7

Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing

INTRODUCTION

The following six program areas were presented to the panel as comprising the Communications Technology Laboratory’s (CTL’s) Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area:

• Smart Connected Manufacturing Systems. The mission is to develop standards, guidelines, and tools to enable the United States manufacturing industry to improve the quality, reliability, interoperability, and efficiency of their manufacturing systems using data and advanced communications technologies.
• Smart Grid Program. The mission is to improve the efficiency, sustainability, economics, and resilience of the nation’s electric grids by developing and demonstrating advances in measurement science, control theory, and communications to enhance grid interoperability and facilitate the use of electrical grids as enabling platforms for modern energy technologies and services, including flexible, trustworthy, distributed energy resources.
• Internet of Things (IoT) Devices and Infrastructure. The mission is to develop advances in measurement science, including conceptual frameworks, testing and testbed methodologies, co-simulation software platform, tools, and best practices to enable the development and assurance of scalable, interoperable, and trustworthy IoT devices and infrastructures, including autonomous systems such as those for automated driving system safety.
• Smart Cities and Communities. The mission is to demonstrate replicable, scalable, and sustainable models for collaborative incubation and deployment of interoperable, standards-based IoT solutions, including, through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Global City Teams Challenge, and to develop best practices to capture tangible and measurable benefits to the quality of life in communities and cities.
• Security for Operational Technologies. The mission is to develop cybersecurity methodologies, measurement science, standards, guidelines, and tools for securing operational technology systems including advanced control systems for connected IoT systems and critical infrastructure applications; consistency of NIST guidance is maintained through close coordination with the NIST cybersecurity program.

• Industrial Wireless Systems. The mission is to develop robust system requirements, system models, recommended architectures, metrology approaches for industrial wireless systems, test methods standardization, and guidelines for establishing trustworthy wireless systems for operational systems such as smart manufacturing and industrial control systems.

Of these, Smart Connected Manufacturing Systems, Smart Grid, and Industrial Wireless Systems were presented to the panel.

The Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area is a relatively new one for CTL. The current budget in this area is $14.37 million (12.3 percent of the overall CTL budget). The groups were brought into CTL from other laboratories within NIST as part of the reorganization effort following the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2019 assessment.¹ While these groups are now in CTL, their technical focus is broader than communications. Opportunities to better connect with and leverage the communications expertise within the rest of CTL are still developing.

Not all of the above research areas were presented to the panel to the same depth. The Smart Connected Manufacturing Systems and Smart Grid team leads presented to the panel, along with the lead for a millimeter-wave channel characterization project, which is being executed within another laboratory in collaboration with the Industrial Wireless Systems research area within Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing.

As a new research focus area within CTL, those working in Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing have more work ahead of them to develop cohesion across the focus area’s program areas and CTL more broadly. While the process of integration into the core mission of CTL as well as between the six different research areas within Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing has begun, more work is needed. Each individual research area is very strong, but there is a lack of coherence among them. The stated unifying theme of “Trustworthy Interoperable Infrastructures” puts up an umbrella much larger than the work beneath it. This umbrella spans a great many topics, including many that CTL is not actively researching. As such, this umbrella has little value by way of helping to bring the various research topics together or to identify cross-cutting themes that would impact CTL’s research in a meaningful way. The presentations did not demonstrate any linkages between the Smart Grid and Smart Connected Manufacturing programs, for example. The challenge is to maintain the obvious lead that these research areas have in their individual spheres while exploring new directions, especially those that incorporate communications into their research goals in a more organic way.

One potential integrating theme for Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing that would incorporate well with CTL and the needs of industry is 5G and the broader NextG/6G trajectory. Intelligent, industrial applications are a driving use case for emerging wireless standards and systems. Manufacturing, smart grid, IoT, smart cities, and industrial and operational technologies all can take advantage of 5G’s Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications mode and perhaps for the first time have interconnectivity at scale to bring coherent autonomy to bear. Current efforts seem more piecemeal. Leveraging some unique technical capabilities and expertise like millimeter-wave propagation would be useful.

A final broad observation is that the technical diversity of projects presented seemed scattered across fundamental research, experimentation and testbeds, metrology, and standardization. While all of these are within CTL’s remit, emerging technologies generally follow an arc of development across those bins of activity, and the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing projects presented were unevenly distributed across the activity bins listed. For example, the smart manufacturing work focused primarily on standards and testbeds but lacked an apparent pipeline of research. Similarly, the millimeter-wave work seemed focused on testbeds and metrology, without a path to standards.

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¹ National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019, An Assessment of the Communications Technology Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology: Fiscal Year 2019, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, https://doi.org/10.17226/25602.

Recommendation 7-1: CTL should prioritize, over the next 3 years, the integration of Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing across its various focus areas and between Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing and the broader CTL mission set to reduce stovepipes between disciplines and enable more transdisciplinary discovery.

Recommendation 7-2: CTL should identify one or more Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing integrating cross-cutting topics in research, experimentation, metrology, and standards that can serve to foster collaboration across the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing focus areas and CTL more broadly.

Recommendation 7-3: CTL should better map the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing activities in each of its focus areas into a strategic framework that connects technology maturity with research, testing, metrology, and standardization, and ensure a balanced portfolio leading to a sustainable research agenda.

ASSESSMENT OF TECHNICAL PROGRAMS

The panel commends CTL for taking bold action to reorganize its program areas and establish the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area. Establishing this area is important to bringing strategic focus to infrastructure and manufacturing, both of which are critical to maintaining a strong, competitive technology base for the nation.

Each of the six groups that comprise the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area is fully engaged in the breadth of CTL’s mission and has established core research programs and testbeds infrastructure. They are represented in relevant industry standards development organizations, where the staff hold multiple leadership roles and have contributed to several different standards. It is clear that the expertise and contributions of the various project areas in Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing are important and valued by standards groups and the larger community.

Standards and NIST Guidance Documents

The work in the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area in developing common frameworks for cyber-physical systems and the IoT are critical to future research, standardization, and efforts to engineer security. Standards generated include ISO 10303-242:2020, “Managed Model-Based 3D Engineering, Edition 2”; ISO 10303-242:2022 (Edition 3 to be published); and IEEE 1547.1-2020, “Standard Conformance Test Procedures for Equipment Interconnecting Distributed Energy Resources with Electric Power Systems and Associated Interface.” NIST-generated Special Publications (SP) that are foundational to the industry include the following: NIST SP 1109R4 (NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 4.0); NIST SP 1500-201, -202, and -203 (Framework for Cyber-Physical Systems vol. 1, 2, and 3); NIST SP 1900-202 (Cyber-Physical Systems and IoT); NIST SP 800-82 (Guide to Industrial Control Systems Security); Guide to Industrial Wireless Systems Deployments, and NIST Advanced Manufacturing Series (AMS) 300-4.

Smart Grid

The Smart Grid focus area within Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing is part of a larger Smart Grid Program that includes personnel from other laboratories and divisions within NIST. According to the information provided by the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area, the Smart Grid Program has 2.8 federal staff and 4.2 associate staff (indicating a mix of dedicated and shared staff), and

there is a larger team of 15 additional contributors to the broader program. The broader Smart Grid Program objectives include (1) development of precision timing requirements for electric grid systems; (2) measurements, observation, and communications for grid management to ensure interoperability; (3) cybersecurity for grid systems; (4) power conditioning systems and control strategies to develop requirements for emerging distributed grid systems; and (5) standards development for all aspects of device and system functionality. Following the 2021 publication of the NIST Framework and Roadmap of Smart Grid Interoperability Standards—Release 4,² the objectives for Smart Grid Program standards work have evolved to focus on the development of interoperability profiles, rather than developing new standards to address emerging technologies.

Activities in the Smart Grid group tend to be more applied than fundamental because the focus is on ensuring communications security and interoperability among the various energy sources that contribute to the nation’s existing grid system and the development of standards. Within this constraint, the Smart Grid group has authored or delivered co-authorship of 43 publications, including 15 NIST publications, 1 NIST Management of Institutional Data Assets (MIDAS) Object, 7 journal publications, and 13 conference publications, 3 industry guidance documents, 1 Department of Energy report, and 3 technical standards since 2019. Smart Grid Program contributors from other NIST groups have authored or coauthored an additional 6 NIST publications, 2 MIDAS Objects, 8 journal publications, 5 conference publications, 6 industry guidance documents, and 11 technical standards. Twelve staff members, including the group leader and members of the broader Smart Grid Program, participate in 716 standards activities, along with members from the broader Smart Grid Program.

One of the major accomplishments of the Smart Grid group over the past 3 years was the development of the “Campus as a Testbed,” conceived to enable NIST smart grid research to leverage the real-world energy infrastructure installations and operational conditions present around the NIST campus as a resource to enhance the industry relevance of program metrology activities and enhance the realism of complementary laboratory (testbed) based research activities. These facilities include the 5 MW photovoltaic array, wireless communications networks, the NetZero Energy Research Test Facility, and other facilities. Experiments and infrastructure were developed to measure and characterize technical parameters. This allowed the team to gain insights, for example, into the propagation of harmonic distortions through deployed distribution systems. Interestingly, this testbed produced more research results than a purpose-built smart grid testbed because the campus experienced things like non-compliant design, repeated flooding from both natural causes and infrastructure failures, and project management challenges, thus representing a real operating environment and not an idealized model. The leadership of this testbed project has changed due to normal turnover, and the testbed is being redesigned for future experimentation.

Manufacturing Standards (Smart Connected Manufacturing Systems)

The manufacturing standards presentation covered work from the Smart Connected Manufacturing Systems Group within CTL and detailed CTL’s role in system modeling standards and manufacturing digital thread standards. The overall approach is to identify commonalities in system models and analytical methods, and use those as points of leverage to drive the development of new abstractions that result in extensions to standard modeling languages—in particular, the systems modeling language (SysML).

Notably, CTL has played a prominent role in advancing systems engineering standards and, in particular, the widely used SysML. In addition to developing behavioral models for the current version of SysML, CTL played a central role in working jointly with stakeholders and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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² National Institute of Standards and Technology. 2022. Smart Grid Framework: NIST Framework and Roadmap of Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 4.0. https://www.nist.gov/ctl/smart-connected-systems-division/smart-grid-group/smart-grid-framework.

on the formulation of SysML 2. The Object Management Group, the standards organization behind SysML, adopted the NIST-Jet Propulsion Laboratory approach as the core to SysML 2.

For manufacturing digital thread standards, CTL is focused on filling gaps in the current standards ecosystem to help unlock the economic potential of advanced manufacturing. CTL has played a significant role in the development of the standards for the exchange of product model data (known as STEP) over the past few decades and has been engaged in a variety of related manufacturing standards. Particularly for standards for the exchange of product model data, CTL has led the interoperability and conformance ecosystem to help drive coherence among a diverse and complex ecosystem. The next frontier of their research is focused on adding supply chain cybersecurity to manufacturing standards.

Additionally, CTL has leveraged its existing machine shop, and with some modest upgrades, has turned it into a testbed for experimentation and prototyping.

Industrial Wireless Environment (Industrial Wireless Systems)

The Industrial Wireless Environment group has several project goals, including developing testbeds, researching technologies for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), developing conceptual frameworks for the inclusion of impairments in performance modeling, developing spectral activity measurement capability, and developing channel exemplars for millimeter-wave and microwave operational environments. However, the only activity that was presented in detail was the millimeter-wave channel characterization effort, which is not a core Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing activity and is carried out in collaboration with Innovations in Measurement Science and other centers within NIST. Other activities, such as time-sensitive networking using Wi-Fi, the development of a 5G testbed, and applications of machine learning in industrial wireless were briefly mentioned. However, in written answers to questions, CTL stated that one of the most impactful projects was the time-sensitive networking over Wi-Fi project, which resulted in multiple publications and one best paper award. The Industrial Wireless Environment group publishes about two to four papers and delivers three to five presentations per year.

The millimeter-wave IIoT channel characterization effort will eventually allow users to evaluate millimeter-wave IIoT device performance under real-world channel conditions. Measured channels will be replicated in a repeatable, over-the-air test chamber with configurations automatically managed by machine learning. The results of this channel characterization effort are contributed to the open 5G Channel Model Alliance Data Repository.

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Smart Grid Program

A challenge is that the Smart Grid Program needs to be better integrated with the connectivity theme of CTL. One way to accomplish this would be to address the question of how 5G fits into the smart grid connectivity needs. The 5G testbed being built in the Next-Generation Wireless group was mentioned in several discussions. However, it is very unclear what this testbed actually is and whether the goals of smart grid connectivity can be achieved using the proposed testbed, which appears to be built with Citizens Broadband Radio Service equipment that is not state of the art in terms of 5G functionality. 5G-based smart grid connectivity would rely specifically on the Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication feature of 5G and it did not seem that the proposed 5G testbed would focus on this aspect.

There is an opportunity for the Smart Grid Program to be more involved in the design of the proposed 5G testbed to ensure that the Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication features are present. To date, there are almost no performance data available on this aspect of 5G because most operators are focused

on high-speed broadband. Building a program that focuses on this aspect could be very beneficial to the broader IoT community.

Manufacturing Standards

Challenges in this area include the breadth of standards activities and a prioritization approach that not only accounts for where NIST has engaged and networked with leaders in the standards space but also where the United States and the federal government have specific needs to advance the competitiveness of the United States and to provide for use cases such as public safety and military communications, which might otherwise not be represented in standards bodies. With much of the Industry 4.0 effort’s energy being driven by the European Union, NIST participation is critical.

CTL has had a prominent role in the development of manufacturing standards for decades. A forward-looking opportunity is to lead the development of the next generation of use cases and standards for advanced manufacturing. Particularly as the Industry 4.0 effort seeks to use wireless technologies, Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing could leverage the broader communications expertise within CTL to step forward and lead the development of advanced manufacturing communications standards for 5G, 6G, and NextG.

Another opportunity is increased collaboration between CTL and the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership in setting manufacturing standards. The network of university and industry partnerships represented within the Manufacturing Extension Partnership are a tremendous collaborative relationship that could help amplify CTL’s standards agenda.

Industrial Wireless Environment

Several challenges are apparent. The focus on millimeter-wave technology for IIoT seems to have been adopted without enough evaluation of mid-band (sub-6 GHz) technologies and the inherent obstacles in implementing millimeter-wave technology in an industrial environment. It is also not clear how measurements made in a very specific propagation environment would scale across industries and environments. While the millimeter-wave effort is a good contribution to measurement science, it is not at all clear as to how the work that is being done will confirm that millimeter-wave technology will indeed meet the latency and other performance targets of this application. If the goal is measurement, then the current approach is fine. However, if the goal is to pick the best technology for IIoT to meet the target performance, more work needs to be done in fully evaluating mid-band technologies in comparison to millimeter-wave technology. The group seems to be guided by what industry wants and their past expertise in millimeter-wave channel modeling rather than performing in-depth comparisons of their own.

By way of opportunities, the group has expertise in testing IIoT using Wi-Fi. Combined with their expertise in millimeter-wave technology, there is a unique opportunity to provide industry with benchmark comparisons of IIoT in different bands and using different technologies on the same testbed.

This could be done using WiGig chipsets at 60 GHz alongside 5 GHz Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi 6E in 6 GHz is also available today and is being evaluated as a high-throughput, low-latency alternative to millimeter-wave technology. A testbed that tests these various technologies and presents recommendations based on use cases would be extremely valuable.

PORTFOLIO OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERTISE

Accomplishments

The groups working in the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area possess world-class expertise in most of the areas where they work. However, from the material presented, and given the mandate of focusing on applied research, the output is more in the form of contributions to standards than in scientific papers, especially in smart grid and smart manufacturing, though they do produce papers. Certainly, the expertise in creating standards in the core areas of their mission is very commendable and quite impressive, as demonstrated by their many publications, presentations, and best paper awards.

Challenges and Opportunities

Current expertise in the Smart Grid Program and Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing group is in the core areas these research areas cover, which do not include connectivity research. Incorporating more connectivity research into all the research areas, especially the smart manufacturing and smart grid efforts, is a challenge. Most of the efforts seem very focused on developing standards documents, which is an important aspect of CTL and NIST, but more attention also needs to be paid to basic research.

Smart grid and smart manufacturing are application areas that will benefit from 5G connectivity in the future. However, most of the research focus in both academia and industry is on broadband needs. An opportunity exists for those working in the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area to leverage its leadership position in the smart grid, smart manufacturing, and the industrial wireless environment to help formulate a strategy that develops scientific expertise in the application of 5G to these new application areas.

EFFECTIVE DISSEMINATION OF OUTPUTS

Accomplishments

The groups in the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area disseminate their results in various ways: contributions to standards publications, NIST documents (reports and data outputs), external journal and conference publications, and presentations (including keynotes) at appropriate venues. Many publications are collaborative, with coauthors from other NIST divisions and external organizations. The smart grid and smart connected manufacturing systems research areas have the largest output in terms of publications, presentations, and contributions to standards.

Challenges and Opportunities

Academic publications, conference attendance, and in-person attendance at standards-setting meetings have been challenging through the COVID-19 pandemic. Undoubtedly, these macro-conditions impacted the ability of the groups working in the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area to disseminate the results of its research, experimentation, and standards contributions. The Industrial Wireless Environment group does not seem to publish in journals, preferring conference publications and presentations instead, which may impact the archival nature of their research in the long term. The Smart Grid Program has a commendable output but is more focused on NIST publications.

Since 5G appears to be a cross-cutting theme across several different groups working in the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area, focused participation in 5G-related conferences would be useful and appropriate.