US-12621368-B2 - Method for configuring a communication network for the cyclical transmission of messages

US12621368B2US 12621368 B2US12621368 B2US 12621368B2US-12621368-B2

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for configuring an industrial real-time-capable communications network for the cyclical transmitting of messages (NWM), each comprising one or more data sets (DS 1 , . . . , DS 4 ). The communications network ( 1 ) comprises a message source ( 10 ) for generating and cyclically sending the messages (NWM), at least one message sink ( 16, 17, 18 ) for receiving and processing the messages (NWM), as well as at least one network component ( 12, 14 ) which forwards messages (NWM) from the message source to the message sinks. The configuring comprises determining (S 1 ) a network topology of the communications network ( 1 ) for the transmitting of a data stream to be sent from the message source ( 10 ) in the future, in which the messages (NWM) are each cyclically sent with all data sets. It is determined (S 2 ) which of the data sets in the data stream a respective one of the message sinks wants to receive. In addition, a respective filter ( 12 F, 14 F) is determined (S 3 ) and designed (S 4 ) for each network component, whereby, from the network topology, the components connected to the respective network components and the data sets required for the connected message sinks are determined. In this way, during operation of the communications network ( 1 ), exclusively required data sets are transmitted in the messages (NWM) in a downstream direction of the data stream.

Inventors

Thomas Fischer
Stephan Höme
Konstantin JUNG
Sven Kerschbaum
Marcel Kiessling
Frank Volkmann

Assignees

SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20190506

Claims (20)

1 . A method for configuring a communication network with real-time capability for a cyclical transmission of messages, wherein a respective message comprises one or more datasets, and wherein the communication network comprises a message source that is configured to generate and to cyclically send messages, one or more message sinks configured to receive and to process the messages, and a network component of one or more network components that receives the messages from the message source or another network component of the one or more network components and forwards the messages to the one or more message sinks or a further network component of the one or more network components, the method comprising: determining a network topology of the communication network for a transmission of a data stream to be sent from the message source in the future, in which the messages are each cyclically sent with all of the one or more datasets; identifying which dataset or which of the datasets of the one or more datasets in the data stream a respective one of the message sinks would like to receive; determining a respective filter for each network component of the one or more network component by virtue of message sinks, network components, or message sinks and network components connected to the respective communication network, and the datasets required for the connected message sinks identified from the network topology; and setting up the respective filter in each network component of the one or more network components, as a result of which, during operation of the communication network, received messages are filtered in a downstream direction of the data stream in the messages and only required datasets are transmitted.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication network is based on an Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture Publish/Subscribe (OPC UA PubSub) standard.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination of the network topology is based on a Time Sensitive Network (TSN) standard.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each dataset in the message is provided with a dataset identifier, wherein the dataset identifier is processed in the filters as a filter criterion.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the filter of each network component is configured exclusively depending on the datasets required for the connected message sinks.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the filter of each network component is configured depending on the network components connected in the downstream direction of the data stream and the datasets required for the message sinks connected thereto.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a respective filter is determined and set up once before the data stream is synchronized and sent.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a respective filter is determined and set up by a superordinate computation unit that obtains or requests from the message sinks information regarding which dataset or which of the datasets in the data stream a respective one of the message sinks would like to receive.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the respective filter is determined and set up by the respective network component that obtains or requests from the message sinks information regarding which dataset or which of the datasets in the data stream a respective one of the message sinks of the one or more message sinks would like to receive.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein a respective network component obtains or requests from the network components connected in the downstream direction of the data stream information regarding which dataset or which of the datasets in the data stream are needed.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the filtering is carried out by a filter implemented in software or hardware.
12 . A communication network with real-time capability, that is configured for a cyclical transmission of messages, wherein a respective message comprises one or more datasets, the communication network comprising: a message source device configured to generate and to cyclically send the messages; at least one message sink device configured to receive and to process the messages; a network component device of a plurality of network component devices that receive the messages from the message source device or one or more other network component devices of the plurality of network component devices and forwards the messages to the at least one message sink device or one of the one or more other network component devices; wherein the communication network is configured to: determine a network topology of the communication network for the transmission of a data stream to be sent from the message source device in the future, in which the messages are each cyclically sent with all datasets; identify which dataset or which of the datasets in the data stream a respective message sink device of the at least one message sink devices would like to receive; determine a respective filter for each network component, by virtue of the message sink devices and/or network component devices connected to the respective network component device of the plurality of network component devices, and the datasets required for the connected message sinks identified from the network topology; and set up the respective filter in each network component device, as a result of which, during operation of the communication network, only required datasets are transmitted in a downstream direction of the data stream in the messages.
13 . The communication network of claim 12 , wherein the communication network is based on an Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture Publish/Subscribe (OPC UA PubSub) standard.
14 . The communication network of claim 12 , wherein the determination of the network topology is based on a Time Sensitive Network (TSN) standard.
15 . The communication network of claim 12 , wherein each dataset in the message is provided with a dataset identifier, wherein the dataset identifier is processed in the filters as a filter criterion.
16 . The communication network of claim 12 , wherein the filter of each network component device is configured exclusively depending on the datasets required for the connected message sink devices.
17 . The communication network of claim 12 , wherein the filter of each network component device configured depending on the network component devices connected in the downstream direction of the data stream and the datasets required for the message sink devices connected thereto.
18 . The communication network of claim 12 , wherein a respective filter is determined and set up once before the data stream is synchronized and sent.
19 . The communication network of claim 12 , wherein a respective filter is determined and set up by a superordinate computation unit that obtains or requests from the message sink devices information regarding which dataset or which of the datasets in the data stream a respective one of the message sink devices would like to receive.
20 . The communication network of claim 19 , wherein a respective network component device obtains or requests from the network component devices connected in the downstream direction of the data stream information regarding which dataset or which of the datasets in the data stream are needed.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This present patent document is a § 371 nationalization of PCT Application Serial Number PCT/EP2019/061506, filed May 6, 2019, designating the United States, which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference. FIELD Embodiments relate to a method for configuring an industrial communication network with real-time capability for the cyclical transmission of messages. BACKGROUND In industrial communication networks, efforts are made to put as little load as possible on the networks during the transmission of data. This is intended to be achieved by virtue of unnecessary data not being transmitted at all via the communication network. Only through this may an intended real-time capability and the meeting of criteria associated therewith be reliably achieved. However, the communication by the OPC UA PubSub Part 14 (Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture Publish/Subscribe) standard used in industrial communication networks counteracts the efforts. A typical industrial communication network includes a message source as sender, at least one message sink as receiver and at least one network component as respective connection element between the sender and receiver(s). In the case of communication by OPC UA PubSub, on the part of the message source (so-called publisher) data are drawn from a model, packed into respective groups of the model, and sent as messages (so-called network messages). A respective message sink (so-called subscriber) accepts the messages and checks which of the groups it has been subscribed to and uses the corresponding information from the messages. Groups that are irrelevant for a respective message sink are discarded by the message sink when the message is received. A load on the message sink is thus reduced through the discarding of unnecessary groups. The communication network is however put under load by the unnecessary transmission of redundant information. This additional load has until now been accepted at the cost of the communication network, that however inflates the costs thereof and has a negative effect on the real-time capability of the data transmission with respect to latency times and/or jitter. EP 2 355 403 discloses a method for distributing data by multicast, wherein the receivers and senders distribute their data via a publication/subscribe mechanism. Data packets may be filtered in this case based on available topology information in the network. BRIEF SUMMARY AND DESCRIPTION The scope of the present invention is defined solely by the appended claims and is not affected to any degree by the statements within this summary. The present embodiments may obviate one or more of the drawbacks or limitations in the related art. Embodiments provide a method for configuring an industrial communication network with real-time capability for the transmission of messages and an industrial communication network with real-time capability, that are improved in terms of function and/or structure in such a way that the load on the communication network during the cyclical transmission of messages is kept as low as possible. A method for configuring an industrial communication network with real-time capability for the cyclical transmission of messages is proposed. A respective message includes one or more datasets. The communication network includes a message source, at least one message sink and at least one network component as a component that forwards messages. The message source is configured to generate and cyclically send messages. The at least one message sink is configured to receive and to process the messages. The at least one network component receives the messages from the message source or one of the network components and forwards same to the at least one message sink or one of the network components. The method includes the step of determining a network topology of the communication network for the transmission of a data stream to be sent from the message source in the future, by virtue of the messages each being cyclically sent with all datasets. The method includes the step of identifying which dataset or which of the datasets in the data stream a respective one of the message sinks would like to receive (that is to say subscribe to). A further step includes determining a respective filter for each network component, by virtue of the components connected to the respective network component, including message sinks and/or network components, and the datasets required for the connected message sinks being identified from the network topology. Finally, the method includes the step of setting up the respective filter in each network component, as a result of which, during operation of the communication network, received messages are filtered in the downstream direction of the data stream and only the datasets required downstream are transmitted in the messages. Required datasets are the datasets to which the message sin