Emerging Data Transfer Technologies
for Factory Communication
Christian Cseh
RWTH Aachen
Dep. of Computer Science (Informatik IV)
Ahornstr. 55, D-52056 Aachen, Germany
cseh@i4.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
Abstract -The paper deals with the replacement of prevailing
legacy data communication networks for factory automation
by new technologies. The special requirements for data
transmission in the area of automation do not allow to simple
adoption of standard solutions developed for home or office
environments. The problems of providing an application
interface that frees the user from dealing with network
specific parameters are highlighted. Furthermore different
data transfer technologies, like ATM and Gigabit Ethernet
are introduced and their suitability for the factory
communication environment is discussed.
I. INTRODUCTION
In automation technology computer integrated
manufacturing (CIM) plays an essential role in the control
of production processes. Over the years there has been a
development from a centralized approach to a distributed
control environment, linking together autonomous systems
with local processing power. This development led to more
reliable and flexible automation facilities.
Consequently the communication scenario on the factory
floor shifted from a ,,vertical" data exchange between a
central controller and the attached devices to ,,horizontal"
data transmissions between components on the same level
[ 11. Nevertheless there is still a certain amount of ,,vertical"
communication between the different layers, because of the
need to synchronize and coordinate different subsystems or
to control complex processes in production plants.
In recent years emerging data transfer technologies,
originating from the office and home environments offer
improved capabilities like the integration of different traffic
streams on a single network with high bandwidths [2].
These network technologies enable the deployment of new
multimedia applications in distributed control systems and
will have great impact on the factory communication
systems of the future [3],[4]. Applications like tele service,
tele training or the use of audio and video for process
surveillance will become more important, as high speed
data communications networks, capable of providing
quality of service guarantees will be installed.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows.
Chapter 2 describes the requirements of factory
communication networks. In chapter 3 the need for an
application interface for a distributed communication
system is highlighted. In part 4 various new data transfer
technologies are presented. In the last chapter the
conclusions are drawn and the suitability of the innovative
network technologies for a factory communication system
is discussed.
0-7803-4503-7/98/$10.00 1998 IEEE
Jurgen Jasperneite
Phoenix Contact GmbH &Co.
Technology Development
P.O.B. 1341, D-32819 Blomberg, Germany
jjasperneite@ phoenixcontact.com
11. REQUIREMENTS
In automation systems three layers can be identified with
different data transfer requirements with respect to
response time, frequency, length and lifetime [5].In Fig. 1
the different layers and requirements are illustrated.
v:
Response Length Lifetime Frequency
time
MBytes
Bits often
Fig. I Layer model of Factory Communication
In addition to these classical requirements innovative
multi media applications impose new demands on the
communication system with respect to real-time
transmissions requiring high bandwidths. The integration of
factory control data and audiohide0 traffic on a single
network makes the guarantee for quality of service,
regarding bandwidth, delay and jitter, mandatory.
The requirements for a distributed communication
system in automation technology can be separated into
three different aspects: performance requirements,
functional aspects and physical characteristcs.
A. Perjormance Requirements
Tab. 1 presents the requirements of applications on the
different layers and of multi media services with respect to
the performance of the communication network. The
combination of several real-time streams with different
characteristics, like control data and video, is a challenging
task, that is not easily fulfilled by contemporary network
technology.
Tab. 1 Requirements for data transfer
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B. Functional Aspects
In addition to the performance parameters, a distributed
factory communication system must provide a set of
service primitives that implement certain functional
aspects. These include the timely transmission of data
according to a given deadline, an acknowledged data
transfer service, a prioritized transmission scheme and the
addressing of single, multiple or all devices attached.
Furthermore the communication system has to offer a
gateway to other networks, security features for an
authorized access to the devices and has to support the
configuration of the network. With regard to the operation
and maintenance of the communication system, a fault
management for the monitoring of the network components
has to be implemented.
C. Physical Characteristics
As the communication system has to be used in an
automation technology environment some physical
requirements have to be taken into account. The cabling
has to support different network extensions, ranging from
100 meters on the sensor/actuator level to several
kilometers for interconnecting buildings on the factory
level. The number of connected network end systems
varies on the different layers. On the sensor/actuator level
up to 100 devices may be attached, whereas on the process
layer the data of approx. 10 production cells is collected.
Again on the factory level many PCs, work stations and
servers can be interconnected in an office environment.
Focusing on the lower two levels, control and
sensor/actuator, the robustness of the cabling and the
network components plays an important role, as the system
may be used in a rough industrial environment. The
communication system has to be insensitive against
external hazards, like shocks, vibrations, torsion, humidity,
dust, temperature, EMI, etc. Furthermore the exchange of
components should be possible in full operation (hot
swapable), without affecting the other network devices.
Wit respect to the operating personnel the physical
connectors of the network components have to be simple,
intuitive and must have a common design and layout. It
should be possible to operate, maintain and configure the
network without the need of special knowledge in
computer science or data communication technology.
Ideally it is not necessary to make any adjustments at the
attached end systems themselves (plug & play).
Especially on the sensor/actuator level the simplicity of
the communication system and the low cost of the
equipment are key requirements.
111. MIDDLEWARE
For an application that wants to send data over a factory
control network it is desirable to have access to the service
primitives of the network layer via a common interface.
Such a middleware abstracts from the actual
implementation of the transfer services and hides any
network specific parameters from the application (user).
This common interface enables the deployment of different
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network technologies in an application transparent manner.
For this reason new network techniques with improved
performance can be introduced, without changing the
application software.
Many of the functional requirements, introduced in
chapter 2 are not directly supported by the service
primitives of the network and need therefore to be
implemented inside the middleware layer. Functions like a
distributed, system-wide synchronized clock for checking
the deadlines of a timed transmission or the management of
acknowledgements from multiple receivers have to be
provided by the middleware. Specific mechanisms like the
retransmission of lost messages, if permitted by the timing
constraints, or the maintaining of member information for
multicast groups, should be handled by the interface
software.
Complex functionality that is needed for the operation of
the complete network, like a network management center
or a security module can be implemented on the application
layer, above the middleware, using its services.
As mentioned in the previous chapter the guarantee of
quality of service (QoS) parameters, like delay bounds or
minimum bandwidth, is crucial for the fulfillment of real-
time requirements. Because each network technology has
its own mechanisms and functions, it is the task of the
middleware to map the user’s QoS-requests on the
appropriate resources, provided by the network. The
advantage of this approach is, that the service user does not
need a deiailed knowledge of the underlying network
technology and is freed from configuring any special
network dependent parameters. The selection of traffic
classes, transfer modes, etc. is taken over by the interface
software 161.
With respect to all the demands that this middleware has
to fulfil, it is clear that the design and implementation are
very challenging, taking into account the high performance
and the complex functions of the software. In addition all
systems equipped with this middleware will need advanced
hardware, regarding memory and processing power, to
execute the software.
In the following, two examples of interfaces for factory
communication systems will be presented. Part A describes
a middleware design, that specifies techniques for real-time
data transfer. Part B introduces the adaptation of a common
application layer protocol for factory communications to be
used with an ATM network.
A. MidART
The middleware and network architecture for real-time
industrial applications (MidART) was developed by
Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) as a
real-time client-server programming model [7]. The two
basic schemes for providing individual application QoS
support and on demand data transfer are real-time channel-
based reflective memory (RT-CRM) [8] and selective
channels [7].
A RT-CRM is an association between a memory area on
a sender node (writer) and a remote memory area at the
receiver node (reader) with a set of protocols for channel
establishment and for mirroring of data. Selective channels
enable applications to dynamically select remote partners,
where data is sent to or received from.
Although MidART was designed to map application
QoS requirements on ATM traffic classes and descriptors,
first performance evaluations were based on a Fast
Ethernet implementation [9].
B.MMS/ATM
An implementation of the OS1 Manufacturing Message
Specification (MMS) on top of an ATM network is
presented in [lo]. The MMS specification is an OS1
application layer protocol, that defines two aspects in an
industrial communication system. The first one is a virtual
manufacturing device (VMD), which represents an abstract
view of an industrial device [ 111. The second aspect deals
with objects, services and protocols for the communication
between VMDs [ 121.
The MMS/ATM system implements a subset of the
MMS services on a reduced four layer protocol stack. A
MMS protocol machine (MMPM) realizes the access to the
ATM driver and maps the MMS associations between two
communication partners to corresponding ATM
connections. To further increase the performance of the
system it is planned to transfer the execution of the MMPM
code from the host CPU to a transputer, located on the
ATM communication board.
IV. NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES
In this chapter innovative network technologies for high
speed data communications are presented. Their support for
real-time applications and for QoS guarantees are
discussed. These qualities are the determining factors for
the suitability of these data transfer technologies for a
factory communication system.
A. Asynchronous Tkansfer Mode (ATM)
Broadband netw rks, like B-ISDN, allow the integration
?.
of data and multimedia transmissions, with high bandwidth
requirements and real time constraints into one network.
The International Telecommunications Union - However there are first approaches to combine small ATM
Telecommunication Standard Sector (ITU-T) and the
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) have chosen
the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) as a connection
oriented switching and multiplexing technology for B-
ISDN [13]. In 1991 the ATM Forum was founded to
promote the use of ATM and to define specifications and
standards for the deployment of ATM technology [14].
ATM operates on data packets of a fixed size (cells) and
enables high speed data transfer at constant or variable bit
rates. The main advantages of ATM networks are the
integration of data, voice and video streams, the guarantee
of QoS characteristics for the connection, the scalability of
the allocated bandwidth and the seamless transition from
local to wide area networks 1151.
An important feature of ATM is the support of QoS
parameters for a connection. In order to guarantee a certain
quality of service, a traffic contract is negotiated between
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sender and receiver on call setup [16]. To characterize the
different data streams, transmitted over an ATM networ ,
(!
four different service classes, according to bit rate and Q S
parameters, have been defined by the ATM Forum [17 .
Two of them constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit ra,e
real-time (VBR-rt) offer a minimum bandwidth, maximup
1
cell transfer delay, bounded jitter and a specified cell lo s
ratio for the connection. I 4
Traffic management functions, like the call admissiqn
control (CAC) or the usage parameter control (UPC ,
assure that the ATM network is able to provide the requir d
performance [ 151.
d’
The CAC decides prior to connection setup, if tt/e
needed network resources for the establishment of a n e b
connection according to its QoS demands are available a ‘d
if already existing connections are not negatively affected. 1
The UPC operates at the entry point of the AT#
network and checks if the traffic stream originating fro@
the sender corresponds to the traffic parameters negotiated
at connection setup. A corresponding function is available
between network nodes, called the network parameter
control (NPC).
For the cabling in ATM networks shielded or unshielded
twisted pair, optical fiber, plastic optical fiber or hard
polymer clad fiber may be used. The communication
distance varies with the media deployed and the bandwidth
required. For the use on the sensor/actuator level at a bit
rate of 155 MBit/s and distances of up to 100 meter
unshielded twisted pair or multimode fiber is sufficient. If
cable lengths are kept shorter (up to 50 meters) plastic
optical fiber may be used. With hard polymer clad fiber the
communication distance depends on the minimum bend
radius. Due to the communication range of up to 1000
meters on the control layer, only multimode fiber (155
MBit/s) or single mode fiber (622 MBit/s) can be installed.
On the factory level, with distances of several kilometers
only single mode fiber may be used.
With respect to network topology today’s ATM syste$
support a star topology, where individual end systems ate
connected to an ATM network node (switch). Thi,s
structure might not be desirable on the sensor/actuator level
where up to 100 devices are attached to a single controller.
switching elements with network interface chips into a
single device [IO]. This will allow alternate network
topologies, like an ATM ring or bus.
B. Gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet is specified by the IEEE 8 0 2 . 3 ~draft
standard and provides data rates of 1 GBit/s [ 181. It was
designed as an extension of Fast Ethernet (IEEE 802.3u),
and uses standard Ethernet frame formats. When operating
in half-duplex mode, Gigabit Ethernet uses, like the older
Ethernet technologies, carrier-sense multiple access with
collision detection (CSMNCD) as a media access (MAC)
protocol. In order to keep a maximum network collision
domain diameter of 200 meters, Gigabit Ethernet uses a
modified MAC layer. This was necessary because at
gigabit speeds two stations 200 meters apart will not detect
2124
a collision when both simultaneously transmit 64 byte
frames. To overcome this problem carrier extension is
used, where frames smaller than 512 bytes are extended to
a length equal to 512 bytes by sending control symbols.
This leads to the disadvantage that if only small frames of
64 bytes are transmitted, network throughput drops to about
120 MBit/s. To overcome this shortcoming a burst mode
was introduced, where a station may send several short
packets in a burst, separated by a small inter frame gap.
Most of today’s available Gigabit Ethernet devices operate
In full duplex mode, transmitting and receiving data on
different wire pairs, and therefore the need for CSMA/CD
is eliminated. This requires point-to-point connections,
leading to a star topology.
In order to support QoS requirements, Gigabit Ethernet
uses the techniques specified in the IEEE 8 0 2 . 3 ~standard
[19] as well as prioritization of traffic streams. The IEEE
flow control allows a Gigabit Ethernet switch to send pause
frames to attached systems in case of congestion. By
stopping the devices from sending new frames, the network
load can be lowered. By maintaining different queues,
Gigabit Ethernet switches are able to prioritize certain
traffic flows and to guarantee zero frame loss and low
latencies [20].
For the wiring options IEEE defined the transmission
over multimode optical fiber with a maximum distance of
550 meters, over single mode fiber with a range of up to 5
kilometers and the use of copper wiring for distances of up
to 25 meters [21]. Until June 1997 there has been no
agreement on the possible use of unshielded twisted pair
category 5 for Gigabit Ethernet links.
C. IEEE 1394 (Fire Wire)
IEEE 1394 is a standardized high performance serial
bus, supporting data rates of up to 400 MBit/s. The prime
target was a low cost network for the interconnection of
home entertainment equipment.
Fire Wire offers an acknowledged datagram service and
an isochronous data transfer service, capable of
transmitting video and audio streams. The network
topology consists of a serial bus, with arbitrary location of
the end systems, hot plugging of devices, automatic bus
configuration and address assignment. The change of the
network topology results in a bus reset and a re-arbitration
of the bus, which however may cause a 1 second delay for
isochronous resources to be re-allocated. The addressing
scheme used allows a 64 bit wide direct addressing or
hierarchical addressing for up to 63 nodes on 1023 busses
[221.
A three pair shielded copper cable is used for the wiring,
with a maximum range limited to 4.5 meters between
nodes. Slightly thicker cables will allow distances of up to
10 meters. Currently there are research activities focused
on extending the network range by lowering the available
bit rate and by the use of fiber optic cables.
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V. CONCLUSIONS
From the requirements for factory communication
systems introduced in chapter 2, it can be concluded that
strict QoS guarantees for network connections are the key
issue for the reliable and safe operation of a plant control
system. It is absolutely crucial that in a machine operated
environment alarm and emergency messages as well as
control information are transmitted on time and correct.
Based on these assumptions from the three network
technologies presented ATM offers the most promising
approach to meet these goals. ATM is the only data transfer
technology that is connection oriented and provides traffic
control functions, which can effectively assure the network
performance for a single, logical connection. It offers a
single, seamless network technology for all three layers in
the automation environment, with a simple integration of
wide are networks, like the Internet. New developments,
like the integration of switching elements in end system
devices, allow the deployment of ATM even on the
sensodactuator level in a bus or ring topology, using cheap
copper wiring. Problems that still need to be solved include
the configuration of ATM networks, the support of fault
tolerant ring topologies and the high cost of ATM
equipment.
Gigabit Ethernet has to operate in full duplex switched
mode to overcome the problems of collision avoidance.
Consequently only point to point connections with fiber
optic cables, resulting in a star topology, can be used in a
factory environment. As Gigabit Ethernet has to deal with
varying frame lengths, a fixed bound on transmission
delays is not possible. Furthermore QoS guarantees are
based on the physical isolation of sub networks, which
results in the permanent provision of network resources for
critical transmissions that might occur only at rare
instances. Though traffic control techniques, like
prioritization, are available, it is not clear how they will
perform in a real-time traffic dominated network, like in
the automation technology, where several high priority
streams have to be handled at the same time. Gigabit
Ethernet will be deployed on the factory level and will
migrate down to the control layer for process environments
with fixed configuration and well known, static traffic
patterns.
Fire Wire offers some appealing features, like plug &
play, bus topology, low cost and high speed isochronous
data transfer, that make it interesting for the use on the
sensor/actuator level. The unsolved problems of the limited
communication distance and the behaviour after a bus reset
suggest that IEEE 1394 is not yet ready for the deployment
in factory communication systems.
As discussed in chapter 3 applications in the automation
environment can benefit from improved network services
and performance only, if appropriate interfaces are
provided. Therefore the adaptation of application layer
protocols and the development of suitable middleware is an
important task.
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