Page 14 - Enchiridion 4.0 program_EN

Strategic Partnerships for school education 2019-1-PL01-KA201-065137
Project: Teacher4.0 - comprehensive method of implementation of Industry 4.0
concept into didactic practice in primary and secondary schools

once. Miniaturization has greatly enhanced the use of RFID, as now tags can be microscopic in size.
Hitachi has so far produced the smallest miniaturized RFID tag at 0.05mm x 0.05 mm and these dust-
sized tags can hold a 38-digit number on a 128-bit ROM.

Other, worth mentioning technologies which are used – or being considered are NFC (Near Field
Communication), networking protocol called “Thread”, 6LoWPAN – low-power radio transmission
and others

Security in Industrial Networks

Traditional industrial networks of the past were built with little security in mind. Devices like PLC
(Programmable Logic Controller) and specialised hardware wasn’t even connected to the IP network,
there was no need for that. Many old communication protocols were non-IP capable (ModBus,
CanBus, RS232, RS485, etc) so there was no way for them to be exposed to any danger coming from
outside world.

The introduction of IIoT changed things drastically – and not necessarily for the better in terms of
security.

Former industrial devices were operating with very low speeds, almost exclusively via wired
connections, with very high availability, reaching years. Typical lifecycle was (and still is) about 20-25
years, so many currently active devices pre-date the year 2000. They are also very expensive, both to
buy, but also to maintain, since downtimes of production lines must be planned well in advance and
cause significant losses.

Currently, Industry 4.0 expects IIoT to be connected to an IP network, with minimum latency, high
level of security and very high operating time. Due to pretty conflicting interests, IT security and
industrial goals are quite different and very often contradicting each other, what adds another level
of complexity.

The purpose of this module is not to explore security, as we have another module for that, but to
highlight challenges with IIoT, as significant building block for the Digital Twin.

The Rolls-Royce success story.

Rolls-Royce is one of leading engine manufacturers for airplanes and ships. RR invested a lot of
resources into new technologies, including IIoT, Big Data and Digital Twin.

Its engines and propulsion systems are equipped with hundreds of sensors which record massive
amount of information. Using the Digital Twin idea, the data is sent to the processing and
visualisation, where it helps engineers to monitor their operation, schedule maintenance or dispatch
team to fix any problems – often before the problem would cause a disruption in operation.

A practical implementation of this can be found in the Rolls-Royce Engine Health Management. In the
civil aviation industry, sensors incorporated into engines sends terabytes of data after each flight to

This project has been funded with support from the European
Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the
author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.