December/January 2019

| 40 | December/January 2020 www.smartmachinesandfactories.com | TECHNOLOGIES | The Industry 4.0 vision of a smart factory where every component, every device, every system and every site is digitally connected via the cloud presents an enormous design and engineering challenge. Is there a simple way of achieving the level of standardisation and connectivity required without compromising on design flexibility? Smart Machines & Factories asked Andy Parker-Bates of Festo UK for his view. Where are we currently on the road to digitalisation? APB: Industry is currently in a state of transition, where the benefits of Industry 4.0 connectivity are beginning to take hold but the standardisation required at all levels is not yet fully realised. A key stumbling block can be finding a decentralised I/O system that can connect to any of the most commonly used networks in industry today. PROFINET, EthernetIP, EtherCAT and Modbus are all used in Industrial Automation: but for system designers and machine builders this makes it difficult to standardise because their various customers specify different networks in their factories. The idea of standardisation becomes even more complex when we consider the different architecture levels. A machine can carry IO Link at the base layer, PROFINET in the middle automation layer and OPC-UA over Ethernet with the communication to the cloud. What is being done to address these challenges? APB: Work is already under way to develop common communication protocols for Industry 4.0. For example, Festo is currently participating in the FIND (future industrial network architecture) research project, which is working to develop the foundation for the industrial Internet of tomorrow, based on the latest network technologies from the fields of industrial automation, Internet and 5G communications. What factors should be considered in developing a standardised approach? APB: Any means of improving connectivity must not compromise other aspects – such as the ability to process big data at high speed. Preferably, the devices involved should also be discreet and flexible, allowing machine designers and system integrators to position them wherever they are actually required. For the end-user, the enabling technology should be invisible and allow access to data through their PLC without the need for additional equipment or specialist training. For the system builder, the number of interfaces required to achieve such levels of connectivity needs to be kept under control. Space is always at a premium, so reducing the size and number of interfaces required to deliver digitalisation would be a major step forward. In addition, the positioning of communications devices throughout the system should not be constrained by physical considerations such as size or cable length. What solutions are available now? APB: Festo has recently introduced a new communication A decentralised approach to digitalisation