Opportunities with Seamless Connectivity
Published on : Thursday 05-08-2021
How OPC UA over TSN offers enough performance to solve all todays and tomorrows applications.
Traditionally, the brownfield systems run independently. However, the future factories have a fully integrated system from admin work to the manufacturing process to deliver the final product. Known as connected manufacturing, this integrated automation technology helps manufacturers operate more efficiently using various data from operations and enterprise systems. More precisely, organisations can turn big data into significant improvements by using data analytics. This helps to identify the bottlenecks, troubleshoot issues, understand asset interdependencies, and reduce costs.
To understand the potential of an integrated business and manufacturing facility, it is essential to review the current operating situation. Typically, the manufacturing operations on traditional shop floors are manual and time-intensive. Obtaining the manufacturing data is usually a slow process and is subject to human error and interpretation. Usually, it begins with shop floor managers by creating spreadsheets from system-generated reports. They further need executive support to review the spreadsheets and evaluate data to create visual dashboards for top-level management. Unfortunately, complex graphs, charts, and spreadsheets do not give sufficient actionable output to help until after the fact. One more example is shop floor managers dispatches the final product packages manually. Managers receive a stack of delivery papers at the end of the day to check. Paperless operations help to improve efficiency by reducing manual work. However, imagine what could be the outcome if an organisation could use digital technology to create real-time connections between the automated manufacturing shop floor and other business systems.
Now we know the importance of connectivity and data analytics. However, data from the field is the most vital aspect before one thinks about analytics. It is essential to gather process data from various machines and controllers to make it available to upper layers for analytics. Edge computing enables factories to collect data and acts as the final physical hardware point in the factory premise before moving into the IT space from the OT space.
However, data gathering also comes with challenges, mainly when collecting data from legacy systems and brownfield installation. In greenfield installations, it is relatively more accessible as the controllers have the latest technologies, and users define their needs before the factories are set up. On the other hand, in brownfield installations, controllers could have either legacy fieldbuses or no connectivity options. These serve as the most significant challenge for gathering data from the field.
Even within these modular production units, the increasingly complex tasks being performed require a more significant number and variety of high-tech components. Despite being built by different manufacturers, these components must talk to each other to get the data they need.
Plug and produce
With OPC UA over TSN, each device has its information model containing all the relevant data. That means you can quickly connect any drive to any machine, for example, regardless of what manufacturer it comes from. Maintenance and upgrades are simplified substantially.
High speed, sub-microsecond precision
A unified interface and protocol is only half of the equation, however. Cycle time and bandwidth play an equally important role. OPC UA over TSN delivers 18 times more performance than conventional solutions. OPC UA over TSN offers enough performance to solve all today's and tomorrow's applications.
To enable this performance leap, the Ethernet standard on which the communication solution is based has been extended to include Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN). The TSN extension guarantees deterministic transmission in large convergent networks that bridge the divide between OT and IT systems. Whether fast and centralised or intelligent and distributed, drive solutions can be adapted to the application's needs more easily with OPC UA over TSN than with any other solution. The result is a boost in both productivity and product quality.
Field level to the cloud
Based on a Gigabit Ethernet physical layer, OPC UA over TSN enabled products to offer significantly higher bandwidths. Live operating data can be collected and shared with higher-level systems. It's a seamless link from the field level to the cloud. Advanced IIoT solutions like condition monitoring and predictive maintenance can leverage live feedback to extend component life and boost system availability.
Cybersecurity in multi-vendor systems
When you connect a machine network to the cloud, one of the primary concerns becomes cybersecurity. OPC UA over TSN offers the possibility to ensure security across networks made up of equipment from different manufacturers. Digital certificates based on the X.509 standard can be used in the OPC UA over the TSN system to ensure a secure, reliable exchange of data. The security features of OPC UA over TSN offer built-in protection.
By fully integrating OPC UA over TSN into its hardware and software, B&R offers manufacturing OEMs vendor-agnostic interoperability that makes them more agile than ever. Producers will finally be able to create the kinds of modular solutions they need to achieve batch-size-one productivity. What seemed like a pipe dream only a few years ago is now a reality – a single network cable for seamlessly connected manufacturing.
B&R is the world's only single-source supplier for controls and robotics. Robots from its parent company ABB are fully integrated in the B&R automation system. Customers benefit from unprecedented precision in synchronisation between robotics and machine control. They need only one controller and one engineering system for development, diagnostics and maintenance.
