Hyperconnectivity Proposal for Smart Manufacturing.

Smart Manufacturing is characterized by the digitization and massive communication of Cyber-Physical Systems under the Industrial Internet of Things paradigm. However, the heterogeneity of communication protocols hinders connectivity among assets due to lack of interoperability. Moreover, the decomposition of the classical production hierarchy towards decentralized self-organization makes the implementation of interoperability in industrial environments key to help decision-making. In this sense, the interoperability of heterogeneous assets (e.g., external, internal, and human) has been defined as hyperconnectivity and supposes a technological challenge in the scientific literature. To prove this novel hyperconnectivity definition, the authors propose and develop a novel hyperconnected demonstrator where all types of assets are interconnected in a case study consisting of the automation of an inspection process. For this purpose, an industrial internet platform has been used for connecting industrial equipment creating a collaborative environment through the use of interoperability. In this regard, it has been possible to communicate assets among the cloud, humans, and CPS with a processing time of less than 10 ms, which demonstrates that the technological challenge of implementing the hyperconnectivity concept of this paper has been successfully addressed.