This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been

fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TII.2018.2855198, IEEE
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Deploying Fog Computing in Industrial Internet of

Things and Industry 4.0
Mohammad Aazam, Senior Member, IEEE, Sherali Zeadally, Khaled A. Harras, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—Rapid technological advances have revolutionized

the industrial sector. These advances range from automation of
industrial processes to autonomous industrial processes, where
human input is not required. Internet of Things (IoT), which has
emerged a few years ago, has been embraced by industry, result-
ing in what is known as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
IIoT refers to making industrial processes and entities part of
the Internet. Restricting the definition of IIoT to manufacturing
yields another subset of IoT, known as Industry 4.0. IIoT and
Industry 4.0 will consist of sensor networks, actuators, robots,
machines, appliances, business processes, and personnel. Hence,
a lot of data of diverse nature would be generated. The industrial
process requires most of the tasks to be performed locally because
of delay and security requirements, and structured data to be Fig. 1. IoT, IIoT, and Industry 4.0.
communicated over the Internet to web services and the cloud.
To achieve this task, middleware support is required between
the industrial environment and the cloud/web-services. In this the access and control of the data and the devices generating
context, fog is a potential middleware that can be very useful for
different industrial scenarios. Fog can provide local processing it is enabled through the Internet, then such a scenario is
support with acceptable latency to actuators and robots in a called Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). While the Internet
manufacturing industry. Additionally, as industrial big data is of Things (IoT) is providing Internet access to any ’thing’, the
often unstructured, it can be trimmed and refined by the fog IIoT restricts the ’things’ to the scenario of industry. Similar
locally, before sending it to the cloud. We present an architectural to the concept of IIoT, Industry 4.0 refers to the current
overview of IIoT and Industry 4.0. We discuss how fog can
provide local computing support in the IIoT environment and fourth generation of industry focusing on the manufacturing
the core elements and building blocks of IIoT. We also present a industry scenario only which is a subset of IIoT. Figure 1
few interesting prospective use cases of IIoT. Finally, we discuss shows the concept of IIoT and Industry 4.0 within IoT.
some emerging research challenges related to IIoT. IIoT and Industry 4.0 are two terms that are often used
Index Terms—cloud of things (CoT), fog computing; Industrial interchangeably, however, there is a slight difference between
Internet of Things (IIoT); Industry 4.0; middleware. them. Industry 4.0 is the term coined in 2011 and is an
initiative of the German government. It refers to the fourth
I. I NTRODUCTION generation of industry - the current one. Industry 4.0 mainly
focuses on the manufacturing industry. In other words, Indus-

W IRELESS sensor networking technologies have

evolved significantly, and industrial sector is one
of the beneficiaries. Communication technologies such as
Zigbee, Bluetooth low energy (BLE), Internet Protocol
version 6 (IPv6) over low-power wireless personal area
network (6LoWPAN) have also helped wireless sensor
networking technologies to be adopted in the industrial
environment [1]. The deployment and use of wireless sensor
networks (WSNs) and wireless sensor actuator/actor networks
(WSANs) in industries make it possible to optimize the
production line with better quality management, energy
efficiency, fault prediction, product planning, and resource
prediction. When data is collected from different sensors,
actuators, and machines within an industrial environment and
M. Aazam and K. A. Harras are with Department of Computer Science,
Carnegie Mellon University, Doha, 24866, Qatar. e-mails: aazam@ieee.org,
kharras@cs.cmu.edu.
S. Zeadally is with University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506-0224,
USA. email: szeadally@uky.edu
try 4.0 is the computerization of manufacturing [2]. IIoT was
first introduced in 2012 by GE as an industrial Internet which
entails the adoption of the IoT in the perspective of industry
in general (both manufacturing and non-manufacturing). This
definition is backed by the Industrial Internet Consortium
(IIC), which was formed in 2014 with the support of Cisco,
IBM, GE, Intel, and AT&T. The primary actors in Industry 4.0
are academic institutions. In contrast, IIoT is more business-
oriented with mostly private companies and some academic
institutions - hence, broader in applications [3].
IIoT mainly focuses on the transfer and control of mis-
sion critical information and responses, and relies heavily on
machine-to-machine (M2M) communications [4]. IIoT encap-
sulates cyber physical systems (CPS), extreme automation,
smart factory, industrial robots and actuators, so on. Both IIoT
and Industry 4.0 are working towards making system robust,
faster, and more importantly, secure.
The full potential of IIoT is yet to be realized because
several research challenges are still being addressed by the

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research community. These challenges include standardization,
interoperability, scalability, usability, privacy, and security.
With tele-robotics and semi-autonomous machines that can
be controlled remotely through virtual interfaces, precision
and timely responses are required. A small error or delay
beyond the acceptable limit might result in some catastrophe
for various applications such as high tension power-line main-
tenance, inspecting underwater pipelines, manufacturing and
monitoring jet aircrafts, mining, giant crane operation, so on.
A middleware capable of processing the local tasks quickly
according to the context would be mandatory in IIoT and
Industry 4.0. In this context, fog computing can provide the
required support as a middleware technology that is capable
of processing urgent and complex tasks locally in a timely
way. In addition to traditional standard tasks such as the
delivery of fast response and computation offloading, fog
will be responsible for information transparency, decentralized
decision-making, technical assistance between humans and
machines, interoperability, information security, and data ana-
lytics. Key advantages that fog can bring include: minimizing
human error, low risk to human health, improved operational
efficiency, reduced cost, better productivity, and higher quality
maintenance and customer satisfaction.
In an IIoT environment, the data obtained from the machines
and sensors is analyzed to generate valuable information for
factory operations as well as control of the devices. Extensive
analysis of the industrial big data is typically done at the
cloud. However, these sensors and machines generate different
types of data ”continuously”. Such data may contain sensitive
information and may be time-sensitive as well. Thus, the
information needs to be processed locally for immediate
tasks and operations. Machines require quick response and
at times, undesired delays may result even in a catastrophic
situation. Hence, the placement of an intermediary node that
is able to perform tasks efficiently and more intelligently
(which is not possible with standalone sensors and machines)
is an inevitable requirement of IIoT. Fog can be such an
intermediary node because of its location and its ability to
perform specific tasks at the premise of an industry or smart
factory in a timely manner. Several IIoT projects have been
deployed in various industries such as food processing and
agriculture [4]. Five main sectors of the industry including
healthcare, education, transportation, manufacturing, and retail
are already generating 76% of the total RFID market demand
[5]. The strategic deployment of fog ensures rapid feedback
based on the incoming data. In general, fog will be responsible
for the following tasks:
• Real-time industrial big data mining for high perfor-
mance.
• Concurrent data collection from multiple types of sensors,
robots, and machines.
• Fast processing of the sensed data to generate instructions
for the actuators and robots within some acceptable
latency.
• Interfacing incompatible sensors and machines through
necessary protocol translation and mapping.
• Managing system power management.
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2
•Data structuring and filtering to avoid sending unneces-
sary data to the core and the cloud.
We summarize the main contributions of this work as
follows:
• We present the fundamental concepts of IIoT and Industry
4.0 and their relationship scope.
• We describe the core components of IIoT.
• We describe the role and architecture of fog as a middle-
ware for IIoT, along with several use-case scenarios that
can leverage fog in IIoT.
• We discuss some of the emerging challenges related to
IIoT.
II. C OMPONENTS OF I NDUSTRIAL I NTERNET OF T HINGS
The realization of the IIoT depends on incorporating some
important building blocks. This section provides a list of key
elements that are required by an IIoT.
A. Localization of WSNs and WSANs
An IIoT environment would be incomplete without WSNs
and WSANs, and a middleware that can control them. Several
heterogeneous sensors would be deployed in an industrial en-
vironment. For example, sensors for monitoring environment,
reading temperature, gauging pressure, proximity, location,
smoke, humidity, chemical reaction, gas, and so on. These
sensors are networked in order to create a connected and
controllable environment. To be able to interface with hetero-
geneous sensors and receive unstructured data, a sophisticated
gateway is required. This gateway can be part of the fog
middleware architecture. Since the data would be unstructured
and its frequency has to be controlled, the fog’s presence
would be very important. Fog can filter the captured data
and send the structured data over the Internet to the service
depending on those sensors. Similarly, energy consumption
would be a great concern in a smart industrial environment.
Efficient energy consumption according to the requirements
along with adapting to alternate power sources, such as solar
and thermal, would require more intelligence and real-time
responses and actions. Hence, an enriched fog would be
required in an IIoT.
Similarly, in the case of WSANs, on many occasions,
various actions are performed based on the sensed data that
require high quality and reliable data. An actuator converts
electrical signal into some physical action. An actor acts on
the environment through one or more actuators. Besides, an
actor also works as a network entity that performs networking
tasks such as receive, process, transmit, and relay the data.
In an IIoT, WSANs are managed over the Internet through
a remote application, requiring quick response and security
measures. Compared to sensors, actors generally have more
resources available to them, with a higher data transmission
power and longer battery life. However, by the time an action
is initiated, the sensed data on the basis of which the actions
is being taken must still be valid. The actors can even be un-
manned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or commonly called drones. In
other words, WSANs may be highly delay-sensitive at times.
Additionally, the sensor and actor environment may even be
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Fig. 2. CPS architecture.
complex and hierarchical with a master and slave nodes’ layout
[6]. A rich middleware, such as a fog micro-datacenter, can be
a viable anchor node. Fog can take local actions more quickly,
and help to achieve a seamless interface of heterogeneous
actors and sensors with the remote application. Moreover,
since WSANs open up privacy and security issues, appropriate
solutions are needed for a fog-like middleware in a robust IIoT
environment.
B. Controlling and managing CPS
A cyber-physical system (CPS) enables the networking of
traditional embedded systems and devices with the cyber-
world. A CPS is a subset of IoT in which machines and
devices are interfaced directly or with an application that has
Internet access. A CPS enables remote access and control of
the embedded system and devices and hence, supports several
flexible services (such as turning on the cooling/heating system
remotely [2]) that can be vital to an industrial environment.
Figure 2 shows the overall layered architecture of CPS.
A CPS enables communications between machines, prod-
ucts, and humans alike. In an industrial process, a CPS
can play its role in automation system, control, diagnostics,
maintenance, assistance, in a cost-effective way. Likewise,
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3
additional business models can be created through a CPS.
Moreover, a CPS can help manage weather changes and the
requirements of products that are being manufactured in the
factory. A CPS has a control unit that is responsible for
controlling machines, devices, sensors, and actuators. All these
entities within a CPS interact with the real world, collect data,
and process it to contribute to the industrial process. The CPS
nodes/entities require a communication interface in order to be
able to exchange data with other embedded systems, over-the-
Internet applications, and the cloud. The data exchange is the
most vital attribute of a CPS because the acquired data may be
processed centrally. As CPS interacts with machines, devices,
and actuators, and is highly relevant in the manufacturing
processes and therefore within the scope of the concept of
Industry 4.0. Smart manufacturing, smart grid, robotic surgery,
automobile manufacturing especially autonomous cars, are all
good examples of a CPS-enabled industrial environment. With
the recent developments in artificial intelligence and machine
learning, manufacturing can be made more intelligent, dy-
namic, flexible, and scalable, by creating a networked and
remotely accessible system of the industrial machinery [7].
Computer vision can be applied to robots and visual sensor
networks to recognize the environment and control the target
objects.
C. Industrial big data analytics
When an industrial environment is automated and to a
certain extent, made autonomous, multitude of data will be
involved. With the deployment of WSNs, WSANs, virtual
sensor networks (VSNs), robots, connected machines and
appliances, a lot of data would be continuously generated.
The data provide a means to create tailored services if the
required data analytics are applied [8]. An IIoT would be
incomplete without extensive data analytics on the sensed data.
Data analytics help in: predictive maintenance, diagnostics,
better fault tolerance, failure avoidance, cost-efficiency, and
so on.
D. Virtual sensing and virtual sensor networking
A smart factory will require many sensors in order to
sense the environment and products according to the changing
requirements of the factory. Physical sensor deployment would
be too costly in this case. Thus, virtual sensors (VSes) would
be a viable solution that a nearby fog can easily provide. Sens-
ing devices and customizing virtual sensing devices according
to the requirements help to create VSNs. For example, VSes
for different products, industrial environments, and in different
scenarios such as during manufacturing, post-manufacturing,
and so on, can be configured and machine learning techniques
can be applied in the cloud. Later, feedback can be provided
to the application running on the user’s mobile device. In an
agricultural environment, different sensors may be required
to sense the growth of different plants in different crops in
different climates or even different times of the day. Virtual
sensing capabilities through fog can satisfy the requirements
of customizable and flexible sensor networking. In this way,
cost savings can be made, and more tailored services can be
provisioned.
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E. Web of things for industry

When sensors and actuators are meshed up with the ser-
vices and data available on the web, it is known as web of
things (WoT) - a refinement of IoT. In the IIoT scenario,
several services would be provisioned over the web. Moreover,
integration of sensors, robots, and devices would require
integration with third party web-services. For example, a recy-
cling company’s data is integrated with a waste management
company’s sensors and devices to create flexible and enhanced
services. Hence, WoT would be a key element in IIoT.

III. F OG ENABLED I NDUSTRIAL I NTERNET OF T HINGS

In this section, we describe potential opportunities with the
current IIoT and how IIoT can be enhanced to reach its true
potential with the support of fog computing.
The full potential of IIoT can be achieved with a mid-
dleware, such as fog, that can handle the resources and
communication of underlying nodes, and provide the required
local processing. An IIoT solution may have different varieties
of ’things’, such as sensors, actuators, and devices, workers,
so on. Many of the devices and sensors would be small in
size and constrained in resources. For example, a pressure
sensor on a product packing conveyer belt or a door sensor
mounted on the door. Due to their small size, the devices
cannot be enhanced to perform significant computational tasks
such as data analytics and context-awareness. Similarly, due
to their small size, sensors would be battery powered, making
energy conservation another issue. To perform significant data
processing and management tasks, a middleware entity such
as a fog would be beneficial. Figure 3 depicts an overall fog-
based architecture for IIoT.
From a broader perspective, depending on the requirements
within an industry, fog can be a cloudlet, an edge device, Fig. 3. Fog computing in Industrial IoT.
a micro-datacenter, or even a nano-datacenter (NaDa/nDC).
Fog will be able to offload the sensors and perform complex With IIoT, robots will have a significant impact on the
tasks on their behalf. In the same way, fog can monitor the automation of complex processes and actions. Consequently,
energy consumption of each sensor and adapt the frequency a robot middleware system has to be flexible and powerful
of data generation accordingly. Furthermore, fog can explore enough to manage robots, particularly in a multi-robotic
and manage other energy sources, such as solar, thermal, and collaborative environment such as IIoT. The Robot Operating
so on. System (ROS) is an example of one such middleware [10].
Different IoT service providers have their own proprietary Fog computing can play an important role in almost all the
systems, requiring better interoperability measures. Fog, with sectors of the industry. The industry is broadly categorized in
necessary interoperability functions, multi-protocol translation, three sectors: primary - related to extraction, such as mining;
and application programming interfaces (APIs) can address secondary - related to manufacturing, such as automobiles; and
interoperability issues. Bridging short range protocols will be tertiary - related to services, such as transportation. Different
another vital task a fog middleware can perform in the IIoT industries have different potential in becoming part of the IoT
environment. For example, a sensor operating on Bluetooth or the IIoT vision. We present some of the interesting areas
or Zigbee may require a relay to communicate to a long of industry where IoT can be applied, with the help of fog, to
distance IIoT node. The publish/subscribe approach can be achieve the goals of future smart industries.
very useful in IIoT environment. In the publish/subscribe
paradigm, information producers are known as publishers A. Mining
and information receivers are called subscribers. Publish-
Mining is one of the most popular primary industries,
ers/subscribers (pub/sub), is an efficient way of anonymously
requiring data analytics. With a growing population, the mag-
disseminating information among producers and consumers
nitude of mining increases as well. Mining involves a lot
[9]. In an industrial environment, the middleware can play
risks and it is also expensive. According to IBM1 , currently,
the vital role of brokerage and pub/sub service provisioning
thereby creating ways for enhancing business processes. 1 https://www.ibm.com/blogs/internet-of-things/mining-industry-benefits/

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each person requires around 3.11 million pounds of fuel,
metals, and minerals in his/her lifetime. The use of sensors and
sensor-related technologies will help improve the productivity,
avoiding unnecessary costs and wastes. Machine failures and
operational costs can be predicted in a better way as well. Data
collected before the actual digging process starts saves cost
and time. Similarly, autonomous digging or drilling system,
driverless vehicles, can be a few examples of modernizing
mining industry by using the standards of IIoT. The mining
industry is also one of the most adventurous types of industry
involving several risks. For instance, in the case of coal and
mineral mining, rock sliding, suffocation, and other similar
types of risks are a commonplace. Some mining processes
involve hazardous gas emission and chemical reactions. Hence,
the use of sensor networks to pick up the data and inform
the personnel beforehand can be very useful. Additionally,
accuracy can also be improved with sensor networking and in
particular through fog computing, since extensive processing
can be applied on the data through co-located fog. Main-
tenance and energy efficiency are also important concerns
for the mining industry because it involves huge machinery
and a lot of time is required to perform the whole mining
and collection process. Better management of machinery and
energy-efficiency can be achieved in mining with IIoT.
B. Smart grid and power industry
The smart grid is a new electric grid that has gained
importance over the last decade. Smart grid involves renewable
energy resources, energy efficient resources, smart meters [11],
and smart appliances. In the traditional electric grid system,
consumers are provided with electricity resource and billed
once a month [12]. However, with the growth in automation
and autonomous lifestyle, the availability of numerous electric
appliances and machines, the demands are very dynamic.
Hence, we need two-way communication between a consumer
and electric supplier which is actually the fundamental concept
behind the smart grid.
In a smart grid, the power resource is distributed to local
distribution companies (LDCs) that act as a micro-grid and
provide electricity to the end-users [13]. As the whole concept
of smart grid is not restricted to electric suppliers only, telecom
operators would also be involved to realize the smart grid.
Telecom operators are signing agreements with the local elec-
tric utilities to provide two-way communications through the
advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) between the service
providers and smart meters [14].
Through AMIs, the electricity consumption is updated at
the service provider in real-time. In return, the service provider
provides feedback and suggestions on the electricity consump-
tion according to the requirements of the users as well as
home appliances and the electricity cost at that time of the
day to the home area network (HAN), industrial area network
(IAN), building area network (BAN), smart building, or smart
factory. AMI is composed of advanced sensors, smart meters,
communication infrastructure (which may be through a third
party), computational infrastructure, and applications & data
management system.
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5
Not only the data management becomes an issue, but with
the convergence of smart grid applications and advanced
technologies, a huge amount of data will be generated. This
data needs to be processed for control and smart pricing.
Hence, it is very critical for the service providers to have
well-defined communication requirements and infrastructure.
Through efficient communications between the power utilities
and customers, power outages can be minimized and made
predictable as well, if not completely avoided. This is vital
in the case of industries because many of them face heavy
losses due to unscheduled power outages. Different types
of consumer premises have different data communication
requirements. A smart home would be less communicative
than a smart building, while a smart factory would require
more frequent data communication exchanges. In this way,
sophisticated data communication and data flow management
technologies have to be developed and adopted. Different
topological settings would require different flows especially
in the case of the industrial environment. For example, as
illustrated in Figure 4, one flow would be between the sensors,
appliances, and machines to the smart meters. The other flow
would be between the smart meters and the utility datacenter.
Furthermore, with each kind of smart meter (such as gas,
electric, water), the number of flows will increase accordingly.
One such methodology of flow management is software-
defined-network (SDN) and network function virtualization
(NFV) [13]. With the power system becoming more and more
decentralized today, the role of computation at decentralized
locations would be enhanced and middleware technologies,
such as the fog micro-datacenter - equipped with SDN and
NFV functionalities, will be playing a key role in the man-
agement of the data. In this way, a centralized datacenter will
be able to manage decentralized micro-grids.
C. Transportation
Transportation is an important industry and constitutes the
backbone of any country. Commercial buses, metro trains and
subways, cargos, public transport, and private vehicles are all
parts of transportation industry. Intelligent transportation sys-
tems (ITS) is the subset of IoT that deals with transportation.
A road side unit (RSU) can be equipped with a fog to enable
ITS. For example, fog can enable Internet of Vehicles (IoV),
support in-vehicle entertainment, provide context-aware and
location-aware services, smart parking, and smart traffic lights
where signals which are controlled according to the traffic load
and emergency situations. Providing necessary updates to the
commuters and drivers regarding road conditions, traffic load,
detours, are all examples of fog computing based IoT-enabled
ITS.
D. Waste management industry
Automating the waste management process is one of the
goals of the waste management industry [15]. The timely
management of waste prevents the development of different
diseases. It also helps in speeding up the recycling of the
waste. Waste collection and disposal can be linked to the
recycling industry, so that proper resources are allocated well
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Fig. 4. Fog enabled smart grid.
in time according to the type and quantity of a certain kind
of waste (such as glass, paper, steel, organic) [16]. Similarly,
waste-to-energy (WtE) and other similar industries will be con-
nected to the waste management industry and better planning
can be achieved. More details on this topic are provided in
[17].
E. Food industry
Food packaging, frozen food, food analysis from organic
waste are all part of the food industry. IoT-enabled food indus-
try coupled with data analytics gives birth to the urbane food
industry where food quality can be controlled and wastage can
be minimized.
F. Agriculture
Understandably, sensor networks will be playing a key role
in agriculture and more importantly, VSes would be even
more important in certain scenarios where multiple sensors are
required for varying conditions and states. Fog-assisted drones
can be used for seeding, crop monitoring, and spraying.
G. Advertisement industry
Different countries have different trends and laws regarding
advertising, accordingly, advertisement can be made smart. At
some places, large billboards are allowed. These billboards
can be a giant digital screen that can be updated from a
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6
central location. In the same way, at shopping malls and
hypermarts, advertising can be made more customized for
every customer. For example, a customer who always does
his/her grocery from a certain hypermart (say Walmart) has
a registered account with them to receive promotions and
updates. When the customer enters into the store, a fog
node located within the mall/hypermart communicates with
the store’s Wifi through a previously registered account of
the customer. Based on that information, the fog tracks the
interests of the customer by assessing the kind of grocery items
the customer purchases. Similarly, through location-tracking,
the fog-based smart advertisement system analyzes how much
time a certain customer spends in a particular aisle. There can
be digital screens placed strategically at relevant aisles and
the customer can see promotions and suggestions according
to their past purchase history and current traces.
H. Third party delivery
Other than the regular smartphone application-based taxi
services, such as Uber and Careem, various delivery services
are also becoming increasingly popular. A few examples of
food delivery services in different countries are: UberEATS,
Talabat, FoodPanda, Couch Potato. Similarly, in Pakistan,
TCS Hazir and TCS HazirSubKuch are popular services
to outsource shopping, delivery of goods, and mail pickup.
Similarly, to deliver something urgent to a friend or a family
member, to do grocery, or to get some medicines from a
pharmacy, TCS HazirSubKuch is very common in Pakistan for
example. Various services may require more detailed data and
context-awareness information. For example, an alternate of a
requested medicine that is not available, or allergy information
while purchasing a medicine, or location-awareness when the
delivery destination is mobile (such as a person on the move in
a car). A tailored fog for such instances can be very useful in
performing tasks locally. In addition to the above-mentioned
applications, IIoT can help in receiving the packages as well
when the recipient is not at the destined location. For example,
automatically opening the door with the cell phone when the
delivery person arrives at the door in customers absence. The
delivery person rings the bell that gives an alert on the users
phone. With a press of a button on the phone, the door opens
and the delivery person can put the package inside of the door.
A camera positioned to capture the door shows the event in
real-time on the users phone. The door once closed, locks
automatically and the lock gives a confirmation message to
the users phone. Such kind of a service will be very useful
where family members work and have problems in receiving
their packages and posts since delivery is also made during
work-hours.
I. Smart parking
In some countries, parking is outsourced by the city gov-
ernment to third parties which operate as an industry. Other
than smart parking proposed by [18], in which vehicles get to
know about vacant parking slots in real-time, parking can be
enhanced in many ways. Suggestions can be made according
to the parking rush trends and it can be more context-aware
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according to season, weather, local events, such as sale at a
certain store, and so on.
IV. R ESEARCH C HALLENGES
To realize the true potential of IIoT, we need to address
several challenges. We discuss some of these challenges below.
A. Energy consumption and management
Industries are the largest consumers of power in any country,
thus, require dynamic power management. Depending on the
type of the industry, energy consumption varies, which may
even be different according to seasons particularly in the
case of the food and textile industries. Energy consumption
affects the network lifetime and is therefore an important factor
in IIoT. In IIoT, not only sensors but actuators and robotic
devices are also involved. Therefore, many data packets are
continuously being exchanged resulting in a higher energy
consumption. Since energy is a valuable resource, it affects
time synchronization as well. Algorithms that are able to deal
with time synchronization and energy consumption tradeoff,
are more suitable for an effective and scalable IIoT environ-
ment. Dynamically managing power is an essential element
of IIoT. Systematic mechanisms are required to adapt to the
changing demand of an industry, during different times of
the day, according to different prices and grid load. Some
industries may even be run at night to cope with the power
load.
B. Interoperability of devices
In IIoT, multiple subsystems and external systems would
work together, causing interoperability issues [19]. For exam-
ple, a smart industry is connected to an external smart grid, a
production plant is connected to WoT service, and a production
system of a factory is connected to storage system of the
same factory, and so on. Several sensors and systems would
be heterogeneous. Therefore, system and sensor integration
as well as interoperability mechanisms become more of a
challenge. Since many of the tasks (such as in a manufacturing
environment where actuators are tasked to take actions) would
be delay-sensitive, therefore, the integration and interoperabil-
ity has to be not only seamless, but deliver high performance.
C. Service level agreement and interoperability of services
Along the same line of interoperability of nodes, services’
interoperability will be a challenge as well, especially in the
case of a service level agreement (SLA). Resource federa-
tion of different IIoTs, SLA matching, SLA monitoring and
violation, are important factors that need to be considered
for scalable IIoT and for enabling inter-IIoTs communication.
When relying on third party cloud-IoT services, the key
concern is the performance delivered to the customer. Many of
the IIoT applications (such as autonomous vehicles, vehicle-
to-vehicle communications, robotic communications in manu-
facturing and so on) would be sensitive to security and delay
requirements. SLAs must have some of the following essential
attributes: meaningful - that is relevant to the involved parties;
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7
measurable - so that the acquired service can be compared with
the agreed upon service; controllable - such that the factors that
determine service satisfaction can be modified to achieve the
required service; affordable - the SLA must be cost-effective
for the involved services; and acceptable that is the involved
parties need to mutually agree on the SLA, rather than one
dictating it to the other [20].
D. Security and privacy of data and workers
IIoT would be vulnerable to attacks that can affect the
availability, confidentiality, and integrity of transmitted or
stored data. With increased connectivity, more data is gener-
ated which may be susceptible to theft and misuse because
several industrial deployments would be outdoor, such as
construction and mining. When multiple nodes and systems
communicate with each other, data communication and storage
are more prone to intrusion and theft. The data can be misused
and may even result in manufacturing malfunctions, which
can have drastic effects on production, factory premises, and
personnel working there. Moreover, interoperability features
might increase security and privacy vulnerabilities in the IIoT
environment, resulting in not only attacks but information
misuse as well. Since different systems will be combining their
resources in an interoperable IIoT scenario, there is increased
likelihood that the data, information, and commands could be
tampered with.
E. Context and semantics-aware service provisioning
Given the dynamic environment in industry, the ability to
discover web-services on the go to create an extended and
flexible business process is much needed. An example of a
context-aware service in a smart factory environment can be
different temperature settings according to different products
in a factory. In the case of IIoT, context-awareness can be
primary [5], such as gathering context without any existing
contextual information; or secondary, such as gathering context
from an existing contextual information. Both types have
different complexities and outcomes, and hence require more
intelligence and efficiency. The same data can be used to derive
different insights for different scenarios or even domains
commonly known as sensing as a service. For example, data
on different temperature settings for different products can be
used in the transportation or cargo industry when designing the
cargo compartment and cooling equipment. In the case of the
medical domain, food stabilizers can be developed according
to the related contextual information such as products ingre-
dients, age, life, and required temperature settings. Moreover,
developing semantic web-based services can be very important
in the industrial scenario. Services are annotated on the basis
of shared ontologies, which help in the discovery of web
services, according to the semantics [21].
F. Fault detection and reconfiguration
As the IIoT system becomes increasingly automated and
heterogeneous entities are involved, the chances of failure
increase. Device malfunction, delayed communication, and
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Transactions on Industrial Informatics
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connectivity failures are some common examples. A complete
IIoT system must be robust and be capable of not only
detecting and withstanding common faults but also be capable
of detecting faults in time. Advanced fault detection algorithms
will have to be applied at the hub, gateway, or middleware that
is responsible for coordinating different machines and devices.
Accuracy and timeliness are also important in detecting faults
because one faulty object may hinder the whole manufacturing
or industrial process, resulting in financial loss, energy loss,
and loss of other related resources. A faulty network of sensors
or machines should be able to reconfigure itself with no
human intervention. If a sensor is not working due to some
malfunctioning, it can be put to sleep until replaced and the
sensor network settings can be reconfigured. In this way, not
only the robustness is ensured, but energy is also saved.
G. User-friendliness in the product deployment and usage
Industrial workers may not be fluent with the most recent
technologies, which makes it even more challenging to design
devices and user-interfaces for an IIoT system. Unlike the
typical traditional IT system and common IoT systems where
either user interaction is low, or the user is well-aware of
the technology he/she is using, in the industrial domain,
factory workers with different backgrounds and experience
are distributed over a large area. For example, in a factory
or agricultural field, people in these areas will be deploying
the devices and sensors with a low knowledge of electronics
and communication. Creating seamless adaptation of the IIoT
technology and user-friendly interfaces can help acceptance of
IIoT.
V. C ONCLUSION
Recent advances in virtual sensor networking, robotics,
and communication technologies have paved the way for au-
tonomous industrial environment. Theoretically, there is a huge
potential of IIoT and Industry 4.0. However, it brings a lot of
challenges as well, which can be converted to opportunities if
better planning and standardization are done. In this paper, we
present an architectural introduction of IIoT and Industry 4.0
and discuss that how a middleware, such as a fog, can help
realize different use cases in emerging industrial paradigms.
We discuss some interesting use case scenarios related to
different industries, such as transportation, smart grid, food &
restaurants, advertisement, and tourism. We describe how IoT
and fog can help such industries in becoming more efficient in
the future. We also discuss some noteworthy challenges and
how they can be converted into opportunities. Some of the
challenges include context-aware and semantics-aware service
provisioning in IIoT, interoperability of different devices and
services, security & privacy, and energy consumption. This
work can be very useful in terms of understanding the potential
of IIoT and Industry 4.0. It will also motivate future research
directions in IIoT for a wide range of application domains.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This publication was made possible by NPRP grant # 8-
1645-1-289 from the Qatar National Research Fund, a member
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8
of Qatar Foundation. The statements made herein are solely
the responsibility of the authors. We thank the anonymous
reviewers for their valuable comments which helped us to
improve the content and presentation of this paper.
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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TII.2018.2855198, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Informatics
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS 9

Mohammad Aazam (S’11, M’15, SM’16) is cur-

rently working as a postdoc research associate at
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar since July
2017 and a part-time postdoctoral fellow at Ryerson
University, Canada since March 2017. Previously,
he has been a sessional faculty and postdoc fellow
with Carleton University, Canada from July 2015-
2017. He is also working as a postdoc collaborator
with University of Kentucky, USA and University
of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Canada.
He completed his Ph.D. Computer Engineering from
Kyung Hee University, Korea, in 2015. In addition to that, he has completed
a course on Data Science with R from Harvard University, USA in 2017, in
which he topped the course securing 100% score. He also completed a course
on Internet of Things (IoT) from King’s College London, UK, in 2016. He
has around 100 publications, including 3 patents. He is also a recipient of
IEEE AIYEHUM 2016 award. For additional details: www.aazamcs.com.

Sherali Zeadally is an associate professor in the

College of Communication and Information at the
University of Kentucky. He received his bachelor
and doctorate degrees in computer science from the
University of Cambridge, England, and the Univer-
sity of Buckingham, England, respectively. He is
a Fellow of the British Computer Society and the
Institution of Engineering Technology, England.

Khaled A. Harras (S’05, M’09, SM’16) (khar-

ras@cs.cmu.edu) is an associate professor at
Carnegie Melon University Qatar (CMUQ), and Di-
rector of the Computer Science program there. Dr.
Harras is the founder and director of the Networking
Systems Lab (NSL) at CMUQ. He has more than
100 refereed publications and 4 US patents. Along
with his research group in the past few years, he
has won the best national computing research award
twice, received two best paper awards, and his work
has been featured online various venues like MIT
Tech Review and Tech the Future. To date, he has been involved in or
managing research grants that amount to more than 3 Million USD, and has
supervised over 30 different personnel including undergraduate and graduate
students, postdoctoral researchers, and research engineers.

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