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Traffic-Aware Configuration of OPC UA PubSub in Industrial Automation Networks

Fulltext:


Authors:

Kasra Ekrad, Bjarne Johansson, Inés Álvarez , Saad Mubeen, Mohammad Ashjaei

Research groups:

Real-Time Systems Design
Complex Real-Time Embedded Systems
Heterogeneous systems - hardware software co-design

Publication Type:

Conference/Workshop Paper

Venue:

IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT 2026)

Publisher:

IEEE

Abstract

Interoperability across industrial automation systems is a cornerstone of Industry 4.0. To address this need, the OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) Publish-Subscribe (PubSub) model offers a promising mechanism for enabling efficient communication among heterogeneous devices. PubSub facilitates resource sharing and communication configuration between devices, but it lacks clear guidelines for mapping diverse industrial traffic types to appropriate PubSub configurations. This gap can lead to misconfigurations that degrade network performance and compromise real-time requirements. This paper proposes a set of guidelines for mapping industrial traffic types, based on their timing and quality-of-service specifications, to OPC UA PubSub configurations. The goal is to ensure predictable communication and support real-time performance in industrial networks. The proposed guidelines are evaluated through an industrial use case that demonstrates the impact of incorrect configuration on latency and throughput. The results underline the importance of traffic-aware PubSub configuration for achieving interoperability in Industry 4.0 systems.

Bibtex

@inproceedings{Ekrad7361,
author = {Kasra Ekrad and Bjarne Johansson and In{\'e}s {\'A}lvarez and Saad Mubeen and Mohammad Ashjaei},
title = {Traffic-Aware Configuration of OPC UA PubSub in Industrial Automation Networks},
editor = {IEEE},
month = {April},
year = {2026},
booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT 2026)},
publisher = {IEEE},
url = {http://www.es.mdu.se/publications/7361-}
}