An Overview of Industry 4.0 Development Directions in the Industrial Internet of Things Context

摘要

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 are today two of the most popular research and development fields, drawing attention from both academia and industry. The two concepts are very similar, Industry 4.0 even being considered IIoT applied to the automation and manufacturing industries. Under the current Industry 4.0 paradigm various development directions have started to differentiate, the sum of them bringing significant improvements regarding efficiency, flexibility, communication, adaptability, customization and modularity to industry. The Industry 4.0 is continuously developing under the IIoT context, and the authors are encountering a need for a detailed higher-level perspective over the many research branches that are currently extending. The domain will continue to draw interest in the near future because of its high potential for improving the current industry technology. Therefore, the current paper completes a wide revision of the current state-of-the-art and presents a structured vision over the status and the development directions within the Industry 4.0 in the IIoT context.