologies
9 OTHER CONNECTIVITY TECHNOLOGIES
Historically, specialized industrial connectivity technologies( see section 7.3) have evolved to meet the specific needs of a particular application area. The goal of the IIoT connectivity reference architecture( see chapter 3) is to enable endpoints using one connectivity technology to communicate with endpoints using another unrelated connectivity technology, possibly in a different functional domain. Since gateways exist between the core connectivity standards, endpoints from the originally unrelated technologies can now communicate.
A domain-specific connectivity technology needs to provide a gateway to only one of the core standards. However, the choice of the core connectivity standard has a direct impact on the fidelity and the quality of service of the communication, as the core connectivity standards vary widely in their characteristics( see chapter 7). The most suitable core connectivity standard should be selected for the gateway. We recommend filling out the assessment template defined in chapter 6 for the specific technology under consideration, and then picking out the core connectivity standard that is most aligned with the connectivity technology under consideration.
Some guidelines follow, based on the primary functional domain( see Figure 1-1) of applicability for the connectivity technology.
Control domain connectivity technologies will support high reliability, fast real-time performance, scaling to large number of data objects, and rich quality of service.
Operations domain connectivity technologies will support monitoring and management of devices and applications.
Information domain connectivity technologies will support selectively moving large volume and variety of real-time data to feed streaming analytics and real-time decision processes.
Application domain connectivity technologies will support external APIs and User Interfaces( UIs), including web browsers and mobile handhelds.
Business domain connectivity technologies will support traditional IT applications and data centers.
These guidelines are starting points, and do not substitute for filling out the assessment template( see chapter 6) to select the closest core connectivity standard.
With the gateways to the core connectivity standards in place for the connectivity technologies of interest, the IIoT connectivity architecture enables communication between hitherto isolated endpoints. It can open up new value streams and help realize the full potential of IIoT.
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