Robust Industrial Production Networks - Robustness Tests for Ethernet-based Communications

Because Ethernet-based communication systems have an open protocol standard and Internet connections, they call for special security considerations. From the standard IT point of view there are various ways of dealing with such risks. Attention is increasingly being paid to weak spots of automation components which could be targeted to interrupt production or to influence the stability of a network. In order to ensure a stable network, concepts of robustness testing must be developed in cooperation with the technology associations, in particular for Profinet based production networks. For further analysis and to derive appropriate measures it is necessary formulate requirements and approval criteria. These are considered in this paper in addition to the analysis of robustness test scenarios.