Technology trends 2024 Security, AI, and connectivity in the industry's focus

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The new security regulations are likely to be one of the most important challenges for device and machinery manufacturers this year. Additionally, the trend towards artificial intelligence and connectivity is expected to intensify.

Hannes Niederhauser is CEO of Kontron AG.

The demand for security is continuously increasing, especially for machines and infrastructure. "Security by Design," now also to be anchored in law as a concept, is intended to ensure that external manipulation is largely prevented.

IEC 62443 is an international cybersecurity standard for industrial automation and control systems. Kontron is currently working on completing the certification early this spring. According to the Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, machine manufacturers and operators have just under three years to meet the new requirements for machines and plants.

Meeting the cybersecurity standard IEC 62443 for automation and control systems

For this, it must be ensured in both the development process and the production process of a computer system that malware can enter neither hardware nor software at any point. Providers must be able to immediately close the latest security gaps and fix errors. This is where solutions like KontronOS come into play. The operating system consists of a minimalist standard Linux but covers all the functionalities customers typically require. For this platform, new threats or vulnerabilities are continuously searched for, and security gaps are automatically fixed through updates.

Machine and plant manufacturers as well as medical device suppliers thus have an important component at their disposal to meet the new regulations. The effects are already noticeable in the market: Practically every new tender already includes this normative requirement. The improved protection is a concern for all market participants.

Artificial intelligence continues to advance

The AI hype around ChatGPT affects the industry more indirectly, the focus on artificial intelligence continues to be clearly on image processing, particularly in terms of quality and production optimization, as well as monitoring and security in the production environment. All manufacturers are working intensively to efficiently implement the necessary parallel processes at the hardware level, including the connection to other systems or machines.

This is particularly the case for graphics processors that are specialized in accelerating AI applications, with many new products from companies such as Nvidia and other market leaders drawing focus. In the case of CPUs, manufacturers also report further performance improvements and increased integration of AI accelerators – AI IP (Inference Accelerator).

Companies like TI, NXP, Hailo, or Broadcom are currently integrating AI accelerators into ARM-based, power-saving, and cost-effective computing platforms that can be used in various environments, such as in edge systems, cameras, or driver assistance systems. Important application scenarios for autonomous driving are also found in rail transport, factory logistics, as well as in construction or harvesting machines.

Intel and AMD, on the other hand, are providing the powerful computing systems required for training AI models on individual high-performance machines or in the cloud with additional capabilities and increasingly reduced power consumption.

Connectivity: Artificial intelligence needs networking

Connectivity remains a dominant theme with 5G and WiFi 6. While 5G campus networks have so far been implemented mainly in lighthouse projects, a broader deployment of the technology is currently emerging. A key driver for this is the need for increased security and stability of wireless connections, as well as increasing data volumes with different priorities and services. The data rate that must be managed is drastically increasing due to AI, real-time controls, as well as enhanced video and image processing. In the medical field as in the manufacturing industry, complex systems are becoming more flexible and are being consolidated into easily movable islands, making complex cabling a problem that must give way to wireless connections. Here, 5G will be indispensable. 5G will also continue to gain importance in autonomous driving for assistance systems.

Kontron's approach in the 5G context is to provide both affordable 5G-enabled end devices and network infrastructure as a private 5G network, thereby developing and providing complete solutions from a single source. By acquiring parts of the radio module manufacturer Telit and specializing Kontron Slovenia in 5G Mobile Private Network offerings, resources have been expanded. Practical projects repeatedly show that integration is often complicated and risky when different providers need to be brought together. The integration service becomes an integral part of a complete package with coordinated technologies. This also means that only one contact is needed for support and service.

Especially in factory automation, the products must integrate into large production systems and thus include interfaces for secure and deterministic data transmission. Here, TSN and in the future also TSN-over-5G play an important role. In addition to industrial applications, we see a major innovation push in the areas of mission critical communication and passenger entertainment, particularly in the railways. Kontron is also intensively involved in adapting 5G technology for secure rail communication in the future.

Popular form factors

Due to its versatility, the SMARC form factor will continue to play a significant role. Computer-on-Modules in a small, energy-saving form factor are particularly suitable for customer-specific solutions where a motherboard cannot be used as a standard due to size or design specifications. In addition to the wide range of industrial standard motherboards, form factors such as COM-Express and HPC are available. This allows device manufacturers to use module carriers (Carrier Boards) that can be flexibly adapted to their own design while still benefiting from the "Economy of Scale" of the large standard module families. Other typical application scenarios can be found in industrial automation or in the retail environment, for example, in smart electronic scales.

It also becomes easier for machine builders to develop new functionalities based on a carrier. On one hand, they can benefit from standards and thus from interchangeability in the sense of a second source. On the other hand, performance can be scaled over the entire lifecycle of a product by simply exchanging a compatible module of a newer generation on the carrier.

Mastering the dynamics in supply chains

While the problems with supply chains and supply shortages have noticeably relaxed, given the dynamics, probably no one would dare to predict the challenges markets will face in the near future. The ability to deliver remains a central issue for all providers. For instance, Kontron relies on higher inventory levels that are based on forecasts. For all components, there is a second source, and in the past few years, re-designs have been carried out for hard-to-find components.

Countering the shortage of skilled workers

Especially in the medium-sized sector, it becomes apparent how challenging it is to handle the many new technologies and security requirements in parallel. The issue of limited resources is particularly noticeable in product development. The goal is to facilitate many development tasks for customers through the use of pre-developed modules and to bring expertise into the software development of projects through the susietec toolset developed by Kontron.