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HOW IT-OTCONVERGENCE ISCREATING A NEWARCHITECTURE

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Inside the top trendsdriving IT-OT convergence

Information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT)both started on individual paths in the 1970s and slowlyconverged in the 1990s and 2000s to form today’s widelyaccepted five-layer architecture. Now, new industrialconnectivity technologies are blurring the lines between layersof the classic five-layer architecture, writes Matthew Wopata, asenior analyst at IoT Analytics

Matthew Wopata,IoT Analytics

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Over the past few decades, hundreds ofsuccessful companies such as Wonderware,Modicon and Keyence began providingproducts and services for each of thedifferent layers in the five-layer stack.However, as we head into 2020, the clearlines between the five layers are becomingmore blurred than ever before. Early adoptersof new industrial connectivity technologiesand protocols are creating new datacollection architectures that challenge thefive-layer architecture status quo and promiseto usher in a new era of more scalable, cost-effective and purpose-built industrialconnectivity solutions.

IoT Analytics’ latest ‘Industrial ConnectivityMarket Report 2019-2024’ looks at thedifferent industrial connectivity architectures,components and protocols that are beingdeployed to create industrial data collectionsolutions. Here are six key industrialconnectivity trends that emerged from theresearch:

1. By 2020, approximately 50% of industrialassets in factories will be connectedAn increasing number of industrial assetoperators and manufacturers are addingindustrial connectivity to their assets. IoTAnalytics’ latest report finds that by 2020,approximately 50% of industrial assets infactories will be connected to some form ofon-premise or remote data collection system.The proportion of connected assets isprojected to continue to rise and will be a keygrowth driver of the 5% CAGR that theUS$38.2bn industrial connectivity market isprojected to have between now and 2024.

Industrial connectivity hardware, such asgateways, programmable logic controllers(PLCs) and remote I/O modules, is by far thelargest industrial connectivity segment.However, the faster-growing software andservices segments will take an increasingshare of the spend by 2024 as moreprocessing moves away from gateways andPLCs and into industrial PCs and datacentres.The solutions segment of the market will alsogrow faster than the overall market, as an ▼

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increasing number of factories opt for end-to-end data collection solutions that bypass thetraditional automation pyramid and send datadirectly to the cloud.

2. The number of industrial connectivity vendors fighting for market share surpasses 340

There are now more than 340 companies inthe industrial connectivity market. The vendorlandscape includes both large incumbenthardware players that are trying to protecttheir existing market shares as well asventure-backed start-ups looking to disruptthe industry with innovative software andsolutions. The hardware and servicessegments contain the largest number vendors(170+ and 130+, respectively), and they arehome to the two largest sub-segments:gateways (70+ vendors) and OT integration(100+ vendors). These large sub-segments areparticularly fragmented despite ongoingconsolidation; in recent years severalcompanies in these segments were acquired,including Numerex by Sierra Wireless,Comtrol by Pepperl+Fuchs, Maestro Wirelessby Lantronix, Trimax by Tesco Controls andJR Automation by Hitachi.

3. New technology is enabling edge-to- cloud architectures that bypass the traditional five-layer stack

As the top of the traditional five-layerautomation pyramid consolidates and movesto the cloud, new industrial connectivityarchitectures are being used to achieve directedge-to-cloud connectivity.

The traditional method of communicationthrough centralised supervisory control anddata acquisition (SCADA) and manufacturingexecution systems (MES) usually depends onopen platform communications (OPC) serversto translate industrial ethernet and fieldbus

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New technology Examples

A. Connectivity Companies like Oleumtech and WellAware are using novel connectivity protocols, in this case low power wide area networks (LPWAN) such as SigFox and RPMA, respectively, to connect their industrial sensors directly to the cloud.

B. Computing Industrial PC manufacturers like HPE or PLC/remote Hardware terminal unit (RTU) manufacturers like Advantech are

taking advantage of low-cost edge computing by developing products that can run software applications which enable edge-to-cloud industrial connectivity. • HPE’s Edgeline industrial PC has been optimized to run a variety of industrial connectivity software applications, including HPE’s Edgeline OT Link, Kepware’s industrial connectivity software, and Softing’s dataFEED OPC suite• Advantech’s ADAM-3600 RTU natively supports connectivity to the Azure cloud

C. Software Industrial connectivity software vendors are now offering software specifically designed to run on edge devices as small as a Raspberry Pi. To streamline the connectivity process and reduce integration costs, edge connectivity software vendors have created partner programs that pre-certify industrial connectivity hardware from third party vendors. Examples of hardware pre-certification programs include:• Inductive Automation’s Ignition Edge Onboard programme• Microsoft’s Azure Certified for IoT programme• Telit’s deviceWISE Ready Partner programme

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protocols into OPC compatible protocols.Technological advancements in a) connectivityb) computing hardware, and c) softwareenable new connectivity architectures thatbypass the traditional automation stack andprovide direct edge-to-cloud connectivity.

4. Software-based solutions enable smaller firms to challenge traditional industrial incumbents

More powerful edge processing, the increasingpopularity of Linux, and new virtualisationtechnologies are helping drive two key trendsthat are enabling smaller and medium-sizedindustrial automation vendors (SMEs) tobetter compete with the larger incumbents:

1. Decoupling of hardware and software. Traditional industrial connectivity included embedded software that was written specifically for that hardware. Moving forward, industrial connectivity hardware will be Linux-based and able to run variety of third party industrial connectivity software applications. Factories and machine builders alike are adopting these decoupled, Linux-based solutions in part because they help avoid hardware vendor lock-in and enable more scalable and future-proof architectures.

2. Consolidation of the hardware stack. Industrial connectivity functions such as protocol conversion, cloud connectivity, and even process control can now be performed on a single piece of Linux- based hardware using software from third parties. Combining all of this functionality within a single device - such as an industrial PC or data centre - can dramatically reduce hardware costs for end users who have traditionally purchased separate pieces of equipment to perform each function.

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Small and medium-sized industrial automationhardware vendors, such as those in the pictureabove, have been leading the way in offeringLinux-based industrial connectivity hardwarethat takes advantage of the above-mentionedtrends. Many of the large incumbents arefaced with an innovator’s dilemma anddisincentivised to take advantage of thesetrends because doing so could lower theirexisting customers’ switching costs andpotentially cannibalise highly profitableexisting businesses.

Two hardware-agnostic software applicationsthat are enabling these trends are CODESYSand Node-RED.

• CODESYS is an IEC 61131-3 compliant software-based PLC that runs on Linux and is embedded in a wide range of Linux- based industrial connectivity hardware offerings that includes: remote I/O, such as the Beijer Electronics BREN577; PLCs/RTUs, such as the KEB C6 Smart; human machine interfaces (HMIs),such as the Turck TX500; and gateways, such as the TTTech Nerve. By writing PLC programmes in a hardware-agnostic software platform like CODESYS, factories and machine builders are able to more seamlessly execute control logic on different types of industrial hardware. This flexibility has a number of advantages, including better negotiating power with hardware vendors, avoidance of expensive PLC conversion projects, for example, PLC-5 migrations, and the ability to more seamlessly scale up computing power as requirements evolve.

• Another Linux-based software offering is Node-RED, which is the most popular open-source software tool for enabling, ▼

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among other things, protocol conversion and edge-to-cloud connectivity. Industrial connectivity hardware vendors that support Node-RED in their offerings include Advantech and at least 12 others.

5. Modern connectivity protocols replacing traditional industrial protocols

IO-Link, OPC unified architecture (UA) andmessage queuing telemetry transport (MQTT)are emerging as the fastest growing I/O, OTand IT protocols, respectively, as vendors andend users alike look to capture richer industrialdatasets more efficiently. A key barrierpreventing more widespread adoption of theOPC UA and MQTT protocols is the lack ofwidely adopted data structure standards.Efforts are being made to establish standarddata structures, such as OPC UA companionspecifications, but in practice most installationsresort to using custom data structurescorresponding to custom PLC tag structures. Inspite of these remaining challenges, manyindustrial connectivity vendors have introducedproducts that natively support these protocols,such as:

• IO-Link remote I/O modules (10+ vendors, including ifm’s IO-Link masters)

• PLCs with native OPC UA servers (5+ vendors, including Schneider Electric’s M262)

• IoT and SCADA platforms with native support for MQTT (10+ vendors, including Microsoft’s Azure IoT)

• Gateway vendors with native support for MQTT (10+ vendors, including Hilscher’s netIOT gateways)

6. Increasing deployment of private 5G networks for industrial environments

IoT Analytics believes the industrial and manufacturing segment willbecome the second major adopter of 5G connectivity, behindautomotive and transportation, and estimates more than 16 millionindustrial IoT connections over 5G networks by 2025. In addition, thesegment is expected to be the major user of private 5G networks,with almost 12 million 5G IoT connections by 2025. Applications thatrequire low latencies and some level of mobility are expected to bethe major adopters of the technology. In particular, industrial robots(mobile and/or collaborative robots) and automated guided vehicles(AGVs) are expected to account for almost 40% of the segmentconnections by 2025. All leading network equipment vendors arecurrently trialing and deploying 5G-based industrial solutions:

• Nokia: As of September 2019, Nokia, DOCOMO and OMRON are aiming to establish the feasibility of the concept of a layout-free production line with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) using 5G at their plants and other production sites. Earlier this year, Nokia launched its Factory in a Box 2.0 offering that combines additive manufacturing alongside augmented reality/virtual reality

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Further reading The six trends discussed in this article are explored in much furtherdepth, including numerous additional examples in the 159-page‘Industrial Connectivity Market Report 2019-2024’. The report takesa deeper look at the industrial connectivity market, includingarchitectures, protocols, hardware, software, services, solutions, keyplayers, case studies and trends. The study, published in Q3 2019,also includes an industrial connectivity case studies database (60+case studies), vendor list (340+ vendors) and market model data (21tables) in Excel format.

www.iotanalytics.com

(AR/VR) and robotics, powered by private 4G/5G networks. The concept demonstrates how a modular production line can be deployed anywhere in the world and set up within hours. The semi-automated production workflow is integrated in Nokia's Worldwide IoT Network Grid (WING) and has a Nokia Digital Automation Cloud on board for industry- grade connectivity.

• Huawei: In July 2019, Huawei and China Mobile completed their 5G base station deployment for Haier's interconnected factory in Qingdao, China. Haier is using 5G as a solid network foundation for networked, digital and intelligent upgrades of manufacturing and interconnected factories to provide a reliable and predictable network environment and meet differentiated and deterministic network requirements of the manufacturing industry.

• Ericsson: In September 2018, Ericsson, Fraunhofer IPT and GF Machining Solutions combined their expertise in telecommunications and manufacturing to create a real-time process monitoring solution based on 5G technology to communicate with sensors and machines. For example, a sensor transfers the vibration spectra of the blisk, a turbomachine component comprising both rotor disk and blades, via 5G with sub millisecond latency to software to reduce errors in jet engine milling production.

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Given the European Union’spassage in 2018 of a CircularEconomy Package (CEP) requiringall member states to increaserecycling and phase out landfilling –and to sort biowaste from otherforms of waste by 2023 – Axibio’sbiowaste management solution ismore than just a way to encouragegreener waste disposal practices: it’sa way to ensure compliance withnew regulatory requirements, andenable new business models forgarbage tax management, from ‘payflat tax’ to ‘pay as you throw’ andultimately ‘earn as you throw’, toencourage virtuous recyclingbehaviours.

A bin with a brainThe foundation of Axibio’s solution is theGaïabox, its smart biowaste collector. Thesewaste bins are located in residentialneighbourhoods, where individuals andbusinesses can deposit organic biowaste, such asfood scraps and other compostable items. Afterbiowaste is collected in the Gaïabox, it is pickedup and transported by trucks to the nearestGaïacenter, where it is transformed into compostand biogas.

Here’s the smart part: the Gaïabox can determinethe weight of the biowaste collected every timesomeone uses it, and then record this data to thatuser’s account. This traceability – the ability tounderstand exactly who is depositing organicwaste, and how much they’re depositing –incentivises virtuous recycling behaviour becausemunicipalities can offer rewards and credits tohouseholds and businesses who are doing theirpart to support a circular economy.

This capability sets the stage for a shift from thetraditional ‘pay as you throw’ waste disposalmodel, where individuals and businesses arecharged for the amount of garbage theygenerate, to an ‘earn as you throw’ model, wherethey can be rewarded for their ecologicallyconscious behaviour.

A shorter to-do listWhen an individual approaches aGaïabox, they use a radiofrequency identification (RFID) ornear-field communications (NFC) tagreader to identify themselves, anddeposit their organic waste, which is thenweighed. The Gaïabox dutifully records allof this information – but, how does Axibio getthat data from its Gaïaboxes to the cloud?

This is where Octave, Sierra Wireless’ new all-in-one edge to cloud system for connectingindustrial assets to the cloud, comes in. Octaveenables companies to securely extract,orchestrate, and act on data from their industrialequipment to their cloud infrastructure – openingup a world of possibilities for innovative newInternet of Things (IoT) applications.

How Axibio uses IoTto facilitate smartbiowaste management Benoit Tournier, the director of marketing for IoTSolutions at Sierra Wireless, explains how Frenchcompany Axibio has developed smart biowastemanagement solutions that can help municipalitiesand individuals alike to transform biowaste intocompost and clean biogas

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www.sierrawireless.com

Octave greatlysimplifies oneof the keychallenges ofany IoT project,which is buildingout the IoTinfrastructureitself

Octave greatly simplifies one of thekey challenges of any IoT project,

which is building out the IoTinfrastructure itself. Rather than

trying to connect edge devices,cellular services, and device andconnectivity management

solutions from multiple vendors,Axibio opted to use the Sierra

Wireless system to build out the IoTinfrastructure for its smart biowaste

management solution. Octave also enablesthe extraction of data from a variety of

sensors, microprocessors, and automationprotocols, normalising all this data after it isextracted. These capabilities allowed Axibio tofocus on building its IoT application, rather than

the infrastructure needed to support theapplication.

Octave also provides an intelligent approach toorchestrating IoT data. In its first year, Axibioexpects to deploy approximately 100 Gaïaboxes –each of them able to generate a massive amountof data. Octave allows Axibio to securely extract,orchestrate, and act on data from all thisequipment to the cloud, while also using their IoTapplication to efficiently manage their Gaïaboxes.

Traditionally, data is processed and filtered in thecloud, but for companies like Axibio, which have alarge number of machines deployed acrossmultiple locations, the data needs to beprocessed and filtered at the edge, before itenters the cloud. This not only reduces datatransmission costs, it also ensures that the cloudapplication is not overwhelmed by too muchdata. Octave provides Axibio with a commonJavaScript framework that democratises data

processing both at the edge and at thecloud – ensuring that they get the rightdata, at the right time, with the rightpriority, to the right system.

Crucially, Octave does all this withoutconsuming a lot of power. Octave utilises low

power wide area (LPWA) technologies that aremore energy-efficient in connecting to cellularnetworks and transmitting data than othercellular technologies. Since each Gaïabox has abattery charged by solar panels, this is no smallmatter: LPWA helps ensure that the Gaïaboxdoesn’t consume its battery power too quickly.

Octave further benefits Axibio by providinga simple, transparent and predictablepricing model for cellular connectivity.One of the biggest barriers companiesface in planning a new IoT applicationis estimating connectivity costs.

Standard cellular plans are designedaround per-megabyte consumption and

for a company embarking on an IoT projectfor the very first time, it’s hard to estimate

precisely how many megabytes of data theirassets would be transmitting to the cloud.

Compared to cellular carriers, Octave offers apricing model that is more flexible and betteraligned with the needs of companies like Axibio.With Octave, pricing isn’t based aroundmegabytes – rather, customers pay based on thenumber of messages and data points they wanttransmitted to the cloud. This transparency allowsAxibio to calculate exactly how much its IoTapplication’s connectivity will cost – allowingthem to develop and validate their businessmodel with confidence.

As Axibio and their Gaïabox demonstrates, aworld of creativity and innovation is unleashedwhen companies have an all-in-one platform forconnecting industrial equipment to the cloud, andthey are free to focus on turning their visionaryideas for IoT applications into reality.

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