Currently, enterprises have to make quick and resilient responses to changing market requirements. In light of this, low-code development platforms provide the technology mechanisms to facilitate and automate the development of software applications to support current enterprise needs and promote digital transformation. Based on a theory-building research methodology through the literature and other information sources review, the main contribution of this paper is the current characterisation of the emerging low-code domain following the foundations of the computer-aided software engineering field. A context analysis, focused on the current status of research related to the low-code development platforms, is performed. Moreover, benchmarking among the existing low-code development platforms addressed to manufacturing industry is analysed to identify the current lacking features. As an illustrative example of the emerging low-code paradigm and respond to the identified uncovered features, the virtual factory open operating system (vf-OS) platform is described as an open multi-sided low-code framework able to manage the overall network of a collaborative manufacturing and logistics environment that enables humans, applications, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to seamlessly communicate and interoperate in the interconnected environment, promoting resilient digital transformation.

This paper presents an integrated reference model for digital manufacturing platforms, based on cutting edge reference models for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) systems. Digital manufacturing platforms use IIoT systems in combination with other added-value services to support manufacturing processes at different levels (e.g. design, engineering, operations planning, and execution). Digital manufacturing platforms form complex multi-sided ecosystems, involving different stakeholders ranging from supply chain collaborators to Information Technology (IT) providers. This research analyses prominent reference models for IIoT systems to align the definitions they contain and determine to what extent they are complementary and applicable to digital manufacturing platforms. Based on this analysis, the Industrial Internet Integrated Reference Model (I3RM) for digital manufacturing platforms is presented, together with general recommendations that can be applied to the architectural definition of any digital manufacturing platform.

Abstract-This paper proposes the use of Adaptive LDPC AL-FEC codes for content download services over erasure channels. In Adaptive LDPC codes, clients inform the content download server of the losses they are experiencing. Using this information, the server makes FEC parity symbols available to the client at an optimum code rate. This paper presents an analytical model of the proposed Adaptive LDPC codes. The model is validated through measurements realized with an application prototype. Additionally, results show the performance of these codes in different scenarios, compared to the performance of nonadaptive AL-FEC, Optimum LDPC AL-FEC codes and an almost ideal rateless code. Adaptive LDPC AL-FEC codes achieve download times similar to almost ideal rateless codes with less coding complexity, at the expense of an interaction channel between server and clients.

The industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is having a significant impact in the manufacturing industry, especially in the context of horizontal integration of operational systems in factories as part of information systems in supply chains. Manufacturing companies can use this technology to create data streams along the supply chain that monitor and control manufacturing and logistic processes, to in the end make these data streams interoperable with other software systems and to enable smart interactions among supply chain processes. However, the provision of these data streams may expose manufacturing operational systems to cyber-attacks. Therefore, cybersecurity is a critical aspect to design trustworthy gateways, which are system components that implement interoperability mechanisms between operational systems and information systems. Gateways must provide security mechanisms at different system layers to minimize threats. This paper presents the Device Drivers security architecture: trustworthy gateways between operational technology and information technology used in the virtual factory open operating system (vf-OS) platform, which is a multisided platform orientated to manufacturing and logistics companies to enable collaboration among supply chains in all sectors. The main contribution of this paper is the evaluation of fallback mechanisms to improve resilience. In situations when the system may be under attack, the proposed mechanisms provide means to quickly recover component availability, by applying alternative security measures to minimize the threat at the same time. Other significant contributions are: a description of the threat model for Device Drivers, a presentation of the security countermeasures implemented in the vf-OS system, the mapping of the vf-OS response objectives to the different characteristics of a trustworthy system: security, privacy, reliability, safety, and resilience and how the proposed countermeasures complement this response.

Abstract:Purpose: In order to leverage automation control data, Industry 4.0 manufacturing systems require industrial devices to be connected to the network. Potentially, this can increase the risk of cyberattacks, which can compromise connected industrial devices to acquire production data or gain control over the production process. Search engines such as Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network (SHODAN) can be perverted by attackers to acquire network information that can be later used for intrusion. To prevent this, cybersecurity standards propose network architectures divided into several networks segments based on system functionalities. In this architecture, Firewalls limit the exposure of industrial control devices in order to minimize security risks. This paper presents a novel Software Defined Networking (SDN) Firewall that automatically applies this standard architecture without compromising network flexibility.Design/methodology/approach: The proposed SDN Firewall changes filtering rules in order to implement the different network segments according to application level access control policies. The Firewall applies two filtering techniques described in this paper: temporal filtering and spatial filtering, so that only applications in a white list can connect to industrial control devices. Network administrators need only to configure this application-oriented white lists to comply with security standards for ICS. This simplifies to a great extent network management tasks. Authors have developed a prototype implementation based on the OPC UA Standard and conducted security tests in order to test the viability of the proposal.Findings: Network segmentation and segregation are effective counter-measures against network scanning attacks. The proposed SDN Firewall effectively configures a flat network into virtual LAN segments according to security standard guidelines. Research limitations/implications:The prototype implementation still needs to implement several features to exploit the full potential of the proposal. Next steps for development are discussed in a separate section. Practical implications:The proposed SDN Firewall has similar security features to commercially available application Firewalls, but SDN Firewalls offer additional security features. First, SDN technology provides improved performance, since SDN low-level processing functions are much more efficient. Second, with SDN, security functions are rooted in the network instead of being centralized in particular -318-Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management -https://doi.org/10.3926/jiem.2534 network elements. Finally, SDN provides a more flexible and dynamic, zero configuration framework for secure manufacturing systems by automating the rollout of security standard-based network architectures.Social implications: SDN Firewalls can facilitate the deployment of secure Industry 4.0 manufacturing systems, since they provide ICS networks with many of the needed security capabilities without compromising flexibility.Originality/va...