Containerized OT Data Adapter for Cloud Migration
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial devices generate data using specific OT protocols like CIP, making it difficult to migrate OT data to cloud platforms using existing IT cloud solutions.
Innovation Solution
An industrial device data access adapter is provided, which executes as a containerized module on an IoT edge system, interfacing with industrial devices to collect data using native OT protocols and migrating this data to a cloud platform using existing IoT edge system services.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If existing IT cloud solutions are used to migrate OT data, then cloud platform capabilities are leveraged, but protocol compatibility issues arise due to proprietary OT protocols
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an adapter as an intermediary component that sits between industrial devices using proprietary OT protocols and cloud platforms. This adapter translates data from device-specific protocols into standardized cloud-compatible formats, enabling cloud platform adaptability without requiring changes to the complex proprietary protocols themselves.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution segments the migration system into distinct components: the industrial devices, the adapter (gateway), and the cloud platform. This segmentation allows each component to maintain its own protocol characteristics while enabling interoperability through standardized interfaces at the adapter layer.
2Adaptability or versatility
If protocol-specific adapters are implemented for each industrial device type, then protocol compatibility is achieved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The adapter is designed with universal capabilities to handle multiple industrial protocols through a unified architecture. Rather than requiring separate dedicated adapters for each device type, the single adapter implements multi-functional protocol translation, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining broad protocol support coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The adapter dynamically changes data parameters and formats based on the source protocol type. By configuring different translation parameters for different protocols, the system achieves protocol compatibility without implementing separate hard-coded paths for each protocol, thereby reducing structural complexity.
3Reliability
If custom migration solutions are built for each industrial device, then data migration succeeds, but implementation time and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The adapter is pre-configured with built-in support for multiple common industrial protocols before deployment. This preliminary preparation eliminates the need for time-consuming custom configuration during migration, as the adapter already contains the necessary translation capabilities to handle various device types out of the box.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of building custom migration solutions from scratch for each device, the system uses standardized adapter templates and pre-defined protocol profiles that can be copied and deployed rapidly. This approach maintains migration reliability through standardized implementations while significantly reducing implementation time compared to custom builds.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
An industrial device data access adapter allows migration of operational technology (OT) data to a cloud platform to be executed and managed using the same cloud infrastructure used to manage migration of information technology (IT) data. The adapter is designed to be installed and executed as a containerized module on an IoT edge system or device. The adapter interfaces with industrial devices to collect data using native OT data format and communication protocols, and leverages the existing software framework of the IoT edge system - including data broker services and module management services - to move this data to a cloud platform. Since the adapter is designed to interface with the native framework of the IoT edge system on which the adapter executes, the adapter can be managed using through the existing ToT infrastructure of the cloud provider.