INDUSTRIAL AND AUTOMOTIVE REAL-TIME NETWORKS

Knowledge and understanding

At the end of the course, the students will have acquired: Understanding of the requirements and the peculiar characteristics of the real-time networks used in industrial automation and automotive applications; Understanding of the issues relevant to the design and the performance evaluation of the communication systems with real-time constraints typically found in automation; Knowledge of the main technical standards for industrial and automotive communications; Knowledge of the wired and wireless communication protocols for Industry 4.0; Knowledge of the cutting-edge on-board automotive network architectures and communication protocols for automated driving.

Applying knowledge and understanding

At the end of the course, the students will have acquired the ability to choose the communication solutions more suitable for the needs of the considered automation applications and to properly configure the parameters of the various traffic flows to be handled (e.g., transmission priority, traffic class, reserved bandwidth, etc.). The students will be able to develop simulation models for evaluating the performance of industrial automation and automotive networks. 

Making judgements

The students will be able to evaluate the impact of the different tecnologies and protocols on the performance of industrial and automotive networks. Such an ability is refined through the classroom exercises during the course and the development of the course project for the final exam.

Communication skills

The students will be able to clearly and rigorously present the acquired knowledge and how to apply it for the evaluation of the different architectural choices in the design of industrial and automotive networks.

Learning skills

At the end of the course, the students will be able to autonomously extend their knowledge on automation and automotive networks and to learn about further advanced features going through the relevant standards and reading scientific or technical papers published on specialialized magazines.

The course is based on lectures. The course also includes the development of exercises carried out by the students under the guidance and supervision of the lecturer and seminars on specialized topics. 

The lecturer publishes the course material in advance, uploading it on the course website on the STUDIUM platform.

During the classroom exercises and the course project development the students are encouraged to work in small groups to improve their team work skills.

The above described methods of running the course allow the achievement of the pre-established training objectives, which include the acquisition of knowledge and the ability to apply knowledge.

Should teaching be carried out in mixed mode or remotely, it may be necessary to introduce changes with respect to previous statements, inline with the programme planned and outlined in the syllabus.

Knowledge about analog and digital communications. Basic knowledge about computer networks and the ISO-OSI and TCP/IP communication stacks. Knowledge of the basics principles of control systems.

Asterisks (*) indicate the minimum skills.

1.    Real-time characteristics of industrial automation systems. Temporal constraints and design choices. Performance targets and evaluation metrics. Time-driven and event-driven models. Traffic characterization in the different types of automation systems. (*)
2.    Transmission scheduling in real-time networks. Unsuitability of FIFO, Shortest Job First, and Round Robin policies. Precedence constraints. Constraints on resources. Traffic scheduling for real-time aperiodic and periodic flows: Timeline scheduling, Rate Monotonic, Deadline monotonic, Earliest Deadline First. Schedulability tests.(*). Hints on scheduling without preemption/with precedence constraints/hybrid.
3.    The role of the Data Link layer of industrial automation networks. Addressing. Overview of the typical MAC protocol models: Master/Slave,Token passing,TDMA,CSMA,CSMA/CD, CSMA/BA.(*)
4.    Automotive networks. Design goals and functional domains. Main technologies: LIN, CAN/CAN FD/CAN XL, TTCAN, FlexRAY, MOST, Automotive Ethernet, 10BASE-T1S, IEEE 802.1Q, IEEE Audio Video Bridging. (*)

5. Time-Sensitive Networking.(*)
6.    Communication architectures of automation systems. Fieldbus. PROFIBUS. (*)
7.    Industrial Ethernet: The IEC 61784 Standard. Communication Profile examples: MODBUS, POWERLINK, PROFINET, ETHERCAT. (*)
8.    Wireless systems for automation applications. Industrial wireless sensor networks.
9.   Communication technologies for the Industrial Internet of Things: Bluetooth Low Energy and LoRa in real-time industrial applications.(*)

10. Discrete event simulation tool OMNeT++: installation, configuration, use and development of automation network models. (*)

The practical part of the course is based on the assessmnet of network protocols using OMNeT++.

Course Material by the lecturer can be found in  www.studium.it.

For further reading:

-Industrial Communication Technology Handbook, 2^nd Edition, CRC Press LLC, USA, ISBN : 978-1-4822-0733-0, 2014.

-K. Matheus, T. Konigseder, "Automotive Ethernet", Cambridge University Press, 2021, ISBN 978-1-108-84195-5.

-G. Buttazzo, Hard Real-Time Computing Systems, Springer, 2011

The course final exam consists of the discussion of a lightweight lecturer-assisted course project and an oral test. The course project consists in the performance evaluation of a communication protocol for industrial applications obtained using the OMNeT++ simulation framework. The oral test consists of questions on the course topics. It is also possible to take a further optional course project to delve into specific topics.

Should condition require so, the assessment may be carried out remotely.

- The traffic types typically found in industrial networks and their requirements.

- Characteristics of the different flavours of the CAN protocol and relevant use cases.

- Automotive functional domains and the relevant network architectures and protocols.

- Comparison between the different Industrial Ethernet communication profiles.

- The Time-Sensitive Networking standard family and its in-vehicle usage for automated driving.

- Communications Profiles of the  IEC 61784 "Industrial Ethernet" standard (e.g., Powerlink, PROFINET, ETHERCAT...)

- Fieldbus and their charcateristics. Profibus DP and PA.