The FACENDO4.0 project (Factory competitiveness and electromobility through innovation) is a project aimed at creating demonstrator pilots that serve as validation for new technologies in different areas under the umbrella of the Industry of the Future. The goal of these pilots is to generate the necessary knowledge and confidence for the sector so that these technologies can either be adopted or discarded as part of the industrial infrastructure in the coming years. Gradiants participation in this consortial project is structured around 3 main pillars: Advanced connectivity, Industrial IoT, and New processing architectures.
Progress made 2021-2023
During the first year of the project, Gradiant conducted a state-of-the-art analysis of various technologies applicable to the factory of the future and began designing the different demonstrators that allow for the evaluation of these technologies in the industrial field.
In terms of communications, for example, a network architecture design was created, and a preliminary version of a monitoring system was implemented.
Regarding Intelligent IoT infrastructure, the current state of security mechanisms and the main tools and platforms available for managing IoT applications and devices were analyzed. Attack prevention mechanisms were also designed, and a software architecture for managing applications and devices was proposed.
For cloud infrastructure management, the state of the art of multi-cloud environment management tools was analyzed. Based on open-source tools, a design for managing APIs from multiple cloud providers was created. The state of the art regarding Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) systems was also analyzed, and the current methodology for managing RPA components was reviewed, identifying actions that could be improved through automation.
During the second year of the project, Gradiant continued advancing in the evaluation and deployment of technological demonstrators that allow for the assessment of the latest innovations in communications, IoT, and multi-cloud architectures, such as private 5G networks or specific tools for updating IoT devices. The goal is to generate the necessary confidence in the tools to serve as the foundation for the future automotive industry, which is becoming increasingly connected and agile, thanks to the intensive use of data generated by various processes.
In the area of connectivity, work was done on deploying a private 5G test network, along with a set of specific services broadcast, network monitoring, interference detection, agile deployment, etc. to validate the required functionalities in the context of the Industry of the Future.
Regarding IIoT, mechanisms for managing devices and applications used on-site were researched, with particular focus on deployment agility and maintaining communication security, both in terms of prevention and detection and modeling of potential cyberattacks.
Finally, in the Cloud work stream, methodologies and tools were defined to optimize how large industries use cloud resources, enabling dynamic and transparent management of multiple providers while optimizing best practices for application development and deployment.
During the final year of the project, Gradiant completed the evaluation and deployment of technological demonstrators, showcasing the potential of new technologies in communications, IoT, and multi-cloud architectures. Thanks to these demonstrators, the potential of technologies such as private 5G networks or cloud-native tools for IT operation and their benefits for building the future automotive industry, which is becoming increasingly connected and agile, has been demonstrated.
In the area of connectivity, a private 5G network was deployed on-site, providing connectivity to autonomous guided vehicles. Tools for generating heatmaps of interference in 5G networks and a channel model simulator were completed. The design and architecture of a broadcast eMBMS demonstrator for the simultaneous reception of video on different terminals were also validated.
In terms of IIoT, honeypots were deployed in different environments to capture and classify attacks on industrial infrastructure, as well as predict the number of attacks.
Additionally, a demonstrator for the automation of IoT device and data management was completed. An energy data capture system was also launched in the plant’s technical cabinets to predict events and optimize consumption.
Finally, in the Cloud work stream, open-source technologies were validated to automate the deployment of various services, especially databases, independently from the cloud provider. A proof of concept was also carried out as a use case for using Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) tools for the automatic processing of documents.
