Secure Real-time Communication and Computing Infrastructure for Industry 4.0 — Challenges and Opportunities

In this experience paper, we summarize the analysis of key technologies that are prerequisite for a secure realtime communication and computing Infrastructure in the smart factory, which supports flexible and reconfigurable production assets with a real-time digital representation. A broad range of Industry 4.0 use cases is evaluated - jointly with industrial application partners - and a set of basic requirements is derived from them. These challenges need to be addressed by available and upcoming ICT technologies in the domains of cloud computing in an industrial environment, virtualization and industrial Edge Computing, 5G radio and network, analytics with big and fast data, and Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning technologies. The analysis includes mechanisms for secure and reliable connectivity in production, secure wireless communication and secure processes, massive sensor data analysis, and (virtual) network elements like secure gateway. Challenges and opportunities for new applications in production are described in the following.