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The start of the 2010s witnessed a surge in the integration of various digital tools and technologies to create comprehensive and interconnected systems known as hyper-automation, courtesy of the fourth industrial revolution. However, in the last 3-4 years, the conventional working process in the industry has been shattered, which impacted societies globally. The industries must be sustainable and adapt to any situation, i.e., resilience. Furthermore, the trend is moving towards more personalized products and services, which compels the industries to take a more collaborative approach in comparison to hyper-automation. Industry 5.0 paves the way to the next industrial innovation cycle that aligns with the platforms compatible with the fourth iteration and addresses the importance of collaboration between machine and man, i.e., collaborative robots. Industry 4.0 laid the groundwork for human-machine collaboration through hyperconnectivity between the end user and the industrial components, such as supply chain management, logistics, and plants. The fifth iteration notches it up to integrate robotic precision with human creativity by digitally integrating the communication between both stakeholders.

Communication networks play a pivotal role in maintaining the integration and hyperconnectivity between man and machines. With the evolution of devices into systems of systems, such as the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber-physical systems (CPS), the characteristics of networks have undergone significant changes. Industrial Communication Networks (ICNets) were introduced to handle data integrity, real-time control, large installations, and sometimes harsh operating environments inside and outside the factory floor. Examples of ICNets include ControlNet, Modbus, DeviceNet EtherCAT, EtherNet/IPProfinet, and so on. ICNets enable communication paths among PCs, controllers, and field devices, which is difficult to achieve with traditional communication networks.

To achieve complete transparency between enterprise IT networks and ICNets in the industrial plant, industrial Ethernet has been used extensively for industrial automation. In this regard, ICNets aim to meet real-time operational requirements, which are made possible if the information is handled deterministically. Currently, these networks also must be able to support the massive number of devices,  which are increasingly heterogeneous and imply a need to support a wide range of standards. Furthermore, industrial networks must often offer solutions with improved reliability, greater efficiency, and faster response times, which are key characteristics of CPS-based systems. These benefits could be achieved by designing for a multi-protocol environment, opting for the best communication protocols, and urging the eco-system to take the initiative to develop interoperable and non-proprietary protocols in general, but also for energy-efficient, carbon-aware, and resilient systems. Industrial networks face additional challenges, such as an increasing volume of data, support for analytics/AI/compute across that data, and monitoring activities remotely from home, thus, realizing the smart manufacturing process in the truest sense. Additionally, they are often tasked to support low-power requirements, congestion-free communication, and seamless wireless and cellular integration with next-generation networks (NGNs). Finally, ICNets are used for various applications, such as industrial robotics, cobot communication, vision systems for anomaly detection, and automotive industries. ICNets will likely draw upon emerging technologies such as Private 5G, Network Slicing, etc. Although the associated challenges mentioned above illustrate what makes ICNets compelling, many other applications, use cases, and issues make them interesting and worthy of further exploration. Therefore, this Special Issue will seek technical, empirical, and conceptual papers that can offer practical and novel solutions concerning the following topics, but not strictly limited to:

• Security and Privacy for ICNets
• Sustainable and Resilient Zero-Touch Networks for Industrial applications
• Virtualization techniques (Metaverse and Digital Twin) for ICNets
• Network Slicing, SDN, MEC, and NFV for ICNet
• Integration of time-sensitive networking in industrial wireless networks
• Integration of wireless systems into currently deployed industrial networks
• Intelligent signal processing for reduced interference
• 3GPP Standardization for ICNets
• Integration of wireless systems into currently deployed industrial networks
• Intelligent signal processing for reduced interference
• 3GPP Standardization for ICNets
• New networking architectures, including OpenRAN for ICNets
• RF-controlled intelligent reflecting surface for ICNets
• Advance Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques for Resilient ICNets
• Quality of Service (QoS) in ICNets, including topics such as Dynamic Resource Allocation, Spectrum Allocation, Energy and Carbon Efficiency

Submission Guidelines

Prospective authors should submit their manuscripts following the IEEE OJCOMS guidelines. Authors should submit a manuscript trough Manuscript Central.

Important Dates

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 31 December 2024
Publication Date: Third Quarter 2025

Lead Guest Editor

Kapal Dev
Munster Technological University, Ireland

Guest Editors

Luca Foschini
Università degli Studi di Bologna, Italy

Cedric Westphal
Futurewei Technologies, USA

Chih-Lin I
China Mobile Research Institute, China

Sunder Ali Khowaja
Korea Polytechnic University, South Korea