Delay Tolerant Networks for Industry 4.0

Advances in Industry 4.0 are being increasingly incorporated into general manufacturing as stakeholders are persuaded of the benefits. One of the key technologies viewed beneficial to manufactures is the use of 5G wireless communications. While integrating 5G networks into manufacturing settings is seen as necessary to satisfy Industry 4.0 requirements, doing so risks exposing manufacturing networks to threats. While applying safeguards against these threats is critically important, maintaining high availability during active threats is also essential for manufacturing. Delay tolerant networks (DTN), first proposed by NASA for communication using space-based networks, have been shown effective in mitigating the effects of network delay, disruption, and/or disconnection. In this paper, we examine the use of DTN in manufacturing environments. We propose a method for combating network denial and delay attacks, and demonstrate how DTN's self-healing mechanisms leads to emergent behaviors that automatically safeguard manufacturing operations.