The thesis deals with the issues of remote control over infrastructure facilities and devices. It introduces the challenges and potential problems we are faced with as well as the technical solutions applied in order to obtain state-of-the-art control system, built in accordance with modern guidelines described by the Industrial Internet of Things.
Industrial Internet of Things proposes that each device is assigned an IP address and connected to Ethernet network in order to communicate with other devices or applications. This kind of connectivity is different than current solutions where process networks are physically separated from business and especially public networks.
Designing a secure and reliable control system requires the latest security and communication standards, which allow encrypted communication and client authentication.
One of the main problems with geographically scattered facilities is the potential unreliability of communication networks, which is why the systems must be able to work in a local-only mode, without connection to control center. Critical data collected while systems are offline must be stored locally and sent to control center after communication is re-established.
The empirical part of the thesis presents two successful control systems built on open communication standards and tools that ensure a modular solution, where costumer is not chained to one software or hardware supplier. A control system built with this kind of approach can be future-proof and easy to maintain.
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