This document provides a high level overview of an Industrial IoT and automation data flow architecture for a smart factory. It includes a description of key concepts and components such as field devices, controllers, historians, SCADA, MES, ERP systems, edge computing, digital twins, and data analytics tools. The overall architecture map shows how data flows from remote sensors and devices through networks and systems to the cloud for corporate data management and insights.

1. Smart Factory,
IIoT and Automation
Data Flow Architecture.
Version 1.0
Angel Rodriguez Gil
Jan.2020
angel.rodriguez.gil@live.com

2. Index
1. High Level Concepts
2. Overall Map
3. Components description
4. References
Smart Factory: IIoT and Automation Data Flow Architecture 2

3. Industrial Automation, High Level View Concepts
Small/Low
Level 0
Field Level
(Physical process)
Level 1
Control Level
(Sensing and
manipulating
physical processes)
Level 2
Supervisory
(monitor & control
Physical. Processes.)
Level 3
Planning
(manage to produce
the desire products)
Level 4
Management
(business related
activities to manage
Mfg. Operations)
Remote/Facilit
y Sensors
Actuators
Controllers
CNC, PLC
MOM
Mfg.. Operations
Mgmt.
FIELD &
SHOPFLOOR
CONTROL
SYSTEMS
CELL
SUPERVISORY
PLANT
SUPERVISORY
PLANT
MGMT.
COMPANY
MANAGEMENT
Fieldbus
Controlbus
Ethernet
DCS
SCADA
Data
Historian
CLOUD
Enterprise
Organization
ISA95
OT/IT Technology
Main Domains
PLM
ERP/MRP
EDGE
COMPUTIG
Communications &
protocols
OPERATIVE
VIEW
Timestamp
range
from second
to
milliseconds
STRATEGIC
VIEW
Calendar
vision
From 1 to 5
years
TACTICAL
VIEW
Daily/shifts
vision
from hours
to minutes
Large/High
Company
perspectives
“Near” Real-time
Real-time
3Smart Factory: IIoT and Automation Data Flow Architecture

4. Industrial IoT and Automation Data Flow Architecture, Overall Map
Remote
Sensors
Actuators
Facility
Sensors
Actuators
Controllers
NC, PLCs, DCS
SCADA
Data
Historian
MOM
Mfg..
Operations
Mgmt.
PLM
ERP
Server
EDGE
RTUs PLC/PID PLC
OPC DA
OPC UA
CONTROLBUS
CLOUD
Data Lake
FIELDBUS
MESHISTORIAN ERP/MRP
Facility Edge Cloud
Corporative Global Data Mgmt.Field and Facility Data Management
IoT Hub
REST-API
Data types: Tags, time-series, alarms, events, Sequence of Events, etc
Data
Sources
&
Consumers
Data
Communica
tion &
Protocols
Data
Processing
& Storage
Data
Owner
Technology
Domains
4Smart Factory: IIoT and Automation Data Flow Architecture
MQTT, CoAP, AMQP

5. Plant
Equipment
Fluids and Hydraulic systems and equipment
Electrical and energy systems and equipment
HVAC systems and equipment.
Sensors &
Actuators
Sensor/transducer, measure physical quantities
converting them into digital representation.
Types: position, velocity/acceleration,
pressure, force flow, light, radiation, etc
Smart Objects
/Devices
RFID
(Radio Frequency
Identification)
It is a wireless non-contact device using radio
frequency waves to transfer data.
Tagging items with RFID-tags, allows to
automatically and uniquely identify and track
inventory and assets.
Connected
Assets
It refers to complex systems connected and
interacting automatically each other, such as
robots in a welding cell/line with AGVs, etc.
CNC
(Computer
Numerically
Controlled)
Electro-mechanical devices and software which
manipulate and control machines to perform
high-precision machining operations
producing a part previously digital defined
(CAD/CAM). Nowadays also for 3D Printing.
HMI – Machine
Level
(Human Machine
Interface)
Used in industry to control and managing
machines and processes. Shop floor operators
or maintenance of the machines, operates
through HMI. It shows the designed
parameters and values of the operation.
Profibus
Protocol
It is another standard for fieldbus
communication, being extensively used by
Siemens. It is a cable-based communication.
Profibus-DP (Decentralized peripherals) and
Profibus-PA (Process Automation).
RTUs
PLC
(Programming
Logic Controller)
It is an industrial computer which control
devices by monitoring the state of the input
and output devices.
Scan cycle is the predefined time for Reading
inputs, processing and written outputs.
DCS
(Distributed/Dece
ntralized Control
System)
Automated control systems used to control
complex large distributed applications, global
distributed. DCS combines: Common Data
base, alarm mgmt., supervisory control, logic
control and solvers and HMI.
LoRa &
LoRaWan
(Long Range
Radio)
It is a Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) wireless
technology, targeting M2M and IoT networks
with a reduced battery consumption.
Other LPWA technology is SIGFOX
Fieldbus
Network
Connecting field devices with a very short and
high-frequent exchange of message delivered
within a short and deterministic time interval
Protocols: ControlNet, Profibus, Modbus, etc.
Modbus
Protocol
Developed in 1979 is still going strong,
because its simplicity let it evolve to adapt to
Ethernet, without significant change, coexisting
with other automation systems. There are still
large cable-based RS-485 and RS-232.
Automated control systems used to control
complex large distributed applications, global
distributed (remote located).
An Smart Object should contain following
characteristics: processor unit, sensor/actuator,
a communication device and a power source.
They can constitute a sensor network layer.
Architecture components brief description (1/3)
5Smart Factory: IIoT and Automation Data Flow Architecture

6. SCADA
(Supervisory
Control and Data
Acquisition)
SCADA systems is a collection of software
and hardware used to supervision and
control of plants in real time, locally or
remotely. It facilitates interaction with
field devices connected to RTUs or PLCs.
Historian
It records and retrieves production and
process data by time, storing the
information in a time series database
(typically RDBMS) that can store data with
minimal disk space and fast retrieval
Controlbus
ProfiNet
(network protocol)
ProfiNet is industrial communication
protocol, based on industrial Ethernet,
extensible used by Siemens. Its Real Time
range between 1 and 10 milliseconds.
MES
(Manufacturing
Execution
System)
It is a control system for managing and
monitoring work-in-process on factory
floor. It is designed to control,
coordinate materials, equipment,
personnel and work instructions.
Production
Planning &
Scheduling
Detailed production planning and
scheduling allowing the efficiency to
running at capacity efficiency and re-
planning orders based on demand
changes, bottlenecks and downtimes.
Manufacturing
Execution
Data Base
It manages information of the operations
implemented within the MES system:
Production, Quality, Inventory and
Maintenance. Normally exchanges data
with ERP, Historian and Planning systems.
Product
Information
System
• Product development, design and
industrialization (PLM)
• Product Configuration, variants.
• BOM – Bill of Materials, discrete Mfg.
• Recipe Management, process industry
ERP/MRP
(Enterprise/Mate
rial Requirement
Planning)
ERP is a transactional driven system,
supporting the business management
MRP - Material Requirements Planning
Both operates at strategic level with a
short term vison of a year
Production
Processes
Description, typically in a flowchart,
breaking down in several levels of detail,
the different production processes of the
company. It is one of the main reference
docs for implementing new systems
ERP/MRP
Data Base
It manages information related to
financial, procurement, warehouse,
logistics, sales and production. It
exchange data of production program,
orders, materials etc with the MES system.
Direct
Integration
It refers to the possibility of direct
integration for data exchange between
systems, mainly ERP-MES-Historian. Used
to be a commercial solution offered by
the vendors, parametrized for customers.
OPC
(Open Platform
Communications9
It is an international standard for secure
and reliable exchange data in industrial
automation. OPC is implemented in
Server/Client pairs in parent/child relation
ship
OPC UA
(Unified
Architecture)
It is an information exchange for industrial
communication, due to its scalability, it
allows the convergence OT/IT and can
operate in most actual platforms and OS.
It implements highly secure procedures.
HMI – Process
Level (Human
Machine Interface)
It displays visual easy-understandable,
real-time process operational
information. It allows interaction enabling
control and process optimization. In this
cases typically associated to SCADA.
Architecture components brief description (2/3)
6Smart Factory: IIoT and Automation Data Flow Architecture

7. Edge Analytics
Primarily used to control and monitor
traffic between networks, providing
protection to devices on that network. It is
a key component in cybersecurity
allowing the segregation of networks…
Digital Twin
It is the ability to execute analytics
operations with telemetry directly from
the field/shop floor. E.g. run predictive
and prescriptive machines maintenance,
extending its life, reducing downtimes.
Reporting &
Dashboarding
It is the digital representation of a
physical product or processes in service,
that combined with data collected by
sensors, can reproduce the behaviours
and rules of its physical counterpart
AR
Augmented
Reality
It is an information management tool that
visually tracks, analyses and display KPIs,
metrics and other key data monitoring
the operations status of the plant.
IoT Hub
It adds digital content supported by a
mobile device on a physical component.
It recognize the physical part, and
provides virtual information accordingly
to the operator e.g. working instructions.
OPC Proxy
Typically it is a commercial platform-
based, providing secure connectivity,
telemetry and event-ingestion, a bi-
directional communication with devices,
include device mgmt. command & ctrol.
It can act as an OPC concentrator,
gathering the data from several OPC
type-of servers, making it available
through a unique endpoint, without the
need to cross traffic between networks.
Business
Visualization
Dashboarding
It is an information management tool that
visually tracks, analyses and display KPIs,
metrics and other key data monitoring
the health of the business, to facilitate
decision making to the board.
VR
Virtual Reality
It represents a full 360º digital
environment. In opposite to AR, the user
is “transported” to a digital word,
representing a plant or process, where
he/she can simulate/interact operations.
ML
Machine
Learning
Its intention is to enable to learn by
themselves by a method of training
algorithms such they can learn and take
decision. It is a technique to realize AI
Data Lake
Data Lake is a centralized repository that
allows to store and managed –both
structured and non-structured- data,
generated by any source of data within
the business.
MQTT
It is Publish/Subscriber messaging
transport protocol. It is a light weight,
open, simple and designed to easy to
implement for M2M and IoT. Requires
small code and network bandwidth.
Hadoop
It is a data management software
framework that facilitate to solve
problems involving massive amounts of
data and computation. It is extensively
used for Bid Data processing
REST API
(REpresentational
State Transfer)
REST is an architectural style for
designing web based applications,
setting how distributed systems on the
web should communicate. It is a way to
implement HTTP and HTTPS protocol
7
Architecture components brief description (3/3)
Firewall
Network
Segregation
Smart Factory: IIoT and Automation Data Flow Architecture

8. References
▪ Hands On Industrial Internet of Things.
Giacomo Veneri and Antonio Capasso
www.packt.com
▪ IoT Fundamentals, Networking technologies, protocols and Use Cases
for the Internet of Things
Several Authors. CISCO
www.ciscopress.com
▪ Realparts
▪ https://www.youtube.com/user/ParsicAutomation
▪ https://realpars.com/
8Smart Factory: IIoT and Automation Data Flow Architecture