IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, VOL. 9, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2013
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Guest Editorial Special Section on Distributed Computer Systems in Industry
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LECTRONIC devices can be commonly found in our surroundings and most of them are microprocessor supported ones. Single devices have relatively reduced functionality. Their real power can be obtained when they are connected into distributed computer systems. It regards also to industrial applications. The main objective of this Special Section is to show the ideas of the worldwide research community in the area. The Special Section contains 13 papers. The first paper is a comprehensive survey of network solutions used within industrial distributed systems. The second one presents a solution which improves the utilization factor of the sintering process. The third paper presents the way to improve the WLAN performance within industrial environment. Authors focus on rate adaptation techniques. In the fourth paper, the modification of a 6LoWPAN protocol is proposed in order to apply a DPWS based on XML documents. The fifth paper refers to the problem of the media redundancy issue within the context of IEC 62439 and Ethernet-based solutions. The sixth paper copes with the need of dynamical system reconfiguration in real-time. The seventh paper deals again with redundancy issues. The domain is a star based CAN network. The eighth paper refers to the innovative node localization method which is dedicated to mesh network in industrial conditions. The ninth paper presents the method of performance prediction within the DCSs where web services are used. The tenth paper contains a proposition of a new analytical model of a cellular network that supports multicast connections. The eleventh paper refers to the valid topic of using the standardized protocols and services, but not designed for industrial environment. The twelfth paper is a survey of network issues related to the cyber-threats point-of-view. The last but not least paper contains security analysis of a SSO scheme and proposes its improvement. This Special Section is initiated as a result of a general need for consideration of distributed computer systems in the industrial environment. We would like to thank all the authors who have submitted papers to the Special Section. We are truly grateful for the reviewers’ work. Their knowledge and expertise together with efforts to suggest improvements were enormously useful for the authors, and guarantee the high quality of the journal issue. MAX FELSER, Guest Editor Berne University of Applied Sciences Burgdorf, CH-3400 Switzerland
[email protected] Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TII.2012.2198808
JÜRGEN JASPERNEITE, Guest Editor Ostwestfalen-Lippe University Lemgo, 32657 Germany
[email protected] PIOTR GAJ, Guest Editor Silesian University of Technology Gliwice, 44-100 Poland
[email protected] Max Felser (M’84) received degrees from the Ecole d’ingénieurs et d’architectes de Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ), Zurich, Switzerland. He was responsible for the developed methodology for data communication systems at Ascom AG and he was the Head of the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) development at SAIA-Burgess AG. He joined the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, Berne University of Applied Sciences, as a Professor in 1991 and runs the Fieldbus Laboratory at the Institute of Mobile Communications, Burgdorf, Switzerland. His research interest includes industrial wired and wireless real-time networks. Prof. Felser is a Fellow of Electrosuisse, a Chairman of the National TC65 Mirror Committee of IEC, and a Chairman of the Regional PROFIBUS Association (RPA) in Switzerland.
Jürgen Jasperneite (M’98–SM’06) studied electrical engineering and received the Dr.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering and information technology from the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany, in 2002. Since 2005, he has been a Full Professor of Computer Networks at the Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences, Lemgo, Germany. He authored or coauthored more than 100 papers in the area of industrial communications. Since the beginning of 2007, he has been the founding Director of the University Institute for Industrial Information Technologies (inIT-Institut Industrial IT). He served as a member or reviewer for many scientific conferences and journals. His current research interests are modeling, testing, and evaluating of real-time communication systems, especially in the field of industrial automation. Prof. Jasperneite is currently Vice-Chair of the IEEE IES Technical Committee “Factory Automation.” Since 2009, he has also been the Director of the Fraunhofer Application Center Industrial Automation, Lemgo.
Piotr Gaj (M’10) received degrees from the Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland. He has held a few professional, teaching, and research positions. He authored or coauthored a several dozen papers in the area of industrial systems. He served as a member and reviewer for many scientific conferences and journals. His research interests include the area of industrial informatics, including industrial computer networks and systems. He is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Automatic Control, Electronic and Computer Science, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland. Dr. Gaj is currently the organizing Chair of the Computer Networks International Science Conference.
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