This course will be delivered by instructors across 4 different campus, including Dieter Lutzmayr and Dr Gregor Kandare from CAMPUS 02 University of Applied Sciences, Mirco Lovisetto from ENAIP Veneto, Pablo Paino De Pedro. from Comunidad da Madrid and Dr Liam Moore from the Munster Technological University.
Dr. Liam Moore :- holds a Ph.D in electronic engineering and teaches within the department of Electronic and Electrical engineering within the Munster Technological University (MTU), Cork Ireland. Liam has extensive experience as a researcher focusing on topics on IOT and Industry 4.0 and has been involved with a number of EU funded research projects around industrial automation and energy management. Liam has previously worked for companies such as Johnson and Johnson managing R&D Teams focused on Sensing and IOT technologies.
Dipl.-Ing. Dieter Lutzmayr, is professor at FH CAMPUS 02 UAS since 2009. He is the deputy head of the Automation Technology department, responsible for the technical aspects of the R&D projects and for the field of software engineering in the department.
Dr. Gregor Kandare holds a PhD in electrical engineering, specialisation in process control. Since 2021 he has been teaching at the department of Automation Technology at the FH CAMPUS 02 UAS in Graz, Austria. Gregor is responsible for the field of control engineering and is the deputy head of the bachelor's degree programme Smart Automation.
Pablo Paino de Pedro Manager of the company Formación y montajes automaticos S.L. since 2008. Industrial Technical Engineer specialising in industrial electronics. 35 years of experience designing, programming and installing automated electromechanical systems and machinery in several Spanish companies such as STARCO and FESTO, among others. 20 years of experience designing and giving training courses for employment and technical improvement courses to teachers.
Mirco Lovisetto Seasoned professional with extensive experience in the refrigeration and vertical farming industries. Expertise in the construction, installation, and maintenance of refrigeration systems, with in-depth knowledge of all system components. Proven management skills honed as a technical coordinator and project manager. Founder of a startup in the vertical farming sector and currently a teacher of mechanics and industrial automation at ENAIP Veneto.
Remote maintenance and monitoring of industrial automation and control systems offer significant advantages for industrial automation, enhancing efficiency, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. By enabling real-time data access and control from anywhere, these systems allow for proactive monitoring, early detection of issues, and swift response to potential problems, thereby minimizing downtime and maintenance costs. The next generation of automation engineers and technicians need to understand the basic underlying principles and technologies that will enable safe and secure monitoring and maintenance of remote equipment, and how best to leverage the advancing industrial internet of things and ensure that the skill set that they possess enables them to have a successful career within the emerging Industry 4.0 landscape.
With that in mind the course offered here covers four main topics that have been identified via survey from various companies as skills that are required to enable remote maintenance and monitoring of automation and control equipment these are
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Remote Maintenance
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Remote Monitoring and Data Acquisition
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Remote Update of Programs and Functionalities
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Industrial Cybersecurity
Each of these topics can be studied in this course in isolation or taken all together depending on the students’ requirements. At the end of the course the student should have an understanding of the concepts and technologies that are required for remote monitoring and maintenance on industrial manufacturing assets.
This course has 4 main topics covered each, topic will comprise of multiple units. The topics covered are:
- Corrective Remote Maintenance
- Remote Monitoring and Data Acquisition
- Remote Update of Programs and Functionalities
- Industrial Cybersecurity
Corrective Remote Maintenance
The units under this topic will cover using remote maintenance systems to troubleshoot and resolve equipment issues. It will focus on
- The guiding principles of remote maintenance
- Different remote maintenance technologies and tools
- Fault diagnosis techniques
- Remote troubleshooting best practices
- Security considerations for remote maintenance connections
Remote Monitoring and Data Acquisition
This topic covers data gathering practices and how to establish connections to secure automation networks for the purpose of gathering maintenance data. It will focus on
- Introduction to Industry 4.0
- The automation environment
- OPC-UA introduction and overview
- MQTT Introduction and overview
- How to set up an MQTT network for remote data acquisition
Remote Update of Programs and Functionalities
This topic will focus on remote updates on machinery. The units will cover the following
- Guiding principles of remote program updates
- Introduction to different types of PLC systems
- Different remote update mechanisms for various equipment types
- Test and verification procedures after remote updates
- Security considerations and version control of remote updates
Industrial Cybersecurity
This topic covers cybersecurity principles and practices relevant to securing industrial automation systems. Units will cover
- Types of cyber threats targeting control systems
- Secure communication protocols for remote connections
- Network hardening techniques for industrial networks.
- Virtual private network management for secure access
- Best Practices for industrial cybersecurity incident response
- Understand and configure system operating parameters and alarm thresholds.
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Establish secure remote connections to automation systems.
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Analyse machine data history and modify parameters for continued operation.
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Develop troubleshooting procedures and provide remote support to technicians.
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Explain the concept of Industry 4.0 and its practical application in factory environments.
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Understand common data gathering infrastructure used within factories.
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Configure and debug internal data gathering systems based on protocols like OPC-UA and MQTT
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Explain the importance of secure and efficient remote updates for industrial machinery.
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Identify different mechanisms used for remote program and functionality updates.
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Apply best practices for safe and reliable remote updates.
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Understanding the specific threats targeting industrial control systems (ICS) compared to traditional IT threats.
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Learning about secure protocols like PPTP, L2TP, SSL/TLS, SSH, and IPSec used to safeguard data confidentiality and integrity during communication over IP networks.
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Network Hardening Techniques: Building strong network defenses to minimize vulnerabilities.
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Virtual Private Network (VPN) Management: Learning how to install and configure OpenVPN servers on Linux PCs and VPN routers
Previous knowledge on the following would be advantageous but not necessarily essential
- Understanding of PLC systems
- General networking knowledge
- Understanding of automation systems
Topic:- Corrective Remote Maintenace
Unit 1:- System Operating Parameters
Unit 2:- Alarm and fault signaling parameters
Unit 3:- Remote connections , network security
Unit 4:- Machine History
Unit 5:- Procedures for troubleshooting in the shortest possible time
Topic :- Remote data monitoring
Unit 1-2:- IOT 4.0 , The automation environment
Unit 3-4:- OPC-UA and MQTT Introduction
Unit 5-6:- Configuration of MQTT networks (Brokers and clients)
Unit 7:- External Networking interfacing and data collection
Topic:- Cybersecurity
Unit 1:- Introduction to computer security
Unit 2:- OT zone protection
Unit 3:- Techniques for remote access to industrial facilities
Topic:- Remote Update of Programs and Functionalities
Unit 1: Introduction and Experimental Setup
Unit 2: Experimental Setup
Unit 3: Software Installation
Unit 4: Basic Programming
Unit 5: Full operation programming
Unit 6: Theroy on PLC Upgrades and Updates
Unit 7: In place updates and upgrades
Unit 8: Remote updates over secure connection
This project (Project number: 2021-1-ES01-KA220-VET-000033027) has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.