Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT
Communication
An Industrial Internet Consortium White Paper
IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829
David Zhe Lou, Huawei Technologies
Jan Holler, Ericsson
Cliff Whitehead, Rockwell Automation
Sari Germanos, B&R
Michael Hilgner, TE Connectivity
Wei Qiu, Huawei Technologies

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication
The internet has redefined a number of consumer-oriented businesses such as media, travel,retail and finance. It is now redefining industries like energy, manufacturing, transportation andhealthcare. This new wave is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT): an internet of things,
machines, computers and people, enabling intelligent industrial operations using advanced data
analytics for transformational business outcomes. 1
The foundation of IIoT is how the industrial assets (the things, machines, sites and environments)
can be connected to business professionals and processes. By 2023, one forecast calls for 20
billion connected devices 2 instrumented with sensors, actuators and embedded computing
capabilities. The network is the important infrastructure that supports different application
requirements and different deployment situations in the vast range of industry sectors andassociated industry-specific applications affected by IIoT.3
Industrial networking is a collection of technologies at the Internet Protocol (IP) layer and belowthat enable the transformation of industries. There are many choices in technologies, both
existing and emerging. What are the networking needs, what applications to support on theindustrial network, and what is the deployment situation and conditions? These are key
questions to answer when defining a strategy for technology selection and reaching a concrete
deployment solution.

ENABLING IIOT COMMUNICATION
Industrial networking is different from networking for the enterprise or networking for
consumers. First there is the convergence of Information Technology (IT) 4 and Operational
Technology (OT). Important networking considerations include whether to use wired or wireless,
how to support mobility (e.g. vehicles, equipment, robots and workers) and how to reconfigure
components. Other factors include the lifecycle of the deployments, physical environmental
conditions such as those found in mining and agriculture and electromagnetic conditions whereinterference from machines and equipment can be a problem. Then we have power. Will it beavailable? Or will devices need to run on local power such as batteries?
Second there are the technical requirements. They include network latency and jitter, throughput
needs, reliability and availability. The requirements can vary from being relaxed to highly

1

Industrial Internet Consortium Industrial Internet Vocabulary, Version 1.0, May 7, 2015.
Ericsson Mobility Report, https://www.ericsson.com/en/mobility-report, June 2018.
3
The Internet of Things: Mapping the Value Beyond the Hype, McKinsey Global Institute June 2015.
4
Information Technology (IT) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are often usedinterchangeably. Here, we use “IT” to accentuate the industrial trend of IT/OT convergence.
2

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829-2-

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication
demanding. The network must meet the end-to-end performance requirements for applications
deployed both at the edge and in the cloud. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) must suit theindustrial application’s requirements, which are very different for utility smart metering,
agriculture monitoring sensors or the remote operation of a mining drill rig requiring stereoscopic
high-quality video feeds and haptic feedback for control.
This white paper sets the stage for a forthcoming publication, the Industrial Internet Networking
Framework (IINF), which will complement the Industrial Internet Connectivity Framework 5 bydetailing requirements assessing available technologies and providing best practices for how toachieve appropriate IIoT networking solutions.
It introduces a few typical industrial scenarios followed by their impact on networking. The
scenarios show that there is no universal or preferred networking technology for IIoT systems
and that diverse requirements must be considered when selecting an appropriate solution.
The derived networking requirements lead to the diversity of design considerations, which
provides introductory guidance to IIoT solution architects and industrial networking engineers to
help them make the right choices.
We then briefly introduce an upcoming publication, the IINF, that is intended to be used to selectthe appropriate solution.

FUTURE IIOT SCENARIOS AND THEIR DEPENDENCE ON NETWORKING
Productivity and profitability depend on keeping the operation running. For example, to maintainthe highest level of production in manufacturing, machine maintenance needs to take place
during scheduled downtime. This is best when machines can predict when and where faults areabout to happen so they can be serviced then. This collected data needs to be communicatedacross industrial networks for analysis and can also be used for machine learning and for
conducting business intelligence.
Inventory control systems also use industrial networks to maintain efficiency and increase
inventory throughput. Machine interoperability and network interoperability standards create
environments that easily allow industrial operations to be commissioned, managed andintegrated into business processes.
Industrial networks improve productivity and performance by communicating essential
operational data. For example, condition monitoring and energy monitoring collect data fromevery piece of equipment in the operation that can be used to create profiles for every piece ofequipment, such as power usage across an equipment cycle and vibration profiles during normal
operation. This data is often transmitted to the cloud for analysis and, when compared to

5

The Industrial Internet of Things Volume G5: Connectivity Framework, www.iiconsortium.org/IICF

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829-3-

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication
previous profiles, can contribute to predictive decisions about when to service the equipment,
thus pre-empting equipment failure during production.
There are many more emerging scenarios that affect these layers and that need to be supported.
We offer several examples here. They are not intended to be comprehensive.

SCENARIO #1: ELASTIC VIRTUAL INDUSTRIAL CONTROL
Traditional industrial processes comprise distributed subsystems controlled by discrete industrial
controllers, typically a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). Future production systems will needto meet fast-growing market demands by providing agile and flexible production processes that
achieve competitive production costs through deployment of scalable automation systems.
However, the addition of each new PLC brings with it additional costs and maintenance, andbecause each PLC offers constrained control resources, the hardware PLC function is not elastic.
“PLC-as-a-service” at the edge or within a cloud could meet the scalable automation
requirements of business.
A deterministic network is imperative for many industrial communication applications, so achallenge facing “PLC-as-a-service” or “control-as-a-service” is how to ensure deterministic
communication from the edge or cloud to the field devices. Emerging standards for time-sensitive
networking (TSN) and deterministic Ethernet help address these timing requirements.
The network can be divided into four parts as shown in Figure 1.

In-Server Network

In-Cloud/Edge Network

Edge/Cloud-to-Field

Field Network

Figure 1: Network Architecture for Edge or Cloud PLC

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829-4-

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication
In-server network denotes the internal data bus of the server. A hypervisor is required toguarantee deterministic performance for each virtualized PLC.
In-edge/cloud network should guarantee the required latency and jitter between layers andlossless networks.
Edge/cloud-to-field network is typically across the WAN and should guarantee the quality ofservice from layer 3 and above. Deterministic IP or deterministic networking technologies should
be applied here to support industrial communication.
Field network refers to an in-plant network. Typically edge nodes will be deployed in the plant torealize the most time-critical (<1ms) control functions.

SCENARIO #2: PROCESS IMPROVEMENT FOR PRODUCTION
Manufacturing and processing operations undergo improvement or optimization programs
throughout the lifecycle of the products being made. The trend is for process improvements tobe performed more frequently and in some cases nearly continuously. To achieve more frequent
process improvement, more and more IIoT sensors are being added to the operations.
For example, the United States Food and Drug Administration has provided guidance for
manufacturers to adopt a risk-based approach to meeting product quality and regulatory
requirements through the use of Process Analytic Technology (PAT). 6 A core tenet of PAT iscontinuous inline monitoring of the process that transforms the raw materials into end products.
This monitoring technique requires more instruments and sensors for the process and the newsensors will require industrial networks to communicate with the control systems.
Because most industrial operations have been in place for a long time, new sensors need to be
retrofitted onto existing infrastructure and machinery, which can be done efficiently withwireless communication technologies. Wireless mesh networks using technologies such as IEEE
802.15.4 and Bluetooth LE mesh will provide the edge connectivity to the new sensors. Wiredsensors will continue to be relevant and may migrate from dedicated fieldbus technologies tovariants of industrial Ethernet including single-pair Ethernet networks.

SCENARIO #3: THE REMOTELY OPERATED MINE
The mining industry has shown great interest in wireless solutions and has been working withwireless remote control and electrification of vehicles for over two decades. There are strong
drivers for increased efficiency and improved safety using fewer people with a high degree of6“Guidance for Industry: PAT: A Framework for Innovative Pharmaceutical Development, Manufacturing,and Quality Assurance”, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration,
Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), Office ofRegulatory Affairs (ORA), Pharmaceutical CGMPs (September 2004)

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829-5-

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication
automation and remotely controlled machinery and vehicles. In some cases, the mines are atsuch depths that having personnel at the front is not realistic, practical or even legal. Anotherstrong driver for the mines is to run an operation that is as environmentally neutral as possible.
The communication solution for remotely controlled machines is based on unlicensed spectrum
and in some cases proprietary technology. For some applications, these solutions are sufficient,but miners request more standardized and integrated solutions because adding a machine often
requires adding network infrastructure. Network coverage where mobile vehicles and equipment
operate must also be contiguous to ensure seamless handoff of communication from one
coverage area to the next, but still be cost-efficient, which requires the appropriate network
planning.
A remotely operated machine or highly mobile vehicle may need six to eight high-resolution
cameras for simultaneous video feedback, combined with light detection and ranging (LIDAR)
information, haptic feedback and general machine telemetry and instrumentation. A large
number of sensors gives a distributed view of the ore body and mine environment and the data
must be analyzed in near-real-time. In the future, a number of such machines must coexist withother mine services to accommodate sensors for presence, air quality, seismic sensing, etc. All
must be delivered in real-time and meet ultra-high reliability requirements.
High availability and reliability of the communication network is top priority to enable closedloop automation. Remote control feedback could require as much as 100Mbps per machine in
the uplink from vehicle or machine up to the network. The margins due to real-time andavailability would be substantial, so 10Mbps on average, per machine, would not suffice. End-toend latency for a well-working remote control could likely be tolerated at around 200ms, buttoday’s cameras have capturing and coding delays using a large portion of that budget.
Potentially, less compression could be used, but at the cost of higher bandwidth needs.
Availability requirements, with a closed automation-loop, could be in the order of 0.99999, whichcorresponds to an annual outage of slightly over five minutes.

SCENARIO #4: IN-VEHICLE CONNECTIVITY
Automobiles deploy sensors and actuators that require effective and resilient communication in
potentially harsh environments. Many of the sensors and actuators in these applications also
have constrained resources (processing capability, memory, power and size) that place
restrictions on the networking elements of device connectivity. While wireless networks are able
to satisfy the needs of many devices in these applications, wired networks will continue to play asignificant role. The single-pair Ethernet (SPE) work in IEEE is an attractive solution for automotive
in-vehicle use.
In-vehicle automation applications require the high performance of Ethernet, high reliability andresiliency in challenging environmental conditions and low weight to help auto makers achieve

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829-6-

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication
their goals for fuel efficiency. In 2011, the One-Pair Ethernet (OPEN) Alliance special interest
group was founded to “drive wide scale adoption of Ethernet-based automotive connectivity”.7

SCENARIO #5: SMART GRID APPLICATIONS
Utilities currently use multiple communication solutions to manage and operate their business.
Communication solutions employed by a typical utility in the United States include: Land Mobile Radio (LMR) for field crew communication,
 Wi-Fi/cellular/satellite for Mobile Workforce computers, PowerLine carriers or RF-mesh/Wi-Fi/cellular for Metering (AMI), RF-mesh/microwave/cellular/satellite for Distribution Automation and Transmission
Automation and Microwave/fiber/leased T1s for Substation Automation, Power Plants, Corporate
Headquarters and field offices.
Since the beginning of electrification, stakeholders’ roles in the electric grid were fixed and power
flowed in one direction. Distributed energy resources, plug-in electric vehicles, battery storage
and smart connected appliances are now disrupting that pattern. Production, storage andconsumption involve large numbers of distributed devices with power flowing in different
directions. To use these technologies, coordination between the different elements of the
networks is required, which drives the need for advanced wide-area networking solutions suchas low-latency wireless networks on licensed spectrum with priority access. Figure 2 shows key
stakeholders in the Smart Grid and the diversity of communication paths.

7

http://www.opensig.org/download/datasets/1375/Broadcom_NXP_Freescale.pdf

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829-7-

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication

Figure 2: Key Smart Grid Stakeholders

The communication needs of each actor vary significantly, resulting in the need for multiple
networking layer technologies to meet the requirements. The evolution towards a true Smart
Grid will require edge intelligence and distributed control. The historical load information will be
combined with probabilistic forecasting for automated intelligent analysis. This informationneeds to be communicated to all stakeholders in real time.

SCENARIO #6: SMART LOGISTICS
Logistics is the process of optimizing the flow and storage of things between endpoints, such as
producers and consumers, by reducing resource usage like transportation fuel and storage space,
optimizing stock levels and minimizing unnecessary waste of product. Optimization is also about
timely delivery, so a capability to “track and trace” things by requiring identification andpositioning using, for example, RFID tags combined with detected network presence. We canthen monitor the things throughout the logistics process end-to-end. Products can be perishable(e.g., food), fragile (e.g., fine art) or need to be secured against tampering (e.g., pharmaceuticals).
This means that different types of goods need appropriate monitoring (e.g., temperature,humidity, vibration, shock and tampering) and logging (e.g., who, when and where) across thelogistics flow. The handling must be individually adapted according to the need of each product,whether performed manually or by machines.

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829-8-

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication
Logistics is global and multimodal involving different means of transportation, mainly shipping,road, rail and air through many distribution points at ports, airports and hubs. To ensure theappropriate tracking, monitoring and handling of goods, the logistics flow must be connected
end-to-end. At the highest level, this requires using diverse wide-area networking capabilities
such as cellular networks and satellite connectivity together during long haul transportation, andcellular connectivity and Wi-Fi in combination for logistics hubs.
As goods can be monitored individually, connectivity will be tiered to address the context of theitem being monitored. For example, ships can contain tens of thousands of containers, each being
monitored individually, and each carrying separate pallets of different goods and each palletcontaining many individual items. Monitoring will take place at the different levels of containers,
pallets and individual items, and networking will require different technologies at each of thesedifferent tiers. In this example, networking gateways provide local short-range connectivity
inside the container for the goods and the necessary wide-area connectivity for the container. As
containers are moved from ships to trucks or rails, necessary mobility support is required.
Containers can have dual networking interfaces as well (e.g., Wi-Fi and cellular), thus requiring
multi-access mobility. As goods are redistributed at ports and logistics hubs, automatic,
authenticated and authorized network reconfiguration is required across the tiers. Connectivity
still can be intermittent across the tiers so robust networking as well as local application
processing closer to the edge is required to ensure the appropriate operations like aggregationof data, monitoring for improper handling and raising alarms.
Environmental conditions across the logistics flow are generally harsh, with extreme
temperatures, humidity and even corrosive materials. Items must be monitored over long
periods so the cost and energy consumption of sensor devices and networking are key
considerations. We also require the right choice of radio technology, possibly including meshnetwork solutions, to handle, for example, the significant number of steel containers on a ship,each requiring a connection.

INDUSTRIAL NETWORKING REQUIREMENTS AND DESIGN CONSIDERATIONSThe scenarios described above show that IIoT applications could become more diverse, flexible,
intelligent and efficient by taking advantage of novel networking technologies. The future of
networking will require continuous improvement of reliability, security, deterministictransmission and management capabilities. To fulfill those requirements, various design
considerations for IIoT networking need to be evaluated and they are summarized below.
Network architecture: Each vertical has different scenarios and network requirements. Somerequire reliable low latency communication, while others demand low power consumption or
long-range wireless communication. Yet these different sectors must be able to communicate so
a common network architecture with ubiquitous connectivity that connects sensor to cloud,interoperates among vendors and spans industries is essential. The network infrastructure,
IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829-9-

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication
protocols and technologies applied to the industrial internet should be transparent to industrial
applications and services to avoid frequent variation across various scenarios and verticals.
End-to-end and vertical integration: A traditional hierarchical approach of several levels (sensor,
device, control and enterprise) often has each level using different network infrastructures andtechnologies. Gateways are required to bridge these networks. An end-to-end solution canflatten the hierarchy and support the convergence of IT, OT and the internet without the needfor technology conversion such as interface type, switching and routing.
Flexibility: Mass customization in manufacturing has caused a dramatic shift in assembly plants.
Modern assembly lines and logistics need to be flexible and agile to manage the required productvariability without introducing waste or compromising quality. To support flexible
manufacturing, the network should be able to self (re)configure dynamically.
Determinism: Many industrial scenarios require deterministic communication. Factory
automation (e.g., motion control) demands deterministic ultralow latency transmission in theorder of sub-milliseconds. For those scenarios, time-sensitive protocols and technologies withlow jitter should be used to ensure applications’ integrity and predictable system performance.
Technology lifecycle management: Network technology evolution has consistently followed acycle similar to Moore’s Law with frequent turnover of products and increases in performance.
In contrast, OT systems comprise systems with longer life cycles, on average 19 years. Thisdifference in development speed leads to slow adoption of new network technologies into
existing OT deployments. Manufacturing subsystems should therefore be decoupled from the
network devices while keeping a consistent interface between them.
Backwards compatibility and future-proof: New networking technologies should beinteroperable with legacy networks to protect past investment and ease future developments.
Communication stack in end devices: To guarantee reliable, secure and deterministic industrial
communication, sophisticated network methods, functions and protocols are required. Sincemany end devices are limited in resources and power, those limitations must be taken into
account when designing the communication stack and physical layer hardware for them.
Trustworthiness: Trustworthiness 8 of an IIoT deployment requires security, safety, reliability,
resilience and privacy. The industrial network should provide means and measures to enable andsupport trustworthiness from the network perspective.
Openness and standard: The infrastructure, protocols and technologies used in the industrial
networking system should be open and standardized to allow for maximum interoperability andto promote wide cooperation among industrial partners.

8

The Industrial Internet of Things, Volume G4: Security Framework, www.iiconsortium.org/IISF

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829- 10 -

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication
Licensed and unlicensed spectrum: Due to reliability, coverage and regulatory tradeoffs, the effectof using licensed or unlicensed spectrum must be considered when designing industrial
application with wireless communication.
Power consumption: The communication design should consider power consumption.
Coverage: Coverage includes the area to be covered, the number of communication endpoints
that need to be supported and bandwidth requirements. Range and reach should include
planning for required distances, line of sight and radio propagation properties in the targeted
environment.
Mobility: Different levels of mobility include whether support is needed on a global, regional or
local level. Local can imply even at the site or sub-site level. Characteristics of mobility include
how frequently mobility occurs, how fast the mobile object is moving and requirements onneeded bandwidth and latency while mobile.

STANDARD AND TECHNOLOGIES LANDSCAPE
INDUSTRIAL INTERNET NETWORKING COMMUNICATION STACK MODEL
The hourglass model of the internet protocol stack as shown in Figure 3 is well known. The
hourglass waist is at the (inter)networking layer where the IP resides. The Industrial Internet
Connectivity Framework enriched this model in the layers above the Networking Layer. In bothmodels, the lowest layer is the physical layer, which defines the physical and technical propertiesof the transmission medium and regulates the relationship between the network hardware andthe physical transmission medium. Above it is the link layer, which is responsible for theinteraction of multiple network components to ensure a reliable and deterministic transmission
between network nodes. Above the link layer is the network layer that provides the functional
and procedural means to enable the transfer of data sequences of variable lengths (data packets)from a transmitter to a receiver over one or more networks.

Figure 3: Networking in the Industrial Internet Communication Stack

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829- 11 -

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication
Networking technologies are plentiful. Whether they are open standards, general or specific toan industry, their features and capabilities evolve continuously. They can be both wired andwireless, where the latter can operate in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Prominent
examples include standards from the IEEE family of networking protocols, like 802.3 Ethernet,
802.1 Time Sensitive Networking (TSN), and different versions of 802.11 and 802.15.4. There isBluetooth Low-Energy (BLE), and an evolving set of cellular technologies developed by 3GPP,
including 3G, 4G LTE with NB-IoT and Cat-M1 targeting low cost massive sensor deployments.
The emerging 5G standards with New Radio (NR) are targeting new capabilities such as vehicleto-everything and Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication for industrial use cases. And there
are industrial communication buses standardized by IEC, such as PROFINET and Modbus®.
Figure 4 provides an overview of prominent industrial networking standards, technologies andStandards Development Organizations (SDOs) for the network, link and physical layers. It is not
an exhaustive list of relevant standards.
Industrial networking standards can be technology standards, system and product standards orapplication-specific standards.

Figure 4: Standards and Technologies

For the network layer, the standards are predominantly technology based. The well-known
internet protocol suites, IPv4 and IPv6, are defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
Besides, there are also some ongoing research and innovation initiatives (from EU FP7, ETSI NGP,
e.g.) aiming to promote innovation on the network layer.
Traditional industrial Ethernet link layer technologies that are considered application-specificstandards include PROFINET (defined in PROFIBUS and PROFINET International (PI)), EtherNet/IP
IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829- 12 -

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication(defined in ODVA), POWERLINK (defined in Ethernet POWERLINK Standard Group), EtherCAT(defined in EtherCAT Technology Group) and CC-Link IE (defined in CC-Link Partner Association[CLPA]). Standard Ethernet, which is defined in IEEE 802.1/802.3, is the first choice on which tobuild the converged industrial network due to its broad acceptance and the Time-Sensitive
Networking (TSN) technologies that are based on it.
In the wired network, the physical layer technologies are defined in different levels of detail bydifferent standards development organizations. For example, IEEE 802.3, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC
25/WG 3 and TIA TR-42, PROFIBUS and PROFINET International (PI), ODVA, CLPA and others
define cabling requirements.
The wireless network can be divided into licensed network and unlicensed network. The IEEE andthe MulteFire Alliance develop technologies based on unlicensed spectrum while the 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) focuses on licensed spectrum.
IEEE and other standards organizations such as Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG)
develop and define standards for various wireless networks. IEEE 802.11 is a family of
specifications for wireless local area networks (WLANs). IEEE 802.15 focuses on the Personal Area
Networks (PAN) that are used to connect end devices such as PCs, cell phones, consumer
electronics and industrial instruments. The Bluetooth SIG oversees the development of Bluetooth
new technologies and standards, one example of which is the recently released specification ofmesh networking operating on Low Energy (LE) devices.
The MulteFire Alliance is an independent, diverse and international member-driven consortium
defining and promoting MulteFire, an LTE-based technology for small cells operating standalone
in unlicensed and shared spectrum. Many IoT technologies are currently being discussed in
MulteFire.
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Standardization covers licensed cellular
telecommunications network technologies, including radio access, the core transport network,and service capabilities. 3GPP standards are structured as releases. Different generation
technologies such as 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G can refer to the functionality in different releases. In
3GPP Release 13, enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC) and narrowband Internet ofThings (NB-IoT) technologies are targeted to provide solutions for IIoT communication of lower
complexity and power, deeper coverage, and higher device density. In contrast, the first 5G New
Radio (NR) release delivers enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and ultra-reliable, low-latency
communication (URLLC), which can address high-performance IIoT use cases.
In addition, there are many emerging network technologies currently being discussed ordeveloped in the industry. Technologies such as Network Slicing (part of 5G), Software Defined
Networking (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Low Power Wide Area Network(LPWAN) may provide better or different support for industrial applications.

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829- 13 -

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication

INDUSTRIAL INTERNET NETWORKING FRAMEWORK (IINF) OVERVIEW
IIoT connects industrial machines and devices to enterprise information systems and businessprocesses to achieve higher productivity. With tighter integration of automation andinformation, IIoT concepts will evolve from intelligent products and intelligent services to cloudbased control services, which demand network support with novel technologies and protocols.
Industrial networking and IIoT are complementary. Evolution of IIoT demands novel network
infrastructure and advanced networking technologies enable a deeper industrial revolution, as
shown in Figure 5. For example, intelligent production demands a converged network
infrastructure with open standardized technologies to break the hierarchical and isolated
automation pyramid. Cloud-based control services require an IP-based deterministic large-area
network with flexible network configuration to support reliable and secure industrial
communication from the cloud to the field.
Meanwhile, the underlying network technology is also improving to support IIoT concepts. From
fieldbus to industrial Ethernet, from proprietary technologies to open standards, the evolutionof network technologies improves productivity and increases the interoperability ofcommunication.

Figure 5: The Yin-Yang Model of Industrial Networking and IIoT

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829- 14 -

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication

A TOOLBOX OF METHODS AND GUIDANCEOne of the key objectives of the IINF is to create a conceptual toolbox that provides guidance andrecommendations for suitable network infrastructure and technologies for various industrial
scenarios. The toolbox as shown in Figure 66 comprises three conceptual steps: a network
requirements analysis, network architecture creation and technology mapping. The first step
involves analyzing industrial scenarios and deriving network requirements, which will be used in
the next step. The second step aims at providing tools for creating a network architecture for the
input scenario by applying design considerations onto the derived requirements. By consolidating
various industrial network architectures, another goal is to develop industrial networking
reference model(s) or blueprints for various verticals. The third step is the mapping of existing
technologies onto the network architecture to output a recommended instantiation of the
network architecture and relevant technologies. The last step will also identify technology gaps,
which can be input to SDOs.

Figure 6: Toolbox of Methods and Guidance

CONCLUSION
This white paper sets the stage for a forthcoming publication, the Industrial Internet Networking
Framework, which will complement the Industrial Internet Connectivity Framework by detailing
requirements and best available technologies for the lower three layers of the Industrial Internet
Communication Stack.

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829- 15 -

Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication
Because there is no universal or preferred networking technology for IIoT, we introduced theconcept of the toolbox and methodology which will be elaborated in the forthcoming Industrial
Internet Consortium (IIC) publication of an Industrial Internet Networking Framework.
The IINF will include requirements and solutions overviews as well as tools to support the processof deriving requirements from usage scenarios and selecting the appropriate technology. The IIC
encourages all members and stakeholders to engage in the development and publication of the
IINF.

AUTHORS AND LEGAL NOTICEThis document is a work product of the Industrial Internet Consortium Networking Task Group,
co-chaired by David Zhe Lou (Huawei Technologies), Sari Germanos (B&R Automation) and Jan
Holler (Ericsson).
Authors: The following persons contributed substantial written content to this document: DavidZhe Lou (Huawei Technologies), Jan Holler (Ericsson), Clifford Whitehead (Rockwell Automation),
Sari Germanos (B&R Automation), Michael Hilgner (TE Connectivity), and Wei Qiu (Huawei
Technologies).
Technical Editor: Stephen Mellor (IIC staff) oversaw the process of organizing the contributionsof the above Authors into an integrated document.

Copyright© 2018 Industrial Internet Consortium, a program of Object Management Group, Inc.
(“OMG”).
All copying, distribution and use are subject to the limited License, Permission, Disclaimer andother terms stated in the Industrial Internet Consortium Use of Information – Terms, Conditions& Notices, as posted at http://www.iiconsortium.org/legal/index.htm#use_info. If you do not
accept these Terms, you are not permitted to use the document.

IIC:WHT:IN23:V1.0:PB:20180829- 16 -