UNS at a glance

The UNS construct unite two concepts, IIOT infrastructure protocols and an enterprise ontology describing the information definition. As an architect it is important to label the concepts correctly. The information definition is based on the ISA-95 Part 2 taxonomy, but is not a taxonomy itself, but rather an ontology which describes the semantic data. Semantic data also forms the basis for web3 as semantic Web. What is required is the definition of an Enterprise ontology to form the foundation of the UNS. The described UNS construct also addresses only two of the six interogative perspectives; IIOT infrastructure (WHERE) and information definition (WHAT). If the UNS as a construct is to exceed in the long-term, it would need to address all 6 interrogative perspectives, with the information definition described as an enterprise ontology using OWL as an ontology language.

I believe there is a lot of work to be done. This solves one piece of a large MBE architecture. I worry that we’re becoming prescriptive before understanding the complete scope of the problem. I’m in favor of model-based standards that share common abstract semantics and can share behavioral components so they can be composed. Aside from that, true ontologies that are valid using a reasoner and have a full FOL definition are going to solve a lot of the terminology disfunction we have today. I get worried when we start talking protocol and representations too soon.

I still think we're asking the wrong questions - or as Steve Jobs famously said, "you're holding it wrong". A UNS by definition provides only the "current state", and therefore is only a part of the solution. A more comprehensive IIoT platform is needed to solve the macro problems and capture the macro opportunities. So we either need to evolve the definition of a UNS to be more all encompassing (historical data, services/actions, graph models) or we declare a UNS to be simply a subset of an IIoT platform's functionality.

Thanks for the great information - we still of a ways to go to discover the best digital transformation solution.

This is great summary, well done ?? Very common misconception of UNS is considering it as "one namespace that rules them all". In reality power comes by having capability to combine, reuse, create, coexist, maintain different namespaces in efficient manner, and providing easy (single pane of glass) access to curated data from edge to cloud. Data is a product/bi-product of manufacturing, and the consumer applications and services should not have responsibility of it. That does not foster overall efficiency or quality of digital services.