November 2007 Message from Editor in Chief 
November 2007 Editorial
The November 2007 issue of the journal has a focus on diverse aspects of industrial controls and factory automation. The topics covered include soft synchronization of image acquisition and event triggers in network-connected machine vision systems; performance evaluation of an application layer protocol running over COTS devices based on IEEE 802.15.4 and IEEE 802.11 wireless communication standards; robust H_\infty control of a class of uncertain nonlinear networked control systems; design of a robust controller for a non-linear system that can be represented or approximated in a non-affine form; and a novel robot controller architecture implementing various complex control algorithms for improved high-speed performance.
Thirty papers have been published in 2007 in four issues, consuming all pages budgeted for the year. That includes six papers in a special section dedicated to wireless technologies in factory and industrial automation. This section presented cutting edge research results with potential for a tangible impact on industrial applications. A number of special sections have been scheduled for publication in 2008 and 2009, including sections on network-based control and systems, communication in automation, formal methods for embedded systems design, in-vehicle embedded systems, embedded systems security, and real-time systems.
The journal has embarked on a program of publishing research survey papers to provide a comprehensive overview of the emerging areas of technology and to serve as a major source of references to cover the most important research developments and results. The aim of this program is to help practitioners and researches navigate in the fast accumulating body of knowledge and look for important and emerging trends. The first invited paper on wireless technology in factory and industrial automation is scheduled for publication in the May 2008 issue, to be followed by research surveys on Platform Based Design of embedded and wireless systems, real-time Ethernet, security in embedded systems, and integration issues in industrial automated systems to mention some.
The IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics has been selected into the Thomson Scientific database. It is covered in the following products: Science Citation Index Expanded, ISI Alerting Services, and Current Contents/Engineering, Computing & Technology. The coverage starts with Vol. 1.
The ever increasing level of submissions is a proof that the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics has established itself as a premier research journal in its field. To encourage exchange of ideas between industry and academia, a new category of submissions has been envisioned to commence in 2008 to report on significant technical innovations, underpinned by solid theoretical foundations, with a clear potential for stimulating research efforts of academia and industrial research establishments.
I would like to take an opportunity of this message to thank all Associate Editors who have done a superb job in ensuring technical quality of the material published. At the time of writing this message, in 2007, over 260 reviewers offered their time and talent providing authors with ample feedback to help them improve their submissions. Their contribution is greatly appreciated.
Publishing IEEE Transactions is a complicated process which requires dedication. On behalf of the executive of the Industrial Electronics Society and the journal's subscribers and readers, I would like to express my gratitude to all individuals involved in this process, and in particular to Martin J. Morahan, Managing Editor, IEEE Periodicals, and Farah Pedley, Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions and Journals, who are responsible for the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, who have provided a generous assistance to the Editor in Chief and abundant support for the journal in 2007.
Richard Zurawski
May 2007 Message from Editor in Chief
From Wireline to Wireless Networks and Technologies
The advances in design of embedded systems, tools availability, and falling fabrication costs of semiconductor devices and systems allowed for infusion of intelligence in to field devices such as sensors and actuators. The controllers used with these devices typically provide on-chip signal conversion, data and signal processing, and communication functions. The increased functionality, processing and communication capabilities of controllers have been largely instrumental, among other factors, in the emergence of a widespread trend for networking of field devices around specialized networks, frequently referred to as field area networks
The field area networks, or fieldbuses [1] (fieldbus is, in general, a digital, two-way, multi-drop communication link) as commonly referred to, are, in general, networks connecting field devices such as sensors and actuators with field controllers (for instance, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in industrial automation, or electronic control units (ECUs) in automotive applications), as well as man-machine interfaces, for instance, SCADA in industrial automation or dashboard displays in cars.
In general, the benefits of using those specialized networks are numerous, including increased flexibility attained through combination of embedded hardware and software, improved system performance, and ease of system installation, upgrade, and maintenance. Specifically, in automotive and aircraft applications, for instance, they allow for a replacement of mechanical, hydraulic, and pneumatic systems by mechatronic systems, where mechanical or hydraulic components are typically confined to the end-effectors; just to mention these two different application areas.
Unlike LANs, due to the nature of communication requirements imposed by applications, field area networks, by contrast, tend to have low data rates, small size of data packets, and typically require real-time capabilities which mandate determinism of data transfer. However, data rates above 10 Mbit/s, typical of LANs, have become a commonplace in field area networks.
The specialized networks tend to support various communication media like twisted pair cables, fiber optic channels, power line communication, radio frequency channels, infrared connections, etc. Based on the physical media employed by the networks, they can be in general divided in to three main groups, namely: wireline based networks using media such as twisted pair cables, fiber optic channels (in hazardous environments like chemical and petrochemical plants), and power lines (in building automation); wirelss networks supporting radio frequency channels, and infrared connections; and hybrid networks composed of wireline and wireless networks.
Although the use of wireline based field area networks is dominant, the wireless technology offers a range of incentives in a number of application areas. In industrial automation, for instance, wireless device (sensor/actuator) networks can provide a support for mobile operation required in case of mobile robots, monitoring and control of equipment in hazardous and difficult to access environments, etc. In a wireless sensor/actuator network, stations may interact with each other on a peer-to-peer basis, and with a base station. The base station may have its transceiver attached to a cable of a (wireline) field area network, giving rise to a hybrid wireless- wireline system [2]. A separate category is the wireless sensor networks, envisaged to be largely used for monitoring purposes.
Although potential applications in the projected areas are still under discussion, the wireless sensor/actuator networks are in the deployment stage by the manufacturing industry. A wireless communication system to operate effectively in the industrial/factory floor environment has to guarantee high reliability, low and predictable delay of data transfer (typically, less than 10 ms for real time applications), support for high number of sensor/actuators (over 100 in a cell of a few meters radius), and low power consumption, to mention some. In the industrial environments, the characteristic for the wireless channel degradation artifacts can be compounded by the presence of electric motors or a variety of equipment causing the electric discharge, which contribute to even greater levels of bit error and packet losses. One way to partially alleviate the problem is either by designing robust and loss-tolerant applications and control algorithms, or by trying to improve the channel quality; all subject of extensive research and development [3].
To leverage low cost, small size, and low power consumptions, standard Bluetooth ( IEEE 802.15.1 ) 2.4 GHz radio transceivers may be used as the sensor/actuators communication hardware. To meet the requirements for high reliability, low and predictable delay of data transfer, and support for high number of sensor/actuators, custom optimized communication protocols may be required as the commercially available solutions such as Bluetooth ( IEEE 802.15.1 ), IEEE 802.15.4 , and IEEE 802.11 variants may not fulfill all the requirements. A representative example of this kind of systems is a wireless sensor/actuator network developed by ABB and deployed in a manufacturing environment [4]. The system, known as WISA (wireless sensor/actuator) has been implemented in a manufacturing cell to network proximity switches, which are some of the most widely used position sensors in automated factories to control positions of a variety of equipment, including robotic arms, for instance.
In recognition of the importance of the wireless technologies in factory and industrial automation, a special section has been organized to give a broad cross-section of the activities in this area by focusing on both research and deployment aspects of the technologies under treatment. The material of the section has been divided between the May and August issues. This arrangement was adopted to avoid for one specific technical area to dominate a single issue. The general objective is to publish material to reflect a broad range of technical interests of the journal's readers. This, May 2007, issue includes papers on wireless and wireline technologies in factory communication systems, asynchronous communication protocol, robotics, control of overhead cranes, and business process networks.
The journal has embarked on a program of publishing research survey papers to provide a comprehensive overview of the emerging areas of technology and to serve as a major source of references to cover the most important research developments and results. All that critically evaluated and presented in the context of the emerging trends. Some of the areas covered include the Platform Based Design of embedded and wireless systems, wireless technology in factory and industrial automation, real-time Ethernet, networked embedded systems, security in embedded systems, performance evaluation of manufacturing systems, and integration issues in industrial automated systems, to mention some. We have enlisted as the authors some of the leading experts from UC Berkeley, Technical University of Berlin, Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (Switzerland), UC San Diego, University of Patras, and INRIA (France), and Austrian Academy of Sciences. The aim of this program is to help practitioners and researches navigate in the fast accumulating body of knowledge and look for important and emerging trends. The first invited paper is scheduled for a publication in the November 2007 issue.
[1] Thomesse J-P., “Fieldbus Technology in Industrial Automation”, Special Issue on Industrial Communication Systems, Proceedings of the IEEE , ed. R. Zurawski, 93(6), June 2005, pp. 1073-1101 .
[2] Decotignie, J.-D., “ Interconnection of Wireline and Wireless Fieldbusses ”, Industrial Communication Technology Handbook, CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, ed. R. Zurawski, 2005., pp. 26.1 –26.13.
[3] Willig, A., Wolisz, A., Mattheus, K., “Wireless Technology in Industrial Networks”, S pecial Issue on Industrial Communication Systems, Proceedings of the IEEE , ed. R. Zurawski, 93(6), June 2005, pp. 1130–1151,
[4] Dacfey Dzung, Jan Endresen, Christoffer Apneseth, Jan-Erik Frey , “ Design and Implementation of a Real-Time Wireless Sensor/Actuator Communication System”, Proceedings 10th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA 2005) , Catania, Italy, 2005, Vol.2, pp.433-442.
Richard Zurawski
February 2007 Message from Editor in Chief
Industrial Information Technology is Coming of Age
Over the last decade Information Technology (IT) has had a profound impact on the evolution of industrial enterprises toward fully integrated entities. Nowadays we witness a major effort led by some of the largest multinationals to harness IT to achieve integration of I/O control, device configuration, and data collection across multiple networks and plant units; seamless integration between automation and business logistic levels to exchange jobs and production data; transparent data interfaces for all stages of the plant life cycle; the Internet- and web-enabled remote diagnostics and maintenance, as well as electronic orders and transactions. Some of the IT solutions and technologies used in the office and enterprise operation have been adopted and/or transformed to suit and advance industrial controls and automation, as well as industrial enterprise integration: OPC (OLE for Process Control), Real-Time Corba, Real-Time Linux, Windows CE, real-time specification for Java (Real-Time Specification for Java, RTSJ, developed by Real-Time for Java Expert Group, under the leadership of Sun Microsystems; Real-Time Core Extensions, RTCE, created by JConsortium's Real-Time Java Working Group), and Real-Time UML are good examples, to mention some. The Internet technologies extended the boundaries of the operation of industrial enterprises to their customers, suppliers, as well as the management and technical staff through electronic commerce, B2B, remote data access, and monitoring and control. The industrial IT field spans a number of technological areas such as sensors and actuators, embedded systems, automation networks including wireless, web and networking technologies, integration technologies including middleware, programming languages and development platforms and environments. Those technologies, when used in an integrative way, offer a potential and are used for horizontal and vertical integration of functional layers of industrial units and enterprises, thus transforming traditional islands of automation into more integrated enterprises better adjusted to cope with the demands of competitive markets.
The Industrial Electronics Society (IES) has been one of the leading IEEE Societies activities, initiatives, and publications of which have always reflected the changing landscape of the industrial automation. IES activities in the area of robotics, and particularly industrial applications of robots, gave rise to the establishment of IEEE Robotics & Automation Society, with the management core emerging from IES. IES was the driving force behind setting up ASME/IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics in 1994. In 1997, in response to a demand for a publication venue to cover the broad area of industrial automation, IES proposed IEEE Transactions on Factory Automation. The culmination of the IES efforts to lead the industrial automation area was the establishment of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics in 2005. All that was possible thanks to the vision of a few individuals who saw the industrial automation as the investment area, and their relentless pursuit of this vision. Two individuals have always been at the forefront of this pursuit: James C. Hung and J. David Irwin - both Past Presidents of the IE Society. Both visionaries.
IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past two years; matured to be one of the most sought after publication venues for material on advances in industrial automation, with submissions streaming from academia and industry alike. This transformation and attainment of the current status were wisely engineered by Prof. Okyay Kaynak, Past Editor in Chief, who, all to his credit, made a substantial effort to secure and publish quality material and increase visibility of the journal.I would like to take this opportunity to thank Prof. Kaynak, as well as the Associate Editors and Reviewers, for their outstanding work.
I am honored, and indebted to the Industrial Electronics Society for entrusting me this journal as the Editor in Chief. I shall continue to strive to improve quality of the published material, and seek to publish material reflecting broad interests of the journal's readers, with topics ranging from embedded and field devices to automation networks, to web and networking technologies, to integration technologies, to programming languages, as well as software platforms and environments used in industrial automation.
Richard Zurawski
IEEE Industrial Electronics Society
