Timing-As-A-Service (TAAS): On the role of mobile service providers in the context of integrated Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

Traditionally, the production efficiency of a factory floor is evaluated using non-real time objective functions. These are based on scheduling punctuality criteria such as 'earliness (a measure of finishing operations ahead of schedule)' and 'tardiness (a measure of delay in executing certain operations)'. With process automation becoming more and more inevitable due to the emergence of Industry 4.0 / Industry 5.0, real-time objective functions are also gaining popularity. One such criterion is 'synchronization' or 'timing'. In this article, an IoT enabled real-time synchronization approach is presented in the context of Integrated Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) from a service provider's perspective. A new business and operational model, termed as "Timing-As-A-Service (TAAS)", is introduced. In this model, the role of a service provider is to "supply" synchronization from the mobile networks to the IIoT domain.