Disruptive trends in automation technology

The industrial sector is being transformed by the convergence of information technology and operational technology. The latter is another name for automation technology and covers established systems such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), programmable logic controllers (PLC), fieldbuses, and automation and control systems. As this technology is connected to the Internet and 5G networks, some monitoring, control, and analytic functionalities are deployed to the edge or cloud, and researchers are challenged to ensure the security, dependability, real-time performance, and maintainability of the resulting systems. The big data that is accessible from these systems create opportunities for artificial intelligence applications that can further disrupt the established practices in the automation domain.