For many years a successfully established forum for all questions around industrial communication: The annual colloquium "Communication in Automation (KommA)". The special feature this year: The entire event of the Institute for Industrial Information Technology (inIT) of the OWL University of Applied Sciences had to take place in cyberspace on October 29, 2020 due to covid-19. With an interactive program and high-quality contributions from science and industry, the participants were nevertheless offered an exciting and informative annual colloquium.
Interactive, virtual "meetings" with other participants and professional exchange in the area of industrial communication: over 60 participants from industry and science discussed current developments, trends and challenges in the fields at KommA 2020. This year's web conference focused on technologies and system aspects for the Internet of Things and 5G.
All participants were welcomed virtually by conference chair Professor Jürgen Jasperneite, Executive Board Member at inIT and Director of Fraunhofer IOSB-INA: "As every year, we have put together a colorful technological assortment of topics and are pleased that KommA can take place and that this time we can virtually exchange the latest research findings on industrial communication systems as well as data exchange in automation technology."
Dr. David Lou, Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer at Huawei Technologies, delivered this year's keynote address on "Large Scale New IP-based Network for Smart Factories." Lou looked at communications in the context of a smart factory, and in his talk he presented an exciting development on how to achieve real-time capability via the IP protocol while implementing very large networks.
"The challenge this year was to ensure a stable system and good networks for the dual system of live broadcasting and broadcasting pre-recorded video," Jasperneite said. In 23 talks and poster presentations, experts presented and discussed current approaches and research results in the areas of communication systems, system analysis and design of communication systems, aspects of networked embedded real-time systems, and the various application areas.
"Not as usual during the coffee break, but as in speed dating, the participants were randomly connected via the conference tool and were thus able to make new contacts or discuss project ideas," explains Jasperneite. He also sees the web conference as an opportunity for KommA to reach new groups of people and sums up: "Industrial communication is the nervous system of every automation solution and therefore of Industrie 4.0. Despite Corona, the scientific discussion did not have to be restricted. We got great feedback from the participants."
Together with the Institute for Automation and Communication (ifak) in Magdeburg, inIT organized the annual KommA colloquium for the eleventh time. KommA is the forum for science and industry in German-speaking countries and offers experts in the field of industrial communication the opportunity to exchange views on current technical and scientific approaches and issues.
Industrial communication has its roots in Germany and has been the mainstay of every decentralized automation system for more than 20 years. Under the heading of Industry 4.0, intelligent networking will continue to play a very important role in the future. However, the use of information technologies, which were often designed against a background other than their use in an industrial environment, also poses new challenges. In view of the networking typical of Industry 4.0, the importance of reliable and secure communication systems is increasing.
The next KommA will be held in Magdeburg on 2021. Further information: www.jk-komma.de