This paper explores the integration of Smart Resource Flow (SRF) wireless platform with the EmKoI4.0 Orchestrator to enhance industrial network management in Industry 4.0 environments. We examine how the EmKoI Orchestrator, which utilizes Asset Administration Shell for dynamic reconfiguration of 5G Non-Public Networks, can function as an SRF Service Manager to optimize wireless resource allocation. The integration leverages the Central Coordination Point framework specified in IEC 62657-4 for industrial wireless coexistence management. Our approach establishes a multi-layered coordination mechanism where the SRF Field Manager handles localized resource allocation while the EmKoI4.0 Orchestrator provides high-level network adaptation based on application requirements, regulatory constraints, and environmental factors. The paper presents the theoretical framework for this integration and outlines an evaluation plan to assess performance improvements in practical industrial scenarios.

Integrating Industry 4.0 principles with 5G industrial networks and Asset Administration Shell (AAS) has established a new paradigm for more effective and intelligent management. This paper addresses the management of non-public 5G networks using AAS, focusing on optimizing communication configurations. We propose four AAS submodels regarding application requirements, network capabilities, legal constraints, and environmental conditions. A central entity, dubbed the orchestrator, analyzes the application's needs and adjusts the communication network as necessary. This approach enables dynamic and adaptive reconfigurations, improving operational efficiency and productivity. Details of the information models and workflow between the orchestrator and AAS are presented. Initial simulation results show how time slot configuration in a 5G network can be adapted to prioritize uplink transmissions according to application needs.

The increasing demand for low-latency and high-reliability communication in industrial settings creates a need for efficient traffic management. To address this challenge, the integration of 5G and Time Sensitive Networking has become increasingly prevalent. These next-generation technologies hold significant promise for revolutionizing industrial communication networks, especially to support critical traffic from operational technology. However, this combination also poses complexity issues due to the multitude of configuration possibilities. Our proposed approach leverages Industry 4.0 Asset Administration Shell to establish a mapping between the network capabilities space and the application requirements space. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel methodology for requirement-capability matching, which enables dynamical network reconfiguration in industrial settings.

The realization of Industrie 4.0 potential depends on the utilization of digital twins, commonly implemented as Asset Administration Shells. AAS provides a strong framework for describing assets and their functionalities, and is expected to become a key component of digital twin for embedded systems. In the fields of Industrial Cyber Physical Systems and Industrial Internet Of Things, AAS serves as a bridge between microcontroller and high-performance systems.Current Software Development Kits for AAS focus rather on cloud and PC applications. Building on top of transpilation-based approaches, we explore novel ways how to adapt the SDKs for AAS in order to bring them to industrial embedded systems. Our method is designed to streamline the development process in particular for micro-controller and Industrial Control Systems contexts.

The integration of Industry 4.0 principles into manufacturing environments has propelled the development and deployment of Industrial Internet of Things solutions. Among these, the convergence of Industrial 5G networks with Asset Administration Shell presents a promising paradigm for efficient and intelligent industrial management. This paper explores the critical aspects of managing Industrial 5G networks over AAS, emphasizing the synergy between advanced communication technologies and comprehensive asset administration frameworks. In our use case, we focus on the dynamic reconfiguration of a 5G non-public network to adapt it to the changing application requirements, using Industry 4.0 methods.

Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) presents an evolution of Ethernet-based communication, especially for industrial automation communication to grow towards convergent networks. Increasing complexity, introduced by TSN with its versatile possibilities, requires a monitoring approach capable of delivering information from different levels. The increased requirements placed on modern networks by I4.0 and IIoT lead to the necessity of monitoring as a holistic approach. For this purpose, both heterogeneous devices and the connections of a communication network are considered a single entity. We introduce a design that represents the balance between flexibility and scalability required by holistic monitoring. We also provide implementation details that satisfy the requirements coming from the presented concept. Furthermore, we present a detailed qualitative evaluation of relevant criteria for monitoring, comparing our approach with classical ones.

In the context of Industry 4.0, the industrial production systems present an increasing complexity that mirrors the complexity of industrial communications. This paper presents the further development of a novel approach to deal with this growing complexity and heterogeneity and introduces the work-flow to bring the advantages of open source and standardization together. With the Comprehensive Management Function Model and its manager-centric paradigm, the management of complex industrial communications systems can be implemented as part of Administration Shell 4.0. This approach boosts the automation and knowledge transfer regarding network management dealing with industrial production systems in a holistic manner.

Increasing heterogeneity of industrial network systems is a fact and the chances that in the future one communication standard will be able to fulfill the requirements of all possible applications are utopian. With the increasing number of communication systems, their management, configuration, and maintenance become a significant issue. Additionally, due to the increasing amount of network services and traffic, the management of available network resources and the possibility of delivering certain levels of communication quality of service, especially across different network solutions becomes a big challenge. Therefore, in this paper a Controller of Controllers (CoC) concept for management of heterogeneous industrial networks is proposed. The concept is designed to support still widely spread legacy fieldbus systems, different Ethernetbased industrial solutions, and potentially upcoming network technologies. The goal is achieved by leveraging state-of-theart architectural concepts such as software-defined networks, which allows for integration of abstract models in network management. The concept is described and discussed by way of a demonstrator concept for a heterogeneous system of fieldbus and Ethernet-based time-sensitive networks.

The advent of Industry 4.0 brings the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) inside the factory premise and made the boundaries between the information and operational technologies (IT & OT) obsolete. This, in turn, introduces the problem of interoperability due to the integration of multiple industrial protocols and technologies from various automation networks. The aim of this paper is to investigate this interoperability problem of heterogeneous network management and propose a semantic network knowledge base as a solution to it. It also describes a set of generic interface functions for data acquisition.

In this paper, an application topology-aware virtual network mapping and service provisioning framework dubbed “APTASP” is introduced. The framework is presented as a candidate to deal with the expected increase in the complexity of network management originating from the evolution of IoT and Industrial Internet. Envisaged under the programmable network paradigm, it infers the communication relationships between interacting applications from packet headers. Using this information, it recognizes the communication patterns to build up communication relations. The communication relations are then mapped to template network topologies that enable optimized resource allocation while at the same time ensuring QoS adherence. The service provisioning aspect of the framework introduces as well service function constructs which represent virtualized network function chains required for dynamic and automated service setup.

The comprehensive management function models (CMFM) represent a solution for the growing heterogeneity in the management plane of the industrial domain. We present the internal structure of the CMFM with a meta-model. The use of semantic techniques and knowledge formalization is a first step towards management automation from a human-centric point of view. This human-centric character also helps to keep the overview and comprehensive understanding in the vast field of the network management. The evaluation of the CMFM against well-known and widely used network management systems explains the extent of the novelty of this approach. The CMFM ease the management of heterogeneous industrial networks and are a first step towards the application of further automation measures like artificial intelligence.

The overall Industry 4.0 (I4.0) developments combined with the disruptive process of IT-based digitalisation create a vast amount of new opportunities but also challenges for the industrial automation domain. The combination of hybrid (wired & wireless) communication architectures, already widely installed legacy technologies, new approaches, such as Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) or 5G, and the general heterogeneity of the industrial landscape results in a high configuration complexity. This creates the necessity for future-proof industrial communication network management systems. Therefore, this paper summarises the current state of the art in this area in order to identify the specific requirements towards future industrial network management systems. The most promising candidate is the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) concept. To evaluate SDN as a possible enabler, specified industrial requirements are compared with the current technological and conceptual capabilities of SDN. In addition, drawbacks resulting in future research questions are identified.

The industry is evolving towards a future of smart factories, aided by initiatives like Factories of the Future, Digital Factory and Industrie 4.0. The enabling technologies of this evolution are Industrial Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical Systems and Plug-and-Produce, among others. This paper discusses the idea of a control application following the philosophy of Industrie 4.0 components, and taking advantage of recent research on reliable control schemas. The aim is a control application that is deployable on different platforms, including cloud based, and that is aware of its environment, i.e. computing power, memory, network, etc. This control application will be able to adapt flexibly to given resource and connectivity conditions by shaping its control value matrix, reacting in runtime to changes in the environment.

Wireless communication technologies are adopted more and more in industrial applications. While being accepted as an add-on focusing on tasks like asset management, the use of wireless connection in the control loop is still less common. A main requirement for such an application is a reliable communication solution. The paper discusses a system approach of integrating wireless communication systems into a control application by using a model predictive control and an intelligent radio proxy in order to minimize the issues derived from a wireless connection, like packet loss and jitter. The engineering of such a solution is supported by a specific PLC function block.