Dual link communication system

Abstract

The utility model provides a double-link communication system which comprises a terminal router deployed at a data acquisition end, a switch and a public network router, the switch and the public network router are deployed at a data management end, and the switch can be in communication connection with the terminal router through a local area network to construct a local area network communication link. The public network router is in communication connection with the terminal router through a wide area network to construct a wide area network communication link, so that the data management end and the data acquisition end can execute industrial control data transmission through any communication link, and automatic hot standby switching between different communication links can be realized; therefore, the stability, reliability and safety of industrial data transmission between ends are ensured, and the method has the advantage of low hardware erection cost.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a dual-link communication system. Background Art

[0002] Data transmission in the industrial Internet is an important part of realizing the informatization and intelligentization of industrial production. It has very high requirements for data transmission and needs to meet data transmission requirements such as real-time, reliability, and security. To ensure the network transmission stability between the data management center and the remote acquisition device, redundant links can be added to the communication network to ensure reliable communication of the communication network.

[0003] However, in traditional technologies, the switching between different communication links is usually achieved based on manual cold standby, resulting in problems such as long link switching time and untimely network fault response. At the same time, when transmitting industrial data through an open wide area network, there is a very high risk of data leakage. If a private network or dedicated line is set up in the wide area network to enhance data transmission security, it will cost a high network architecture cost. Summary of the Utility Model

[0004] In view of this, the dual-link communication system provided by this application can realize automatic hot standby switching of dual links, ensure the stability, reliability, and security of industrial data transmission between end-to-end, and has a low hardware installation cost.

[0005] According to one aspect of the embodiments of this application, a dual-link communication system is provided. The system includes a terminal router deployed at the data acquisition end, a switch, and a public network router deployed at the data management end;

[0006] The switch is communicatively connected to the terminal router through a local area network to construct a local area network communication link;

[0007] The switch is communicatively connected to the terminal router through a wide area network via the public network router to construct a wide area network communication link;

[0008] Wherein, various industrial control data are transmitted between the data management end and the data acquisition end through the local area network communication link, and when it is detected at the data management end and / or the data acquisition end that the actual data transmission rate of the local area network communication link is less than a given transmission rate threshold, the local area network communication link is automatically switched to the wide area network communication link, and various industrial control data are transmitted through the wide area network communication link.

[0009] In some embodiments, the system includes multiple data acquisition ends, and each data acquisition end includes: at least one industrial control device for collecting various industrial control data; wherein, the terminal router is communicatively connected to the at least one industrial control device to obtain various industrial control data from the at least one industrial control device.

[0010] In some embodiments, at least one of the industrial control devices includes at least one of a programmable logic controller and a remote terminal unit.

[0011] In some embodiments, the data management terminal includes an openVPN server, which is communicatively connected to the public network router and is used to establish an openVPN communication tunnel under the wide area network communication link, so that industrial control data is transmitted between the public network router and the terminal router in an encrypted manner.

[0012] In some embodiments, the data management terminal includes a gateway router, which is communicatively connected to the switch and the public network router and is used to establish a layer 2 tunneling protocol under the wide area network communication link, so that industrial control data is transparently transmitted between the gateway router and the terminal router in a virtual private network based on the layer 2 tunneling protocol.

[0013] In some embodiments, the data management terminal includes a data management server, which is communicatively connected to the switch and is used to obtain each piece of industrial control data from the switch and perform data processing on each piece of industrial control data based on a preset data processing rule.

[0014] In some embodiments, the system includes a client, and the data acquisition terminal and / or the data management terminal is used to push each piece of industrial control data to the client through the wide area network.

[0015] In some embodiments, the local area network includes an optical fiber network; the wide area network includes a 4G communication network or a 5G communication network.

[0016] In some embodiments, the data acquisition terminal is set at an industrial site; the industrial site includes at least one of a water plant, a power plant, and a sewage treatment plant.

[0017] In some embodiments, the switch includes a layer 3 switch.

[0018] As can be seen from the above technical solutions, each embodiment of the present application provides a reliable network redundancy hot standby solution. By constructing a dual-link network communication architecture between the data acquisition terminal and the data management terminal, automatic hot standby switching from the local area network communication link to the wide area network communication link can be realized when a communication failure occurs in the local area network communication link, so as to ensure the real-time performance, reliability and security of data transmission.

[0019] The dual-link communication system provided by each embodiment of the present application improves the security of industrial control data transmission in the wide area network by establishing an openVPN communication tunnel under the wide area network communication link, so that industrial control data is transmitted between the data acquisition terminal and the data management terminal in an encrypted manner in the wide area network.

[0020] The dual - link communication system provided by each embodiment of the present application builds a layer - 2 tunnel protocol under a wide - area network communication link, so that data can be transparently transmitted between the data acquisition end and the data management end in a virtual private network based on the layer - 2 tunnel protocol without passing through a public - network router, reducing the data transmission path and further improving the stability, reliability, and security of data transmission. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 is a structural block diagram of the dual - link communication system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0022] Figure 2 is a structural block diagram of the dual - link communication system according to another exemplary embodiment of the present application.

[0023] LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS:

[0024] 100, 200: Dual - link communication system 130: Data management end

[0025] 110, 110A, 110B: Data acquisition end 1302: Switch

[0026] 1102, 1102A, 1102B: Terminal router 1304: Public - network router

[0027] 1104, 1104A, 1104B: Industrial control equipment 1306: OpenVPN server

[0028] 122A, 122B: Local area network 1308: Gateway router

[0029] 124: Wide - area network 140: Client DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0030] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the embodiments of the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art shall fall within the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application.

[0031] Some embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Without conflict between the embodiments, the features in the following embodiments and the embodiments can be combined with each other. The steps in the following method embodiments are only for exemplary description and are not used to limit the present application.

[0032] Industrial Internet refers to the process of using Internet technology to transform industrial production into informatization and intelligentization. In the Industrial Internet, data transmission is a crucial link.

[0033] In industrial production, it is often necessary to monitor and process data in real time. Therefore, the requirement for the real-time nature of data transmission is extremely high. It is necessary to ensure that industrial data can reach the destination within an extremely short time and can be processed in a timely manner. In addition, the reliability of data is also very important. If there are problems with data transmission, it may have a serious impact on the entire production process. Therefore, during data transmission, it is necessary to ensure the integrity, accuracy, and security of data.

[0034] To ensure the stability of data transmission between the data center and each remote site, relevant operators increase redundant links between the two ends to improve the robustness and stability of network transmission. However, in traditional technologies, the switching of different communication links is usually achieved based on manual cold standby methods, which have problems such as long link switching time and untimely response to network failures, affecting the real-time requirements of data transmission.

[0035] Furthermore, since the wide area network belongs to an open network, there is a high risk of data leakage when transmitting industrial data through the wide area network. If a private network or dedicated line is set up in the wide area network to improve data transmission security, it usually requires high network setup costs.

[0036] Based on the various problems existing in the above-mentioned existing technologies, each embodiment of the present application provides a dual-link communication system. By constructing a fusion networking architecture of a local area network and a wide area network, when a communication failure occurs in the detected local area network, automatic hot standby switching from the local area network link to the wide area network link is realized to ensure the real-time nature, reliability, and security of data transmission.

[0037] The following will describe in detail the dual-link communication system provided by the embodiments of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0038] Dual-link communication system

[0039] Figures 1 to 2 It is a structural block diagram of the dual-link communication systems 100 and 200 of different embodiments of the present application.

[0040] As Figure 1 shown, the dual-link communication system 100 of this embodiment mainly includes a data acquisition end 110 and a data management end 130.

[0041] The data acquisition end 110 can be set at industrial sites, including but not limited to: industrial sites such as water plants, power plants, and sewage treatment plants.

[0042] The terminal router 1102 is deployed in the data acquisition terminal 110, and the switch 1302 and the public network router 1304 are deployed in the data management terminal 130.

[0043] Among them, the switch 1302 and the terminal router 1102 can be directly communicatively connected through the local area network 122 to build a local area network communication link between the data acquisition terminal 110 and the data management terminal 130.

[0044] In some embodiments, the local area network 122 may include, but is not limited to, an optical fiber network.

[0045] The switch 1302 can also be communicatively connected to the terminal router 1102 through the public network router 1304 via the wide area network 124 to build a wide area network communication link between the data acquisition terminal 110 and the data management terminal 130.

[0046] Specifically, the switch 1302 can be communicatively connected to the public network router 1304 by wire, and the public network router 1304 is communicatively connected to the terminal router 1102 through the wide area network 124 to form a wide area network communication link.

[0047] In some embodiments, the wide area network 124 may include, but is not limited to, a 4G communication network or a 5G communication network.

[0048] In this embodiment, the terminal router 1102 of the data acquisition terminal 110 can select one of the local area network communication link and the wide area network communication link as the transmission channel to transmit each industrial control data to the data management terminal 130.

[0049] In some embodiments, the data acquisition terminal 110 may include at least one industrial control device 1104 for collecting each industrial control data, and the terminal router 1102 can be communicatively connected to each industrial control device 1104 to obtain each industrial control data from any one of the industrial control devices 1104.

[0050] In this embodiment, each industrial control device 1104 may include, but is not limited to, one of a programmable logic controller (PLC) and a remote terminal unit (RTU).

[0051] In this embodiment, the switch 1302 includes a three-layer switch.

[0052] In some embodiments, the local area network communication link with better communication quality can be used as the primary communication link, and the wide area network communication link can be used as the alternative communication link.

[0053] Exemplarily, in the default mode, the data management terminal 130 and the data acquisition terminal 110 preferentially transmit various industrial control data through a local area network communication link with better communication quality. When the data management terminal 130 and / or the data acquisition terminal 110 detects that the actual data transmission rate of the local area network communication link is less than the given transmission rate threshold, it automatically switches from the local area network communication link to the wide area network communication link to transmit various industrial control data through the wide area network communication link.

[0054] In this embodiment, the given transmission rate threshold can be arbitrarily set according to actual data transmission requirements, and the present application does not limit this.

[0055] In some embodiments, the transmission quality of the local area network communication link can be detected by the switch 1302 and the terminal router 1102 respectively. Among them, when the switch 1302 detects that the actual data transmission rate of the local area network communication link is less than the given transmission rate threshold, it can automatically switch from the local area network communication link to the wide area network communication link to continue executing the transmission task of industrial control data. When the terminal router 1102 detects that the actual data transmission rate of the local area network communication link is less than the given transmission rate threshold, it can also automatically switch from the local area network communication link to the wide area network communication link to continue executing the transmission task of industrial control data. That is to say, in this embodiment, the switch 1302 and the terminal router 1102 independently detect the transmission quality of the local area network communication link without interfering with each other.

[0056] In some embodiments, the dual-link communication system 200 may include a plurality of data acquisition terminals 110A, 110B (refer to Figure 2 ) distributed at different industrial sites, and each data acquisition terminal 110A, 110B is respectively equipped with a terminal router 1102A, 1102B. Among them, the data acquisition terminal 110A establishes a local area network communication link with the data management terminal 130 through the local area network 122A, and the data acquisition terminal 110B establishes a local area network communication link with the data management terminal 130 through the local area network 122B. At the same time, both the data acquisition terminal 110A and the data acquisition terminal 110B establish a wide area network communication link with the data management terminal 130 through the wide area network 124.

[0057] Specifically, the terminal router 1102A can obtain various industrial control data from the industrial control device 1104A, and select to transmit the various industrial control data to the data management end 130 through a local area network communication link based on the local area network 122A or through a wide area network communication link 124 based on the wide area network 124. Similarly, the terminal router 1102B can obtain various industrial control data from the industrial control device 1104B, and select to transmit the various industrial control data to the data management end 130 through a local area network communication link based on the local area network 122B or through a wide area network communication link 124 based on the wide area network 123, so as to meet the end-to-end data transmission requirements between the data acquisition ends 110A and 110B and the data management end 130.

[0058] In some embodiments, the public network router 1304 may include a public network IP router, and the data management end 130 may include an openVPN server 1306.

[0059] Among them, the openVPN server 1306 can be communicatively connected to the public network router 1304 in a wired manner, and is used to build an openVPN communication tunnel under the wide area network communication link, so that the public network router 1304 and the terminal routers 1102A and 1102B transmit various industrial control data in an encrypted manner.

[0060] In some embodiments, the data management end 130 may include a gateway router 1308.

[0061] The gateway router 1308 can be communicatively connected to the switch 1302 in a wired manner, and is communicatively connected to the public network router (1304) based on the openVPN communication tunnel. A layer 2 tunneling protocol under the wide area network communication link can be built through the gateway router 1308, so that data transparent transmission can be realized between the gateway router 1308 and the terminal router 1102 in a virtual private network based on the layer 2 tunneling protocol. That is to say, through the layer 2 tunnel built by the gateway router 1308, the gateway router 1308 and the terminal router 1102 can be interconnected and communicate under the same subnet without passing through the public network router 1304, so as to improve the stability, reliability and security of data transmission.

[0062] In some embodiments, the gateway router 1308 can also provide a firewall function for the switch 1302 to filter the various industrial control data obtained from the data acquisition end 110 and improve the security of data transmission.

[0063] In some embodiments, the data management end 130 includes a data management server 1310.

[0064] The data management server 1310 can be communicatively connected to the switch 1302 in a wired manner, and is used to obtain various industrial control data from the switch 1302 and perform data processing on the various industrial control data based on preset data processing rules.

[0065] In some embodiments, the dual-link communication system 100 may include a client 140 (refer to Figure 2 ), which can be communicatively connected to the data acquisition terminals 110A and 110B and the data management terminal 130 via the wide area network 124, so that any one of the data acquisition terminals 110A and 110B and the data management terminal 130 can push various industrial control data (such as sewage treatment data, power plant power generation data, etc.) to the client 140 through the wide area network 124 to improve the flexibility of industrial digital management.

[0066] In summary, in this embodiment, by building a dual-link communication system including a local area network communication link and a wide area network communication link between the data acquisition terminal and the data management terminal, when it is detected that a communication failure occurs in the local area network communication link, automatic hot standby switching from the local area network communication link to the wide area network communication link can be achieved, reducing the switching operation time of different communication links, reducing data transmission delay, and ensuring the real-time performance and reliability of industrial data transmission.

[0067] Furthermore, in this embodiment, an OpenVPN communication tunnel is built under the wide area network communication link through the OpenVPN server, so that between the data acquisition terminal and the data management terminal, industrial control data can be transmitted in the wide area network in an encrypted manner to ensure the security of data transmission in the wide area network.

[0068] In addition, in this embodiment, a layer 2 tunneling protocol is built under the wide area network communication link through the gateway router, so that between the data acquisition terminal and the data management terminal, data can be transparently transmitted in a virtual private network based on the layer 2 tunneling protocol without passing through a public network router, shortening the data transmission path and improving the security and reliability of data transmission.

[0069] Specifically, this embodiment provides a new networking solution that can implement three-layer routing master-slave link selection control for industrial local area networks and industrial wide area networks. By combining the three-layer routing link of the industrial local area network and the three-layer secure routing tunnel link of the wide area network OpenVPN, by default, data transmission is preferentially performed through the local area network three-layer routing link with better network quality, and when a communication interruption occurs in the local area network three-layer routing link, it automatically switches to the end-to-end link redundancy transmission channel of the wide area network three-layer encrypted tunnel link for data transmission to meet the high network redundancy data transmission requirements from the industrial field end to end, and is particularly suitable for industrial application scenarios with a wide distribution of sites and a large number of distributed sites, such as water treatment plants, sewage treatment plants, etc.

[0070] In this patent application, nouns and pronouns referring to people are not limited to a specific gender.

[0071] In the above embodiments, the hardware modules can be implemented mechanically or electrically. For example, a hardware module can include permanently dedicated circuits or logic (such as a dedicated processor, FPGA, or ASIC) to perform corresponding operations. A hardware module can also include programmable logic or circuits (such as a general-purpose processor or other programmable processor), which can be temporarily configured by software to perform corresponding operations. The specific implementation method (mechanical method, or dedicated permanent circuit, or temporarily configured circuit) can be determined based on cost and time considerations.

[0072] The above has detailedly demonstrated and described this application through the drawings and preferred embodiments. However, this application is not limited to these disclosed embodiments. Based on the above-mentioned multiple embodiments, those skilled in the art can know that code review means in different above embodiments can be combined to obtain more embodiments of this application, and these embodiments are also within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A dual-link communication system (100), wherein: The system comprises: a terminal router (1102) deployed at a data collection terminal (110) and a switch (1302) and a public network router (1304) deployed at a data management terminal (130); The switch (1302) is connected to the terminal router (1102) through the local area network (122) to establish a local area network communication link; The switch (1302) is connected to the terminal router (1102) through the public network router (1304) via the wide area network (124) to establish a wide area network communication link; The data management terminal (130) and the data acquisition terminal (110) transmit various industrial control data via the local area network communication link, and when the data management terminal (130) and / or the data acquisition terminal (110) detect that the actual data transmission rate of the local area network communication link is less than a given transmission rate threshold, the local area network communication link automatically switches to the wide area network communication link, and transmits various industrial control data via the wide area network communication link.

2. The dual-link communication system (100) according to claim 1, wherein: The system (100) comprises a plurality of data collection terminals (110A, 110B), each of which comprises: At least one industrial control device (1104A, 1104B) for collecting various industrial control data; The terminal router (1102A, 1102B) is communicatively connected to the at least one industrial control device (1104A, 1104B) to obtain various industrial control data from the at least one industrial control device (1104A, 1104B).

3. The dual-link communication system (100) according to claim 2, wherein: The at least one industrial control device (1104A, 1104B) includes at least one of a programmable logic controller and a remote terminal unit.

4. The dual-link communication system (100) according to claim 1, wherein: The data management terminal (130) comprises: An openVPN server (1306), the openVPN server (1306) is communicatively connected to the public network router (1304) and is used to establish an openVPN communication tunnel under the wide area network communication link, so that various industrial control data can be transmitted between the public network router (1304) and the terminal router (1102) in a data encrypted manner.

5. The dual-link communication system (100) according to claim 4, wherein: The data management terminal (130) comprises: A gateway router (1308), the gateway router (1308) is communicatively connected to the switch (1302) and the public network router (1304), and is used to establish a layer 2 tunnel protocol under the wide area network communication link, so that various industrial control data can be transparently transmitted between the gateway router (1308) and the terminal router (1102) in a virtual private network based on the layer 2 tunnel protocol.

6. The dual-link communication system (100) according to claim 1, wherein: The data management terminal (130) comprises: A data management server (1310), the data management server (1310) is communicatively connected to the switch (1302), and is used to obtain various industrial control data from the switch (1302), and perform data processing on various industrial control data based on preset data processing rules.

7. The dual-link communication system (100) according to claim 1, wherein: The system (100) includes a client (140); The data collection terminal (110) and / or the data management terminal (130) are used to push various industrial control data to the client (140) via the wide area network (124).

8. The dual-link communication system (100) according to claim 1, wherein: The local area network (122) includes a fiber optic network; The wide area network (124) includes a 4G communication network or a 5G communication network.

9. The dual-link communication system (100) according to claim 1, wherein: The data collection terminal (110) is arranged at an industrial site; The industrial site includes one of a water plant, a power plant, and a sewage treatment plant.

10. The dual-link communication system (100) according to claim 1, wherein: The switch (1302) includes a three-layer switch.

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