Guest Editorial: Special Section on Communication in Automation -Part II

The special section on "Communication in Automation"
presents relevant research works concerning selected
aspects about the adoption of digital communication techniques
for interconnecting devices and equipments in advanced control
systems. This second part (the first one has been published
in the February 2008 issue of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS) completes the section. In the present
issue, three papers are presented, which deal with techniques
and mechanisms for enhancing performance and dependability
of control networks. In particular, they address the design and
dimensioning of large-scale CSMA-based control networks,
the exploitation of priority-based medium access control protocols
to achieve increased real-time performance in sensor
networks, and a fault-tolerant orthogonal solution for clock
synchronization in controller area networks.