Imagine that a problem poses a safety threat with the toothpaste you use, the food you feed your cat, the steering system in your car, the grid that distributes your electricity, or the avionics in the plane you're about to board. Networked embedded systems, deployed in an automated industrial setting, can help to prevent/detect these problems (and more).

Industrial applications of networked embedded systems, and in particular in factory and process automation, whether wired, wireless, or hybrid pose a range of challenges to the designers arising from unique requirements imposed by the industrial environment.

This book describes communication, security and safety requirements imposed on embedded systems by industrial applications, as opposed to typical applications in stand-alone appliances or multimedia. Networking of embedded systems around wireline and wireless solutions is explored, with a focus on real-time Ethernet and wireless sensor/actuator networks. The "Platform-Based Design" paradigm, which provides for rapid design and implementation of application domain dependent solutions, is described in the context of industrial applications.


* Industrial requirements for design of embedded systems, illustrated with designs of actual systems used by industry...readers will view the industrial context for issues such as availability, reliability, safety, survivability, security, power consumption, connectivity, and usability;

* Networked embedded systems, both wireline and wireless, including real-time Ethernet and supporting technologies, illustrated by actual applications on the factory floor...readers will see the potential offered by "intelligent (signal converting, data processing, communicating)" field devices such as sensors and actuators, implemented on low-cost/low-power, systems-on-chip, connected to the Internet;

* Fault-tolerant Services and Protocols for Safety-critical Embedded Systems...readers will see fault-tolerance concepts and solutions applied in contexts such as high pressure equipment, robotics, chemical processes, off-shore gas and oil, nuclear energy, etc., as well as in-depth presentation of communication protocols designed to meet these needs, such as TTP/C and FlexRay;

* Security issues relevant to industrial embedded systems and industrial networks...readers will gain insight into security objectives, types of attacks, and cryptographic protection methods in the context of communication protocols and networks;

* Platform-Based Design for industrial embedded systems...offers readers rapid design and implementation of application domain dependent solutions (see Market Need for explanation of industry supply-chain need for Platform-Based [System-Level] Design).