Trends like Internet of Things (IoT), 5G and Cloud are pushing for device connectivity to the Internet, which affects industrial embedded systems with e.g., an increase in code base and functionality. Due to different application requirements, there are relative little reuse between embedded systems with different run-time context (from super loop to multi-threaded), and different types of communication (best effort and real time). In order to improve code reuse and changeability, we propose a flexible communication stack design, that can be configured for time sensitive communication with a real-time operating system (RTOS), or configured for best effort communication with either a super loop or an operating system (OS). Experiments demonstrate the flexibility and simplicity of the design with different configurations, e.g., super loop, single threaded, multi-threaded. Measurements show that the variations in performance related to run-time context scales as expected.

Industrial wireless sensor and actuator networks are gaining momentum and have started to target new and more demanding application scenarios extending pure monitoring scenarios. In this paper we discuss the needs for simple and more accurate TDMA timing synchronization to enable the future applications. We present a novel TDMA timing synchronization protocol which is simple to implement, as well as a performance evaluation using of-the-shelf hardware indicating measured worst case synchronization errors less than 10 microseconds at five hops from the synchronization master. The paper shows that it is possible to realize synchronization on average around 1 microsecond with little effort and negligible computational or network overhead.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is captivating the society because of its potential to rapidly transform businesses and people's lives. It is widely believed that IoT will also transform the industrial automation business in terms of improved productivity, less cost, flexibility, and increased revenues. Hence, there are some challenges that needs to be addressed when IoT is introduced to the industrial automation domain. This paper aims to present realistic requirements and highlights identified challenges such as security, interoperability, deterministic and low latency communication, and how the required availability (uptime) can be kept. Moreover, the paper also point out the need of standardization and sustainable business models. The conclusion is that introducing IoT devices and connecting them directly to cloud services is not straightforward for process automation.

Trends like the Cloud, Internet of Things and 5G are pushing for an increase in connectivity, but, introducing a new type of network in an industrial distributed control system is a big investment with high risks. Time to market with sufficient quality is crucial. However, when getting through the Research and Development (R&D) phases, a lot of time is spent on isolated activates, e.g., simulations, collecting requirements, design, coding, debugging, creating testbeds, and performing various tests. Therefore, there is a need to improve efficiency when moving between the R&D phases. For verification and validation of communication software, the most common network evaluation method in industry are real testbeds, mostly since a testbed can be very similar to the deployed system. Testbeds are, however, hard to debug and costly to maintain. Other network evaluation methods like simulators, have some strengths that testbeds are lacking, like repeatability, control over the network, and lower cost. However, code from simulators can seldom be reused, especially in industrial time-sensitive target systems, due to different abstraction levels, run-time behavior and system timing. This paper presents findings from a case study that targets improved efficiency, getting from research theories, to deployed devices in a homogeneous Industrial Wireless Sensor and Actuator Network (IWSAN). We propose a small subset of network simulators features which eases changeability, reuse, and debugging of communication software. The selected simulator features are evaluated with a proof of concept implementation that is customized to a research platform. The findings indicate improved efficiency when moving back and forth between activities in different R&D phases.

With the growing interest in adoption of wireless technologies in industrial automation and the continuous search for new revenue streams new players are entering the arena in order to make their business grow further. One of the emerging wireless technologies aiming to support industrial automation applications is 5G, targeting anything from extreme throughput (> 10 Gbit/s) to extreme low latency (≤ 1 ms) to ultra high reliability (≥ 99.999%). In this article we intend to discuss the potential and challenges of adopting 5G in real industrial environments and give a more balanced picture compared to previous articles mainly written by telecom researchers and vendors as a way to promote their technology. Specifically, this article will discuss and provide some real industrial requirements, describe the main technical features of 5G and try to assess what applications it will support that are not by already supported by existing technologies. In the end, the success of 5G will depend on appealing business models and scalability, i.e., whether or not the same equipment can be deployed worldwide without any changes and spectrum rules, and the migration paths beyond 5G for reasonable business risks.

A trend in the industrial domain is that the networks are growing and becoming more complex, this is further accelerated by the digitalization trend. In order to address this, there is a need to improve the efficiency when moving between the R&D phases. For example, integrate innovative research findings into industrial systems, shorten time to market, improve product quality and reduce the number of issues. Despite a huge research effort on network simulators and emulators there are still some issues that needs to be addressed. This paper presents challenges that needs to be resolved, in order for the industry to adopt and benefit from using network simulators and emulators. The major challenges streamlining the workflow in and between the different R&D phases while preserving the real-time aspects in the entire industrial distributed control system.