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Assessing Industrial Communication Protocols to Bridge the Gap between Machine Tools and Software Monitoring.
Endika Tapia1, Leonardo Sastoque-Pinilla1, Unai Lopez-Novoa1,2
1Aeronautics Advanced Manufacturing Center, University of the Basque Country, 48940 Leioa, Spain.
Industrial communication protocols like Modbus, OPC-UA, and Ethernet/IP were evaluated for hyper-connected factories. Modbus demonstrated the best latency, crucial for real-time data analysis and predictive maintenance.
Area of Science:
- Industrial automation and control systems engineering.
- Computer networking and communication protocols.
- Manufacturing systems and Industry 4.0.
Background:
- Hyper-connected factories increasingly rely on industrial communication protocols for real-time data acquisition.
- Effective protocols are essential for machine monitoring, enabling predictive maintenance and data analysis.
- Empirical performance evaluations comparing different industrial protocols are lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To empirically evaluate and compare the performance of three prominent industrial communication protocols: OPC-UA, Modbus, and Ethernet/IP.
- To assess the software complexity associated with using these protocols in industrial machine tools.
- To provide insights into protocol selection for real-time data acquisition in industrial environments.
Main Methods:
- Performance evaluation of OPC-UA, Modbus, and Ethernet/IP using three distinct machine tools.
- Measurement of key performance indicators, including latency.
- Assessment of software implementation complexity for each protocol.
Main Results:
- Modbus exhibited superior latency performance compared to OPC-UA and Ethernet/IP.
- The software complexity of implementing and utilizing these protocols varied significantly.
- Latency figures were found to be dependent on the specific protocol employed.
Conclusions:
- Modbus is a highly effective protocol for industrial communication, offering the lowest latency.
- Protocol selection impacts software complexity and overall system performance in industrial settings.
- Further research is needed to fully understand the trade-offs between different industrial communication protocols for Industry 4.0 applications.
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