Enabling IIoT IP backbones with real-time guarantees

Industrial Internet and Industrial Internet of Things are emerging concepts that concern the use of Internet technologies on industrial environments. The main objective of such architectural visions is allowing a tight and seamless integration between all the functional units and layers that compose industrial processes, from the lowest levels (e.g. field-level devices such as sensors and actuators) to the higher layers, including management, logistics and maintenance. This kind of architecture promises, among other advantages, improving efficiency and flexibility, reduce installation and maintenance costs and reduce unplanned downtime. However, industrial processes often encompass functionalities like closed-loop control of physical processes that are highly critical and have strict timeliness requirements. These requirements are not satisfied by normal Ethernet-based systems. Standards such as IEEE AVB and TSN are addressing this problem, enhancing the real-time properties of Ethernet. However, considering the information presently available, such standards still present some limitations and inefficiencies. This paper reports the extension of HaRTES, an Ethernet-based real-time architecture originally developed for use at the lower layers of industrial scenarios, with MAC Bridge standard functionalities, to make it capable of being integrated on Industrial Internet of Things frameworks. The paper also presents preliminary results obtained with a prototype realization of the extended HaRTES switch.