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.