Industrial IoT & OT Glossary

Protocols 4

• Modbus Modbus is a simple, widely deployed request-response (client/server) industrial communication protocol published by Modicon in 1979.
• MQTT Message Queuing Telemetry Transport MQTT is a lightweight publish/subscribe messaging protocol that runs through a broker and is designed for low-bandwidth, constrained environments.
• OPC UA Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture OPC UA is the open, platform-independent standard (IEC 62541) for secure, information-model-based data exchange between industrial devices and systems.
• Sparkplug B Eclipse Sparkplug Sparkplug is an open specification that defines the topic structure, payload format and state management on top of MQTT for industrial interoperability; “B” denotes the Protobuf-based payload encoding.

Architecture & Data 8

• Data Contextualization Data contextualization adds meaning (asset, unit, location, state, timestamp) to raw tag values so data can be understood outside its source system.
• Deadband A deadband is a threshold around the last reported value inside which changes are not reported or recorded.
• Edge Computing Edge computing means processing data close to where it is generated (machine, line or plant) instead of only in a remote cloud.
• IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) IIoT is the networking of sensors, machines and software in industrial settings so they generate and share data for monitoring and optimization.
• Industrial DataOps Industrial DataOps is the practice of connecting, modeling, conditioning and managing OT data at the source to deliver trustworthy data to analytics and AI.
• ISA-95 ISA-95 / IEC 62264 ISA-95 (IEC 62264) is the international standard that defines the integration of enterprise and manufacturing control systems, including a functional and equipment hierarchy.
• Store-and-Forward Store-and-forward is a mechanism that buffers data locally while the destination is unreachable and delivers it in order once the connection is restored.
• Unified Namespace (UNS) A Unified Namespace is an architecture where enterprise data is published into one meaningful namespace (typically on an MQTT broker) and systems connect to that shared structure instead of to each other.

OT Security 5

• IEC 62443 IEC 62443 is the international series of standards for the cybersecurity of industrial automation and control systems (IACS).
• OT / ICS Cybersecurity OT/ICS cybersecurity is the discipline of protecting industrial control systems, field devices and process networks from cyber threats.
• OT Asset Inventory An OT asset inventory is the current list of all devices in a control system (PLCs, HMIs, switches, servers…) with hardware, software, firmware and configuration details.
• Purdue Model The Purdue Model is the reference architecture that layers industrial control system networks from the process itself up to the enterprise network and underlies segmentation.
• Zones and Conduits In IEC 62443, assets with similar security requirements are grouped into “zones”, and the controlled communication paths between zones are called “conduits”.

Systems 6

• DCS Distributed Control System A DCS is a control architecture where controllers are distributed across the plant and tied to a common engineering and operator environment, used especially for continuous and batch processes.
• Historian A historian is a specialized time-series database that stores time-stamped process tag values compactly for long periods and makes them queryable for trending.
• HMI Human-Machine Interface An HMI is the visual interface through which an operator monitors and controls a machine or process.
• MES Manufacturing Execution System An MES is the production execution system between ERP and the control layer that manages work orders, material traceability and quality at shop-floor level.
• PLC Programmable Logic Controller A PLC is a rugged industrial computer that runs control logic in scan cycles to control machines and processes.
• SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition SCADA is a system for remotely monitoring and supervising distributed processes, covering field RTUs/PLCs, communications, servers and operator interfaces.

Analytics & AI 5

• Digital Twin A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical asset or process kept in sync with real data, used for monitoring, simulation and prediction.
• MCP (Model Context Protocol) MCP is the open protocol that lets AI applications connect to external tools and data sources in a standard way (introduced by Anthropic in 2024).
• OEE Overall Equipment Effectiveness OEE is the metric of how effectively equipment uses planned production time, calculated as Availability × Performance × Quality.
• Predictive Maintenance Predictive maintenance continuously monitors equipment condition and uses analytics to detect failure signs early, scheduling maintenance when it is actually needed.
• Semantic Layer A semantic layer defines business metrics and dimensions once between raw data and analytics tools so everyone works from the same definitions.