The Indu-Sol PowerUp Network Service provides tailored solutions for manufacturing companies to optimize network performance and increase production reliability. Specifically targeting plant managers, production managers, maintenance managers, OT security managers, and SCADA network experts, the service offers comprehensive support for securing and improving network infrastructure. More ...

The SIEDS sensor from Indu-Sol integrates condition monitoring and cyber security for Brownfield plants. It captures ten physical properties, enabling precise plant monitoring without redundancy and automating maintenance. The integration of SIEDS enhances efficiency and competitiveness for companies in the digital transformation. More ...

Attenuation is a physical phenomenon that can be observed even during the signal transmission. It describes here the relationship between the signal strength inducted by the sender and measured by the receiver. The amount of attenuation depends on how much the signal voltages and currents decrease on the transmission paths. Various factors play a role: the length of the transmission path, the transmission frequency, the material of the transfer medium as well as the physical ambient conditions. The attenuation is specified in the unit decibel (Db). Read more

Defense-in-Depth is a holistic security approach aimed at protecting industrial networks by implementing multiple layers of security. Instead of relying solely on individual security measures, Defense-in-Depth uses a combination of technical, procedural, and organizational security measures to defend against threats and protect critical infrastructure. The approach takes into account the need to defend against a variety of attacks and ensures a robust security architecture that is continuously monitored, updated, and improved. More ...

A modern current measuring clamp measures the direct and alternating current of a current-carrying conductor by its surrounding magnetic field. For this purpose it is equipped with a split measuring terminal that is opened and closed by a lever on the side. When opened, the clamp can take in the conductor. Measurement is done when it is closed. A Hall-effect sensor is located at the gap of the measuring terminal, which records the magnetic flux density. Using this physical dimension, the measuring device calculates the current in the conductor. Read more

In process automation, the term cycle time stands for the duration in which the production program is run through once. Transferred onto communication networks, this cycle corresponds to the time that the controller needs to process the cyclic program, to update the process image and to fulfil all further system tasks. In the PROFIBUS, the output data is copied from the master to the slave and the input data from the slave to the master during this "bus cycle". In the PROFINET, the same principle for controller and I/O devices is valid – however, a cycle is not concluded here until the package for the clock synchronisation has been transferred.

Discard - It stems originally from fishermen and is the term for excess by-catch which it thrown back into the sea. In the same way, data packages can "go overboard" in automation technology: If a PROFINET switch cannot transfer all data in time for instance, queues begin to fill up in the switch. If they grow to a volume that exceeds the memory capacity of the switch, all new data packages are discarded. As a result, there may be telegram gaps which endanger the stability of the network communication as well as the production continuity.

Despite the testing of electromagnetic compatibility as part of product certifications, sporadic failures of the bus systems occur again and again - for no obvious reason. It was only the investigation of shield currents of industrial data communication lines that took the diagnostic approach in a completely different direction. It quickly became clear that the bus itself was fine, but was being affected by external influences - commonly called "EMC interference".

For explanation and better understanding of the above findings, we have summarised the most important facts and circumstances.

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The widely propagated intergrowth of the industrial office and production world as well as the revolutionary networking of all data strands with each other, let the potential attack surface for unwanted EMC interactions grow many times over. In order to avoid interaction or EMC-related impairments, some basic EMC directives or limit values for the necessary measurements should be observed.

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In recent years, many studies have revealed ever increasing loads on equipotential bonding systems due to highfrequency currents. The causes for this increase are quickly identified by the increasing number of variable-speed drives, combined with an increasing degree of automation of machines and systems.

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Discharge current occurs in fault-free circuits. When machines or plants are being operated, it can be flowing through all conducting parts – including the equipotential bonding system and the protective earth conductors (PE). Often discharge current is generated due to capacitive coupling of the electric components, in particular also because of inductive coupling between two of more conductors. In contrast to residual current, discharge current is due to operation and cannot be avoided completely. As long as it remains within certain limits, it endangers neither availability nor operational safety. Dedicated constructive measures on the systems – such as the optimisation of the equipotential bonding system and the routing of cables – but also regular checks make sure that these limits are maintained. Read more

An error telegram is a telegram that has been transferred with errors. The causes for this can be of a logical and physical nature – which includes electromagnetic interferences. Already a single telegram error can damage the data communication and thus endanger the stability of the network. That is why destroyed telegrams are also valid as critical protocol events which should call for the attention of the responsible service technician. The INspektors^® for PROFIBUS, PROFINET and AS-Interface can be used to detect error telegrams and use them as triggers for alarms so that corrections can be made in time. In the PROFINET, the cooperation of INspektor® and topology software PROscan^® Active helps to localise the source of the fault quickly.

Industrial Information Technology (IIT) functions as a link between the IT and OT areas. It helps with the acquisition of data from the OT area, and its transport to IT. This data is not directly related to ma-chine and system control, but is vital for process control and optimisation, e.g., quality monitoring/evaluation, logistics, and material flow. Read more

Indirect maintenance costs are expenses incurred during downtime that are not directly related to the repair or maintenance of equipment. These costs, such as production downtime costs, overtime, quality losses, and others, significantly impact a company's bottom line. A detailed examination of indirect maintenance costs underscores the urgency for companies to implement effective maintenance strategies to maintain their competitiveness and minimize financial losses. More ...

Industrial Security is an umbrella term for all precautions that protect the communication networks of automated production plants against unauthorised accesses and/or from their consequences. Whereas the focus of IT is to seal off data to the outside by firewall, virus protection, web filters, data encoding and much more, the digital factory of the future also demands reliable protection to the inside. The challenge here though is that the approach valid for IT networks cannot be copied 1:1 to networked production. Security measures, however, that regulate accesses to the OT network must not limit or hinder the data transfer at the field level or between field and control level. This would contradict the requirements for a continuous production. Read more

The ISA/IEC 62443 is an international standard for the security of network and information systems in industrial automation. It addresses the growing complexity of OT networks and provides guidelines for integration, security assessment, management, and control, as well as Defense in Depth. Key concepts include security levels, blocking, and logging. Professional network planning according to the standard is crucial for the long-term security and stability of OT systems. More ...

"Inaccuracies" or "variances" during the transmission of digital signals are called jitter in technical terminology. In PROFINET the deviation of the set update rate to the actual update rate is called jitter. It can be verified instrumentally and inferences can be made on the stability of the PROFINET communication. In regards to an individual telegram, jitter means "delay": The telegram jitter corresponds therefore with that section of a sending interval of each device that exceeds the set update rate. This time lag should not exceed the set update rate by more than 50 % to make sure that the controller works with current data. Otherwise the quality of the network communication deteriorates and system availability is endangered.

Leakage current is electric current that builds up at impacted or ineffective isolators and flows through conductors that are not intended for that. "Leaks" can occur in all electric systems – whereby special sensitivity needs to be applied in power supply plants, in vehicle mechatronics, in building lightning protection as well as in production machine or plants. Often leak currents appear as creepage current which spread on the surface of faulty or damaged isolators. In industrial environments, you talk about leakage current when undesired currents spread through inductive, capacitive or galvanic couplings on shielded lines or the equipotential bonding (PA). Couplings into high- and low-voltage conductors occur frequently, for instance if motor and data lines are routed close to each other. High-frequency conductors, which can be found in modern process automation, promote such couplings. Read more

Redundant physical ring topologies are designed into industrial networks such as PROFINET or Industrial Ethernet, i.e. the free ends of a linear network topology are connected together to form a ring. The media redundancy protocol available for this purpose ensures a loop-free network topology and the monitoring of communication interruptions.

Why do I need an MRP ring? To increase productivity and quality in industrial production, the availability of automated machines and systems must be maximized. Read more ...

The load ratio appears as a characteristic in various technical areas. When communication networks are examined, it can be used to quantify how data amounts being transferred behave towards each other. The cyclic PROFINET communication for example is set in relation to the other communication in the network (TCP/IP traffic and so forth) to analyse the network quality. For a stable communication in the PROFINET, a load ratio of >100:1 is recommended which assumes a balanced network limit and a moderate update rate. This approach extends the service life of the system, because it reduces the risk of discards, jitter or other quality problems occurring during the data transfer.

A network diagnosis serves not only for the commissioning and status quo analysis of networks, but makes a targeted troubleshooting possible in case of network malfunctions. These can have physical and logical causes which occur only once, sporadically or permanently. In simple office networks one software tool is often sufficient for conducting a successful diagnosis. In more complex networks, in particular in the industrial range, errors often happen due to the interaction of several factors. In such cases a network diagnosis requires several steps: beginning with the analysis of the data traffic and the signal evaluation up to the cable measurement. Read more

By means of the network load, the load of current and communication networks can be evaluated: Is the network capacity used adequately? Or is the size of the network wrong? In PROFINET too, the network load is also a decisive dimension for the network planning. It specifies how great the data throughput per time unit is in the connection of two devices. The network load correlates with further parameters that influence the communication quality – including update rate, line depth, load ratio and more. Since the proportion of acyclic communication will continue to expand in the age of Industry 4.0, as much capacity as possible should be kept free for them – otherwise operational stability is endangered. Indu-Sol and the PI recommend therefore a cyclic network load of <20% at the port of the controller.

Network monitoring in an industrial context means that complex data paths are understood, their status is known and their continuous availability is ensured. This requires that quality and security of the data traffic remain stable at all times. Two developments make this task difficult: On the one hand, the number of access points into the networks is growing because automated production plants are increasingly being networked. On the other hand, the proportion of acyclic versus cyclic communication is growing, because machines are increasingly capable of being able to communicate with each other and to organise their workflows autonomously. A modern network monitoring therefore has to answer the following central questions: Who communicated what with whom when by which means? Read more

Network topology is the term used to describe the structure of a network, whereby a difference is made between physical and logical topology. The physical topology describes the arrangement of all devices including the structure of its cabling, whereas the logical topology refers to the data traffic. It describes which paths the data takes between the devices. The logical topology does not necessarily have to follow the physical topology. The latter forms rather a kind of frame within more or less variants of a logical structure can be realised. Read more

Missing telegrams during data transfer are also known as telegram gaps. They can have various causes: cabling problems, discards or telegram errors. Store-and-forward switches check telegrams and do not forward faulty ones. They inflict gaps in the data packages by doing so. Also outdated firmware versions can cause telegram gaps if the concerned devices do not forward all telegrams because of that or even "forget" to send a telegram. According to standard setting, PROFINET accepts three consecutive and missing telegrams. For a stable network communication, every telegram gap is, however, a quality problem.

A trusted zone is the term in automation technology for the OT network range if it is either physically disconnected from the IT network or shielded from it by routers, firewalls or layer-3 switches. The concept of the trusted zone offers a precarious security, because it stands only as long as there is no unauthorised access to control cabinets, network ports or programming accesses within the zone. It seems unrealistic to close all security loopholes from internal attacks. Then again security can be increased effectively – e.g. by a permanent monitoring of the communication in which unknown devices or programming accesses into the controller are detected.

In automation technology, the update rate is the interval at with the data between the controller and I/O device is updated. In the PROFINET, the update rate can be defined in the controller separately for each device, whereby the process requirements need to be taken into account just as the PLC cycle time. Basically the update rate should be selected to be has high as necessary, but not as high as possible. Whether the update times can be maintained or whether a jitter take place depends on the switch characteristics of each device, on the line depth of the plant, on the amount of TCP/IP telegrams and other factors.

Downtime costs are the financial consequences that arise when industrial facilities fail, whether planned or unplanned. These costs include both direct, quantifiable expenses such as lost production, overtime costs, idle labor hours, and repair costs, as well as intangible costs such as loss of customer trust, operational disruptions, and missed deadlines. More ...

Bridge devices in OT networks connect and facilitate data exchange between different network segments without altering the structure. They enhance security, flexibility, scalability, and efficiency. Products like the D*Bridge offer simple networking, protocol prioritization, automated data exchange, and solutions for traffic issues. With support for various protocols and reliable performance, they contribute to optimized and secure data communication. More ...

The Condition Monitoring Harvest (CME) is an approach to quantify the financial benefits of preventive maintenance strategies. It is based on the difference between the costs of unplanned downtime and investments in predictive maintenance, supported by CM&SM systems. CME helps mitigate financial risks, increase efficiency, and enhance operational safety. More ...

Vagabonding currents are interference currents which flow through a conductor not intended for them. They occur not only in the high-voltage current area but wherever there is a minor transfer resistance between two conductors. This can also affect the lines of industrial networks. Higher frequency currents flow here that generate leak currents in the corresponding PE/bonding (BN) conductor by inductive and capacitive coupling, which in flow back via the equipotential bonding at best or at worst use the shielding of the data lines for the return flow. This can interfere with the data traffic as well as with the connected devices. Read more