Cloud based cyber-physical systems: Network evaluation study

In recent years, the Industry 4.0 concept brings new demands and trends in different areas; one of them is distributing computational power to the cloud. This concept also introduced the Reference Architectural Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0). The efficiency of data communications within the RAMI 4.0 model is a critical issue. Aiming to evaluate the efficiency of data communication in the Cloud Based Cyber-Physical Systems (CB-CPS), this study analyzes the periods and data amount required to communicate with individual hierarchy levels of the RAMI 4.0 model. The evaluation of the network properties of the communication protocols eligible for CB-CPS is presented. The network properties to different cloud providers and data centers’ locations have been measured and interpreted. To test the findings, an architecture for cloud control of laboratory model was proposed. It was found that the time of the day; the day of the week; and data center utilization have a negligible impact on latency. The most significant impact lies in the data center distance and the speed of the communication channel. Moreover, the communication protocol also has impact on the latency. The feasibility of controlling each level of RAMI 4.0 through cloud services was investigated. Experimental results showed that control is possible in many solutions, but these solutions mostly cannot depend just on cloud services. The intelligence on the edge of the network will play a significant role. The main contribution is a thorough evaluation of different cloud providers, locations, and communication protocols to provide recommendations sufficient for different levels of the RAMI 4.0 architecture.