Systems Development for the Industrial IoT: Challenges from Industry R&D Projects

Abstract

Industrial paradigms such as Industry 4.0 (I4.0I4.0), also known as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoTIIoT), provide an insight into the use of underlying Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in an integrated manner. In order to follow the IoTIIoT vision and gain the inherent benefits, industrial information systems providers have been modernizing their solutions. However, the complexity of such systems has been proving an obstacle in developing efficient solutions. Following the trends of the industrial IoT including Smart Manufacturing, Connected Factories, and Factories of the Future, industrial and academic projects have also been aiming at developing better solutions for IIoT-related projects. Such solutions typically heavily rely on interoperabilityInteroperability requirementsRequirements between sensors, actuators and other IoT-based diverse smart devices toward, for example, supply chain and production management services such as ERPEnterprise Resource Planning (ERP), MESManufacturing Execution Systems (MES), and SCADA. This chapter identifies challenges in developing IIoTIIoT solutions, based on recent R&D projects. Such identification, in turn, contributes to proposing opportunities, challenges, methodologies, and approaches for the analysis, design, implementation, and deployment of R&D projects. This is specifically so when developing interoperable solutions for the IIoT domainI4.0, mainly concerning the applications of the IoTInternet of Things (IoT) and services to the manufacturing industry.