Understanding Unified Namespace: Seven Key Questions Answered

Understanding Unified Namespace: Seven Key Questions Answered

What is a Unified Namespace?

A unified namespace (UNS) is a single point of access for manufacturing data, such as order information, historical information, telemetry information, and execution information. It aggregates, standardizes, organizes, and contextualizes data from various sources, including telemetry systems, historical transactional master data files, and more.

To achieve this, a UNS typically uses the following components:

• Data Aggregation System: This system collects data from various sources and makes it available in a central location.
• Data Standardization and Organization: Data is standardized and organized using a hierarchical structure, often based on the ISA 95 standard, which includes levels such as company, site, asset, area, and line.
• Self-Service Access: The UNS enables users to easily find and subscribe to the specific data they need.

One common implementation of a UNS leverages an MQTT broker, which provides a hierarchical topic namespace for data organization and allows users to subscribe to specific data streams.

A UNS allows users to access data from various sources, such as ERP and MES systems, in a single location. It provides a comprehensive and real-time view of manufacturing operations, enabling better decision-making. For example, users can access data on factory schedules, OEE, power consumption, and telemetry from a single point.

How has the concept of a UNS evolved over time?

The concept of a UNS is not static but rather evolving, with its capabilities expanding based on user needs and technological advancements.

Initially, UNS was tightly coupled with MQTT, a publish-and-subscribe broker-based technology. However, this approach presented limitations as it didn’t cater to all integration scenarios. For instance, some users prefer pulling data from a database instead of using MQTT. Additionally, requesting specific data points, like customer details on an order, is more efficient using protocols like REST, which offers a request-response approach. Handling large historical datasets is also better suited for direct consumption and transfer rather than relying on an MQTT broker.

To address these limitations, UNS is transitioning into a multiprotocol and multicomponent solution. This evolution allows UNS to accommodate diverse request patterns and data sources, integrating seamlessly with databases, cloud-based data lakes (like Snowflake or Amazon S3), and other technologies. This shift ensures that UNS remains relevant and adaptable to the growing demands of modern manufacturing environments.

How can a company begin implementing a UNS?

Before implementing a Unified Namespace (UNS), several considerations are crucial:

• Use Cases: Start by identifying the specific use cases and how the consumed data will be utilized. Determine the levels of the ISA 95 standard relevant to your needs, as data points may be categorized differently based on their intended purpose. For instance, asset maintenance data might fall under a different category than line metrics.
• Data Governance: Establish a clear data governance strategy, outlining the types of data to be managed, the desired outcomes, and the organizational structure for data management. This process is essential for both UNS implementation and overall data management.
• Topic Structure: Define a consistent topic structure for organizing data across different factory locations. This ensures uniformity when integrating data from various sources into a centralized system.
• Security: Determine the security protocols for identity and access management to safeguard data integrity within the UNS.
• Data Encoding and Formatting: Decide on data encoding and formatting standards, such as Sparkplug, to ensure compatibility and usability within the UNS.

Getting Started:

1. Focus on Use Cases: Begin by identifying the specific problems you want to solve with UNS. Prioritize these use cases to guide the implementation process.

2. Define Data Requirements: For each use case, determine the necessary data, its location, and how it should be contextualized within the UNS. Consider how this data will be used and by whom.

3. Design the Namespace: Use the ISA 95 model or other suitable frameworks to structure your UNS. This involves defining a hierarchy of topics and subtopics that organize data logically and make it easily discoverable.

4. Select Appropriate Technology: Evaluate and choose the right tools for implementing your UNS, such as an MQTT broker. Consider factors like scalability, security, and support for data modeling and contextualization.

Remember that starting small and gradually expanding the UNS as needed is a recommended approach. This allows for iterative development, learning, and adaptation based on real-world experiences.

Why is it important to define use cases before implementing a UNS?

It is important to define use cases before implementing a Unified Namespace (UNS) because it drives how the UNS is structured, including the levels of the ISA 95 model that are used. Use cases will land in different levels of the ISA 95, for example, line metrics might land in a different level than asset maintenance data, even if they come from the same data point. Defining use cases helps to determine the return on investment (ROI) of the UNS. If a company knows what it will use the UNS for, it can then determine the benefit of implementing it, for example, a company could determine the benefit of reducing machine downtime for predictive asset maintenance. It is important to think about how the data in the UNS will be used, otherwise the focus becomes only about driving data in.

What are the challenges of implementing a UNS in brownfield environments?

When implementing a unified namespace (UNS) in brownfield environments, one of the biggest challenges is integrating legacy devices and protocols into the new system. This is particularly common in automation, where older equipment may rely on outdated communication standards.

One approach to address this challenge is to use edge gateways that can translate between legacy protocols and the protocols used by the UNS, such as MQTT. For example, an edge gateway could be used to collect data from devices using Modbus and then publish that data to the UNS using MQTT. This approach allows businesses to connect their existing equipment to the UNS without having to replace it, which can be expensive.

Another challenge is the contextualization of data from legacy systems. The raw data from these systems may not be meaningful without additional information about the context in which it was generated. To address this, businesses can use edge gateways or other tools to add contextual information to the data before it is published to the UNS. For example, an edge gateway could add information about the location or function of a device to the data it collects. This contextualized data is then easier to use and understand when it is consumed by other applications and systems connected to the UNS.

What are the limitations of using a UNS?

While a unified namespace (UNS) offers significant advantages for data management in manufacturing, there are some limitations:

• Tight Coupling to MQTT:  A significant limitation arises when a UNS is tightly coupled with MQTT. While MQTT, a publish-and-subscribe broker-based technology, is generally beneficial for UNS implementation, it may not always be ideal for all integration scenarios. For instance, some integrations might not necessitate the use of MQTT. Additionally, certain users may lack MQTT clients and prefer pulling data from a database instead. In such cases, the UNS can still be employed by landing the data in a database or by using third-party tools to subscribe to the data and subsequently store it in a database.
• Requesting Data:  Another limitation emerges when there’s a need to request specific data. For instance, to retrieve customer details associated with an order, it is impractical to publish every single order into the UNS. Instead, a request mechanism for such data becomes necessary. In these situations, protocols like REST, designed for request-response interactions, prove more efficient than MQTT.
• Handling Historical Data:  Managing historical data presents another challenge. Transferring large volumes of historical data, such as historian data, through an MQTT broker might not be the most suitable approach.

However, it is crucial to recognize that the concept of a UNS is not static; it is continuously evolving to address these limitations. The industry is actively developing and expanding the capabilities of UNS solutions, incorporating multiprotocol and multicomponent approaches to overcome these constraints. For example, efforts are underway to enable data lakes and data warehouses to function as UNS, further broadening the applicability and utility of this evolving technology.

How can companies measure the ROI of UNS initiatives?

Companies can measure the ROI of unified namespace (UNS) initiatives by focusing on the use cases that the UNS helps solve, such as predictive asset maintenance to increase machine or line uptime. When focusing on use cases, ROI is relatively easy to calculate. For example, if the use case is predictive asset maintenance, a company can measure the cost savings from reduced downtime.

It can be more challenging to measure the ROI of the UNS infrastructure itself. However, one way to think about it is to consider how the UNS enables companies to scale their teams and implement more use cases without adding more people. This is because UNS provides an abstraction point that allows multiple use cases to be solved by hooking up a new system just once. For example, a company can use UNS to connect data from a new system to multiple applications, such as a CMMS system and an analytics platform. This can lead to significant cost savings and efficiency gains.

The biggest bottleneck that prevents companies from implementing more use cases is often the capacity of OT and IT teams. These teams are often overworked and have limited resources to dedicate to new projects. The UNS infrastructure enables companies to scale the capacity of these teams without adding more people, which allows them to implement more projects that add value to the business. For example, a company may only be able to deploy three projects without a UNS but can deploy 60 projects the next year after implementing a UNS.

Source: “Beyond Silos: Streamlining Data Flow with a Unified Namespace” session sponsored by HighByte, HiveMQ, and EMQ Technologies at the IIoT World Manufacturing Days. This is an excerpt from the discussion summarized by notebooklm based on the session’s video transcript. It was verified and edited by IIoT World’s team. For more insights, watch the session on-demand.

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