Open Industrial Automation Platform

2024

Opening of the open APCS development center

A center for the development of an open automated process control system (APCS), created as part of a national project for the development of industrial automation, has begun to work in Russia. This was reported in the press service of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on September 18, 2024.

The center is located in Tyumen. Gazprom Neft is one of the key participants in this project, providing modern equipment and an expert base for comprehensive research.

source = Ministry of Industry and Trade

The creation of the center is part of a national project to create an open platform for industrial automation, which was initiated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The center will conduct research on equipment and software in the field of industrial automation and metrology. The center's tasks also include the development and approval of national and industry standards, pilot tests and the introduction of new solutions within the framework of a unified process control system. The engineers of the center will ensure the compatibility of various technological solutions and their integration, which will improve the efficiency and manageability of the infrastructure at the company's facilities.

The center is equipped with advanced equipment, which makes it possible to conduct research in accordance with current industry standards. Interaction between equipment manufacturers, software developers and other participants in the technological community will be implemented here. In addition, the center provides training for students of Tyumen universities and advanced training courses for employees, which will create skills in working with modern automated systems.

Within the framework of this initiative, great attention is paid to the concept of platform and openness for the APCS segment. The creation of an open APCS architecture involves the compatibility of all elements, regardless of the manufacturer, which is an important step in strengthening the technological sovereignty of Russia. The project is focused on cross-industry development and involves flexible process management.^[1]

Under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, they decided to create a center of competence for the development of APCS to replace imported solutions in industry

In July, the Ministry of Industry and Trade supported the idea of ​ ​ creating a development competence center (CDC) under the department in the field of open APCS for industrial enterprises. TAdviser was told about this by a source who is well aware of the results of a meeting of representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade held in July with participants in the intersectoral working group on the development of an open APCS operating under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and confirmed in the department itself. In the near future, a protocol is expected to be released following the meeting, where this should be recorded.

At the moment, a decision has been made on the need to create an APCS Development Competence Center. The creation of such a CDC should be coordinated by the Ministry of Digital Development of Russia, after which it will be considered by the presidium of the Government Commission on Digital Development, the use of information technologies to improve the quality of life and the conditions for doing business, TAdviser was told in the Ministry of Industry and Trade, adding that the procedure for creating a CDC is transparent and posted in open sources.

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Freepik/fanjianhua

The prerequisites for the creation of the CDC were the needs for the consolidation of expertise and resources of market participants, providing them with the necessary resources and support for the successful implementation of projects in the field of open APCS, project control, aggregation of customer requests for functionality and technical characteristics ON and the formation of cross-industry proposals in terms of system-wide and application software.

The key goal of the CDC should be to ensure the conditions for the implementation of the market transition of enterprises of key industries of the Russian Federation to domestic solutions in the field of APCS, ensuring technical connectivity and building end-to-end chains between enterprises.

The CDC will allow consolidating the forces of the working group members in fulfilling the tasks set, monitoring the deadlines set for the development of APCS components, as well as obtaining subsidies for the development of potential particularly significant projects, the Ministry of Industry and Trade explained to TAdviser.

At the moment, the working group has done a great job of consolidating industrial companies around the task of developing an open APCS. Within the framework of the working group, there are already five technical working groups and subgroups by personnel and competencies. Currently, its participants have already prepared two preliminary national standards for open distributed control systems, developed draft documents in four areas: an open software PLC (programmable logic controller), an open integrated development environment, a data gateway and an open data bus. And now draft requirements are being developed in three areas: security services, an open orchestrator, the structure of components and the rules for their interaction.

Now the working group is actively working on the revision of the "Road Map for the Development of an Open APCS," which represents the stage of development of APCS components, distribution by responsible contractor, the department specified. In 2025, it is planned to pilot the introduction of finished components to industrial enterprises. The working group also conducts thematic events on APCS.

The working group on open APCS, we recall, was created in August 2023 by order of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, its chairman is Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Vasily Shpak. The formation of a group of companies included in the industrial centers of competence (ICC) "Chemistry" and "Metallurgy" was initiated. As of August 2024, it includes 27 largest industrial companies, and about 20 more companies participate unofficially. Activities on the development of open APCS are carried out by the members of the working group, based on the requests of the largest APCS consumers in Russia, who need to replace solutions of this class from foreign manufacturers.

The main wave of CDCs uniting software vendors and ICCs uniting representatives of industries that need to replace foreign software were created as part of the implementation of the list of government orders in the summer of 2022 to stimulate import substitution. And by the end of 2023, there were already 13 CCR approved by the legal commission, the work of which is supervised by the Ministry of Digital Development.

For an open APCS to replace Siemens and GE, which is created by Russian industrialists, there is an acute lack of components

The development of an open APCS in Russia to replace Western solutions for large industrial companies is moving from creating technical requirements for the creation of test benches. This information was voiced on July 31 at an online meeting organized by the working group on open industrial APCS under the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. In addition to the current status of work on an open APCS, the group members also spoke about the difficulties: for example, the market lacks some important components necessary for the system.

This working group, we recall, was officially created almost a year ago, in August 2023, by order of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, its chairman is Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Vasily Shpak. Its formation was initiated by companies included in the industrial centers of competence (ICC) "Chemistry" and "Metallurgy." As of July 2024, the group includes 27 largest industrial companies, and about 20 more companies participate in its work unofficially. Accordingly, the activities on the development of open APCS are carried out by the participants of the working group, based on the requests of the largest consumers of APCS in Russia.

It includes technical subgroups, which can be attended by representatives of not only customer companies, but also software developers, integrators, etc. The subgroups now involve about 20-30 experts who are working on technical tasks.

During the meeting, Roman Shestakov, coordinator of the architecture working group, explained that the openness of APCS implies that the system will have open specifications, standards, understandable principles for the formation and interaction of all components with each other and the ability for integrators and vendors to interact during the development of the system. At the same time, we are not talking about creating an open source solution, which will be provided to everyone for free.

It has already been determined which large companies participating in the working group take over the coordination of the creation of certain modules of the open APCS - from the development of technical requirements, if necessary (if the solution is at an early stage of technological development) - the search for subsidies together with the FSIV to the organization of test stands and experimental implementations.

When developing the architecture of open APCS, the O-PAS standard developed by the Open Process Automation (OPAF) forum was taken as a sample so as not to reinvent the wheel from scratch and apply existing standards, protocols, etc. O-PAS defines an open, compatible and secure architecture for industrial process automation systems. In the case of the Russian open APCS, we are talking about its adaptation, not blind copying.

Some components for the system are already on the market, some are in different stages of development, and something will have to be created from scratch. The priority now is what you need to create from scratch.

In addition, there are components that are already on the market, but they are incompatible with open architecture, said Roman Shestakov at a meeting of the working group. These include, for example, programmable logic controllers (PLCs or PLCs): in terms of openness, the solutions of this class that are now on the market need to be finalized.

There are problems with the presence of SCADAs compatible with open APCS. PLC and SCADA are the main application components here, and in the open APCS roadmap they are classified as high priority components.

Sergey Cherkasov, head of the development of promising management systems at Digital Technologies and Platforms at EuroChem, explained that the companies whose logos are presented in the roadmap are those who have created an intersectoral working group and are leading in it.

At the same time, despite the fact that the request for open APCS comes from customers and a number of its components are already "assigned" to specific companies, there is still no responsible customer for system-wide infrastructure software. Sergei Cherkasov explains this by the fact that "customers do not understand anything about this." In industrial companies, such software is usually not developed, and even clear requirements for it are difficult for them to formulate. At some point, problems arose, including writing real-time OS requirements for PLC.

Since the infrastructure layer remains "mysterious and complex" for customers, the working group is now in dialogue with developers and integrators.

Sergey Cherkasov emphasized that in the layers of components, including the hardware and software infrastructure, the middle level, which provides the ability to connect application functionality with the software and hardware infrastructure, as well as the upper application tools, the average level looks like the most problematic level for customers. This is the level where the framework, bus, orchestrator for real-time systems are developed.

The reason is that this is not commercially profitable for any APCS manufacturer on the market, explained Sergey Cherkasov. Therefore, if customers need an open system, then they need to concentrate on the middle layer, which does not exist now, "invest their own money."

Vladimir Volkov, vice president for work with large corporate clients of Rostelecom, told TAdviser that their company will participate in the creation of products and elements of an open platform for industrial automation. Despite the complexity of the current situation due to the fact that the total volume of production is not enough to cover the market request, Rostelecom has the opportunity to take over the provision of production automation services, replacing foreign companies, the top manager noted.

In the future, we plan to present an alternative analogue of the Siemens product and SCADA software, "added Vladimir Volkov.

2023: Development Announcement

The industrial sector has recently been actively discussing the idea of ​ ​ creating an open APCS architecture for Russian enterprises. Companies from several industrial competence centers (ICCs), including Severstal, participate in the discussion of this initiative, said on May 17, 2023 at the demodn of the IC Metallurgy, deputy chairman of this ICC, CEO of Severstal-Infocom Sergey Dunaev.

The proposal implies the development of the APCS architecture on open standards. In fact, we are talking about creating a standard similar to how there is a USB standard, for example, he explained. Unified standards would make it possible to use solutions from different vendors within the same automation platform.

The idea is that where you can combine and save money, you need to do it, - explained the general director of Severstal-Infocom.

From the presentation of Sergey Dunaev

Not only software is associated with the direction of APCS: these are still many specific sensors, controllers, difficult optics, often also various "hardware" sewn directly with the unit. And here even integrators who carry "anything from anywhere" may not help everywhere, since this is not a product for a wide market. They can bring Siemens products, and, for example, Messer gas cutting machine software, which are few in all of Europe, will not be brought, especially since this is now associated with high risks, says Sergey Dunaev.

The development of an open architecture does not replace the necessary work on hardware, microelectronics and in general with the element base of APCS. But in terms of software, if we come to an independent open architecture within Russia, this would shorten the path to replacing some of the imported products - the most common solutions.

The driver of the initiative to create an open APCS architecture can be called the Association "Industrial Innovations." According to its website, as of May 2023, it includes the already mentioned Severstal, as well as Gazpromneft Digital Solutions, Kirovsky Zavod, NefteTransService and Fintech Lab. During the association, a working group on open platforms for industrial automation of APCS has already been created. Representatives of the association promote the idea at various industry events, Severstal looks the most active in this so far. For example, the presentation of its representative from one of the industry events held in April 2023.

In April 2023, the association reported on the results of a survey of a number of industrial enterprises, which showed that the respondents see the main risk in the field of APCS as a potential impossibility to provide technical processes, the threat of production shutdown due to inaccessibility/difficulties with the supply of element base, spare parts, software licenses, updates, technical support.

The main risk surveyed enterprises also consider dependence on proprietary solutions of vendors - "vendor lock," the impossibility of a painless transition to solutions of other vendors^[2]

Participants see the goal of the initiative on open platforms and APCS standards in creating a modern ecosystem, an industrial production management platform based on open "rules of the game" - standards, technical requirements, protocols. The task is to "untie" software solutions from the "iron" part, to help avoid dependence on vendors - both foreign and domestic.

Such an open ecosystem would allow industrial companies to obtain modern comprehensive automation solutions at competitive prices, and create new markets for Russian developers and solution manufacturers, and open up opportunities for production development.

If we talk about specific areas of APCS standardization, then the most acute problem is the lack of standards in the field of communication and data exchange protocols. Also, in the course of a survey conducted by the association, standards on architecture, development environment, real-time operating system, safety, reflection of APCS in construction documentation were named.

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