Intelligent Perspective|Industrial communication creates the artery of smart factory

Intelligence has become an industrial trend

With the rapid development of the global economy and technology, intelligence has become the trend and direction of industrial development. In the past few years, intelligent technology has been widely used in the industrial field, such as industrial robots, smart sensors, Internet of Things, cloud computing, etc. The application of these technologies not only improves production efficiency and quality, but also reduces production costs and resource waste, providing new opportunities for the sustainable development of enterprises. At the same time, intelligent technology can also help enterprises achieve data-based, digital, and intelligent production management.

Case Introduction

A large steel plant has invested about 20 billion yuan in the intelligent workshop project, and plans to build 6 production branches and R&D centers.

The project was divided into several phases, the first of which planned a workshop with several process sections and a network of around 4,000 machines. On-site network deployments need to meet the following requirements:

1. Establish the industrial backbone network of the branch to meet the existing business traffic requirements, and reserve traffic space such as future data collection and wireless coverage access.

2. Realize the integration and docking of OT and IT, and ensure the stability, reliability and security of data communication.

3. The overall network needs to be reliable, redundant, and compatible with major industrial protocols.

4. Network equipment needs to consider the compatibility of industrial equipment interfaces and protocols in the field.

5. Network architecture needs to consider attack prevention, perimeter physics, and network security design.

6. Introduce predictive maintenance system to improve the reliability and stability of equipment, reduce system maintenance costs and production downtime.

The difficulty of the case

From the requirements, it can be seen that there are many factors that need to be considered comprehensively in the design of this network, and the design is difficult, which is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

1. There are many network nodes (up to more than 4,000 nodes need to be networked), so the reliability and stability of the network need to be considered in the design process to avoid problems such as single point of failure and network congestion.

2. Security issues faced by huge networks. For example, data encryption, access control, and intrusion detection, network design needs to consider how to ensure the security and confidentiality of data while ensuring the integration of IT and OT.

3. How to minimize the maintenance cost of this large network, such as system topology display, system IP allocation and management, rapid location and traceability when abnormalities occur, detailed logging of network operation, and predictive maintenance of the system.

Based on the customer's design requirements, Phoenix Contact fully considers the network scale, device distribution, communication requirements, etc., and divides the overall network into layers: core layer, aggregation layer, and access layer. Among them, the access layer is equipped with a ring network, the aggregation layer is connected with dual links, and the core is interconnected with 10 Gigabit switches to ensure the reliability and stability of the overall network.

The overall configuration includes the core layer switch using a Layer 3 switch, configuring VRRP, OSPF and other protocols. The aggregation layer adopts the form of dual links, and establishes two active and standby links between the access ring and the two cores, realizing the multi-redundancy mechanism between the access ring and the core switch. At the same time, no less than 15 rings are configured in the access layer to connect field devices.

The factory network is connected to the IT system through the Phoenix Contact Industrial Firewall, which realizes the integration of IT and OT and ensures the security of the system, and at the same time, the Expert System for Online Monitoring and Diagnostics of Industrial Ethernet is deployed to provide comprehensive real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and fault diagnosis functions for the entire system.

Plant network architecture

Our industrial communication products are used in a wide range of industrial applications. As a high-reliability and high-performance network equipment, industrial switches can meet the various requirements of network communication in industrial production environments. Phoenix Contact industrial switches feature an all-in-one industrial-grade design with improved anti-interference performance and greater stability in industrial environments, and support DIN rail mounting, rack mounting, and PT in-line wiring. Among them, the unmanaged switch has an ultra-thin design, with a minimum thickness of 22.5mm, which saves space in the cabinet.

The managed switch supports a variety of link redundancy technologies, LLDP link layer discovery protocol, virtual LAN technology (VLAN), network storm suppression function, broadcast suppression and multicast suppression, can be set by browser and command line, supports parameter backup through SD card, supports a variety of industrial Ethernet protocols, has a variety of certifications, and can meet the needs of various scenarios such as manufacturing, energy, transportation, water treatment, etc.

Intelligent Perspective|Industrial communication creates the artery of smart factory

Industrial information security

When it comes to industrial security, Phoenix Contact offers integrated security concepts ranging from individual products and services to complete solutions. Cybersecurity permeates the entire lifecycle of products and solutions, from the secure product development process to building modern information security capabilities, from providing customer advice to creating a secure cyber approach to a professional vulnerability management system (PSIRT).

Phoenix Contact was one of the first companies in Germany to be certified according to IEC 62443-4-1 and IEC 62443-2-4, and in 2018 it was certified for the development of safe products for design based on IEC 62443-4-1, in 2019 for the design of safe automation solutions based on IEC 62443-2-4, and in 2021 for IEC 62443-4-1 ML 62443 level of the highest level of cyber security certificates.

At the same time, with the increasing number of industrial Ethernet devices and the increasingly complex network structure, many times customers are at a loss for network problems. For this purpose, Phoenix Contact is introducing the Expert System for Online Monitoring and Diagnostics via Industrial Ethernet.

Phoenix Contact Industrial Ethernet Online Monitoring and Diagnosis Expert System can display the network topology in a graphical way, monitor network topology switching, network disconnection and other problems online, display the proportion of network traffic, unicast/multicast/multicast/broadcast and other packet types in a visual way, etc., and can also monitor abnormal network events in real time and give timely alarms, such as redundant power failures, network storms, etc., support database recording and saving network data, which is convenient for querying network information when faults occur, and at the same time, While having powerful diagnostic functions, the system predicts network risks in advance based on network historical curves and big data analysis to achieve predictive maintenance.

Phoenix Contact Industrial Ethernet online monitoring and diagnosis expert system adopts network visualization edge controller, which supports industrial field installation, the controller adopts an open system architecture, supports joint development in multiple languages, such as IEC61131/C/C++/C#, etc., network visualization edge controller natively supports cloud connection, can be directly connected with private cloud or mainstream cloud platform through MQTT protocol, easily realize the integration of "cloud edge", support WEB access, and can be accessed through wireless tablets, Wireless inspection of mobile phones and other devices.

The Phoenix Contact Group is an important player and enabler of Industry 4.0 in Germany. As an invisible champion from Germany and an excellent representative of Germany's industrial civilization, Phoenix Contact China has been committed to the common development of Chinese industry since its inception, and has carefully laid a bridge for Sino-German industrial cooperation, which is a model of Sino-German cooperation.

Since 2014, when Phoenix Contact China officially released its intelligent strategy and established the Phoenix Contact Intelligent Strategy Promotion Alliance, it has been actively promoting and uniting industry-related government departments, scientific research institutes, and representatives of outstanding enterprises to establish a truly fully connected industrial ecology, unite participants with the common concept of industrial civilization, and become the driver and practitioner of the industrial ecological construction of the entire automation industry, manufacturing industry and industrial civilization in the future.

Intelligent Perspective|Industrial communication creates the artery of smart factory

Sections viewed

Contact

working hours