Networks are a core element of many industrial and automation systems at present. Often these networks transport time- and safety-critical messages that control physical processes. Thus, timely and guaranteed delivery is an essential property of networks for such critical systems. Over the past decade, a variety of network solutions have evolved to satisfy said properties. However, these solutions are largely incompatible with each other and many system architects are forced to deploy different solutions in parallel due to their different capabilities. IEEE 802.1 Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is a standardization group that enhances IEEE networking standards, most prominently Ethernet-based networks, with said properties and has the unique potential to evolve as a cross-industry mainstream networking technology. In this survey paper, we give an overview of TSN in industrial communication and automation systems and discuss specific TSN standards and projects in detail as well as their applicability to various industries.

Modern cars consist of a number of complex embedded and networked systems with steadily increasing requirements in terms of processing and communication resources. Novel automotive applications, such as automated driving, rise new needs and novel design challenges that cover a broad range of hardware/software engineering aspects. In this context, this paper provides an overview of the current technological challenges in on-board and networked automotive systems. This paper encompasses both the state-of-the-art design strategies and the upcoming hardware/software solutions for the next generation of automotive systems, with a special focus on embedded and networked technologies. In particular, this paper surveys current solutions and future trends on models and languages for automotive software development, on-board computational platforms, in-car network architectures and communication protocols, and novel design strategies for cybersecurity and functional safety.

Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) are suitable for many applications that require low energy consumption, support for a high number of nodes, and large coverage range. LoRa (Long Range) is one of the most successful LPWAN technologies, as it enables robust long-distance low power communications and it is proven to be effective in IoT applications, such as environmental monitoring and smart metering. LoRa is also promising for Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios, but its adoption is impaired by the relevant standardized MAC protocol, LoRaWAN, that does not offer support to real-time data flows. For this reason, this paper proposes RT-LoRa, a medium access strategy for LoRa that provides support for real-time flows, thus enabling the implementation of LoRa-based LPWAN for industrial IoT applications. The paper describes RT-LoRa, presents a simulative assessment in a realistic industrial IoT scenario and provides some guidelines for the configuration of an RT-LoRa network.