Understanding the Industrial Process and Devices

In this chapter, the reader will understand how industrial data is generated, gathered, and transferred to the cloud. We will look at continuous discrete processes and how they work, becoming familiar with the model of computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) from its origin in the factories of the 1980s to the current day. The reader will learn about industrial equipment, networks, and protocols, and come to understand terms such as distributed control system (DCS), programmable logic controllers (PLCs), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Historian, manufacturing execution system (MES), Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP), and Fieldbus. We will also look at how the industrial world interacts with the cloud, and look at the devices and protocols that allow this to happen. Related to this, we will learn terms including...