Wireless Relay Abnormality Detection for Encrypted Plant Networks
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In wireless communication systems for plants and factories, the centralized management of encrypted data from field devices leads to inefficiencies in plant operations, increased operator burden, and degraded device maintenance efficiency due to unnecessary alarms and encrypted information being inaccessible for maintenance workers.
Innovation Solution
A wireless relay device and communication system that decrypts and processes data from field devices locally, using sectioned management and determination tables to identify abnormalities, and encrypts results for secure transmission, allowing for efficient operation and reduced operator burden by preventing unnecessary alarms and enabling secure data access for maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data from field devices is centrally managed at a high-level device, then security is ensured through encryption, but plant operation efficiency is degraded due to unnecessary alarms
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the wireless network into multiple sections, each managed by a separate wireless relay device. Each relay device independently manages field devices within its section, determining abnormalities and generating alarms only for its own section. This segmentation prevents unnecessary alarms from other sections from affecting plant operation, while maintaining security through localized data processing.
2Loss of information
If all field device data is centrally managed at a high-level device, then comprehensive monitoring is achieved, but operator burden increases due to multiple alarms requiring attention
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the wireless network into multiple sections, each managed by a separate wireless relay device. Each relay device independently manages field devices within its section, determining abnormalities and generating alarms only for its own section. This segmentation reduces the number of alarms requiring operator attention while maintaining comprehensive monitoring through distributed management.
3Reliability
If data is encrypted for secure transmission, then security is ensured, but device maintenance efficiency is degraded due to inaccessible information
Solution Approach 1:
The wireless relay device extracts and stores decrypted data from field devices in its own memory. This allows maintenance workers to access the decrypted data directly from the relay device without needing to connect to the high-level device or decrypt data remotely, significantly improving device maintenance efficiency while security is maintained through controlled decryption at the relay level.
4Adaptability or versatility
If a large-scale wireless network with many field devices is built, then system capability is enhanced, but plant operation efficiency degrades due to increased alarm generation
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the large-scale wireless network into multiple sections, each managed by a separate wireless relay device. Each relay device independently determines abnormalities and generates alarms only for its own section. This segmentation ensures that even in a large-scale network, the number of alarms requiring operator attention remains manageable, preventing plant operation efficiency from degrading as system capability increases.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A wireless relay device that performs relay of encrypted data over a wireless network, the wireless relay device, includes: a determiner that determines whether or not there is an abnormality using first data which is transmitted to its own device from wireless devices belonging to a preset section among wireless devices joining the wireless network; a transmission controller that transmits second data indicating a result of the determination of the determiner to a preset transmission destination; and an encryption processor that decrypts the first data and encrypts the second data transmitted by the transmission controller.