The Industrial Internet

The early 2020s witnessed a wave of innovation in new-generation information and communication technologies, such as 5G, the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as generational advances in industrial development, leading to a leap in the supply capabilities of digital industrialization. Furthermore, the digitalization of industrial equipment, production lines, workshops, and factories are gathering pace, and demand for industrial digitalization is growing. Under the dual effects of supply-push and demand-pull, the integration of digital technologies with the real economy has expanded from everyday scenarios to the field of production, resulting in explosive growth of industrial big data. The collection, transmission, storage, computation, analysis, and application of huge amounts of industrial data require an intelligent vehicle, which is where the Industrial Internet (II) comes in. By comprehensively connecting people, machines, objects, and systems, II provides a new type of manufacturing and service system that encompasses entire industry and value chains. It provides the means to realize digital, networked, and smart development of all types of industries, making it a key driver of the new industrial revolution.

II has many features that are different to the Consumer Internet (CI). II connects equipment, production lines, workshops, factories, enterprises, upstream and downstream elements of industry chains, and ecological partners. Intra- and inter-company collaboration in aspects such as R&D, design, production and manufacturing, operation and management, and operation and maintenance services are increasingly complex, so the volume of data being produced has increased markedly, especially in R&D, design, and manufacturing. Due to the enterprise-specific nature of technology, processes, knowledge, and experiences, the vast majority of data is not shared and is enterprise-specific, so customized network solutions are required. CI, on the other hand, predominantly connects human users, and its primary use is to transfer information between people. As a result, network terminals, data types, and application scenarios are homogeneous, standardized, and reproducible, with personal data highly concentrated on platforms of certain companies.

II has higher requirements in terms of network speed, latency, and bandwidth than CI. For example, the latency requirements for equipment motion control and product visual inspection are less than 1 millisecond (ms) and 10 ms, respectively; whereas, the data latency requirement of public communication networks is 100 ms. As the data transmission capabilities of II have a direct bearing on production safety, the reliability, stability, and security requirements of its networks are more stringent. Developing an II network makes industrial data elements more valuable and results in more integrated and efficient applications of digital technology.

II applications are used to achieve the digitalized upgrading of enterprises. Stark differences between industries and enterprises, varying levels of digitalization of industrial equipment, protracted industrial software development and adaptation cycles, and a high degree of asset specificity have made formulating a universal development model challenging, so return on investment cycles tend to be longer. The threshold for CI applications, on the other hand, is lower, and it is more replicable. The cultivation of user habits has overturned the traditional consumption model. The CI business model is based on high levels of traffic by large numbers of users, with front-end fees charged to ordinary consumers and back-end fees charged to information or software service enterprises, enabling economies of scale and attracting higher levels of private investment.

The system architecture of II consists of networks, identifiers, platforms, data, and security. Its content boundaries differ significantly from those of CI. II networks comprise the intranet and extranet of workplaces, and they are the key infrastructure for connecting people, machines, devices, and systems. Identifiers consist of ID codes and a name system. Codes are the means of identifying production resources, such as machines, products, and data. The name system provides information such as “who I am,” “where I am” and “what I am doing.” A platform connects to equipment and applications, supporting data aggregation, modeling and analysis, knowledge reuse, and application innovations. Data is a new production factor that can be used to develop new products and services and create value in combination with other production factors. Security refers to the technical and managerial protocols used to prevent the unauthorized access of, or damage and interference to, II systems, devices, and data. 

The goal of II is to improve the competitiveness of industries and enterprises through digital empowerment. These improvements include reduced costs, greater efficiency, higher quality, better environmental credentials, and enhanced security. The development of II applications is a gradual process, from single applications in each link of research, production, supply, marketing, and service provision, to whole-process comprehensive integration and extension, requiring the development of typical application models for platform design, intelligent production, network collaboration, customization, service expansion, digital management, and so on. II applications require collaborative development, extending from leading enterprises to entities both up and down industry chains, with large enterprises driving II development in small enterprises, downstream enterprises driving development in upstream enterprises, and emerging industries driving development in traditional industries. This enables the digital transformation of processes from prototype to product.

Editor: Li Xiaoqiong