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The recent amendment to the Ethernet physical layer known as the IEEE 802.3cg specification, allows to connect devices up to a distance of one kilometer and delivers a maximum of 60 watts of power over a twisted pair of wires. This new standard, also known as 10BASE-TIL, promises to overcome the limits of current physical layers used for field devices and bring them a step closer to Ethernet-based applications. The main advantage of 10BASE- TIL is that it can deliver power and data over the same line over a long distance, where traditional solutions (e.g., CAN, IO-Link, HART) fall short and cannot match its 10 Mbps bandwidth. Due to its recentness, IOBASE- TIL is still not integrated into field devices and it has been less than two years since silicon manufacturers released the first Ethernet-PHY chips. In this paper, we present a design proposal on how field devices could be integrated into a IOBASE-TIL smart switch that allows plug-and-play connectivity for sensors and actuators and is compliant with the Industry 4.0 vision. Instead of presenting a new field-level protocol for this work, we have decided to adopt the IO-Link specification which already includes a plug-and-play approach with features such as diagnosis and device configuration. The main objective of this work is to explore how field devices could be integrated into 10BASE-TIL Ethernet, its adaption with a well-known protocol, and its integration with Industry 4.0 technologies.
The development of protype applications with sensors and actuators in the automation industry requires tools that are independent of manufacturer, and are flexible enough to be modified or extended for any specific requirements. Currently, developing prototypes with industrial sensors and actuators is not straightforward. First of all, the exchange of information depends on the industrial protocol that these devices have. Second, a specific configuration and installation is done based on the hardware that is used, such as automation controllers or industrial gateways. This means that the development for a specific industrial protocol, highly depends on the hardware and the software that vendors provide. In this work we propose a rapid-prototyping framework based on Arduino to solve this problem. For this project we have focused to work with the IO-Link protocol. The framework consists of an Arduino shield that acts as the physical layer, and a software that implements the IO-Link Master protocol. The main advantage of such framework is that an application with industrial devices can be rapid-prototyped with ease as its vendor independent, open-source and can be ported easily to other Arduino compatible boards. In comparison, a typical approach requires proprietary hardware, is not easy to port to another system and is closed-source.
Industrial field devices exchange information through standardized communication interfaces and data models,
encompassing process data, communication properties, and vendor details. Despite enhancing interoperability within a specific
protocol, integrating these devices with diverse systems poses challenges due to data model fragmentation and custom
interfaces. The absence of a universal semantic model for categorizing field device process data independently of standards
necessitates engineers to repetitively devise custom exchange data models for different sensors and actuators, relying on
standards like OPC-UA. In response, this work proposes an ontology-based architecture to tackle information data model
fragmentation, aiming for seamless data interoperability across a universal interface. By focusing on two open-access field
device standards, IO-Link and CANOpen, we compare their information data models, identify existing limitations, and put
forth a semantic information model. The objective is to offer an interoperable interface for Industry 4.0 applications,
showcasing the potential of an ontology-based approach in streamlining data exchange and reducing heterogeneity among
field devices.
This paper presents a proof of concept for automatically generating and orchestrating active asset administration shells (AAS) with IO-Link. AAS are software-based representations of physical assets that enable interoperability and standardised communication across different industrial systems. IO-Link is a widely adopted communication protocol for sensors and actuators in industrial automation. Our method uses an approach to generate AASs based on the IO-Link device description files. The generated AASs can then be orchestrated to form a distributed system that provides dynamic information about the status and performance of the connected assets. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method through a proof of concept that involves the automatic generation and orchestration of AASs for a fluid processing unit equipped with pressure and flow sensors and a pump. The results show that our approach reduces the time and effort required to create and maintain active AASs.