Description
The International Society of Automation (ISA) is a globally recognized, non-profit professional association that develops standards for automation and control systems across various industries, including manufacturing, process control, and building automation. While ISA is not a 3GPP-defined technology, its standards, particularly the ISA-95 (Enterprise-Control System Integration) and ISA-88 (Batch Control) series, are highly relevant in the context of industrial IoT and the integration of operational technology (OT) with information technology (IT) networks, including 5G. 3GPP specifications, especially those related to 5G for vertical industries (e.g., 3GPP TS 22.104 on service requirements for cyber-physical control applications), often consider or align with ISA frameworks to ensure cellular networks can meet the stringent reliability, latency, and security requirements of industrial automation. The provided 3GPP specification numbers (32.859, 38.300, 38.304, 38.331) are management, architecture, and radio resource control documents; any direct reference to ISA within them would typically be in an informative or normative context citing external standards for industrial communication profiles or security models. The role of ISA in the 3GPP ecosystem is thus one of cross-standardization alignment, ensuring that 5G systems can serve as a communication backbone for ISA-compliant industrial automation systems, enabling trends like Industry 4.0.
Purpose & Motivation
The purpose of referencing the International Society of Automation (ISA) within 3GPP contexts is to bridge the gap between telecommunications standards and industrial automation standards. As 5G networks are designed to support critical communication for vertical industries such as manufacturing, energy, and transportation, there is a need to ensure compatibility with existing, widely adopted industrial protocols and architectures. ISA standards, developed over decades, define the models, terminology, and data structures for integrating enterprise and control systems. By considering ISA frameworks, 3GPP aims to make 5G a viable and optimized wireless solution for industrial environments, addressing requirements like deterministic latency, ultra-high reliability, and functional safety. This alignment helps prevent fragmentation and enables seamless deployment of 5G in factories and plants that already operate on ISA-based automation hierarchies. Historically, industrial networks relied on wired fieldbuses or industrial Ethernet, which offered reliability but lacked flexibility. 5G, with enhancements like Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC), seeks to provide wireless flexibility while meeting or exceeding the performance benchmarks set by these wired industrial standards, with ISA providing the crucial application-layer context and integration models.
Detected Changes Across Releases
from 3GPP Change RequestsSpecific changes extracted from the „Change history“ tables of 3GPP specifications (9 CRs across 3 releases). Complements the general historical overview above with the evidence-based evolution of this function.
Studied in Rel-12, normative work from Rel-15.
In Release 15, the specification formally aligned the definition and management of network alarms with the ANSI/ISA-18.2 standard to address fundamental quality and operational issues. This introduced the core principle that an "alarm" must require an operator response, alongside structured processes from the alarm management lifecycle such as rationalization and the concept of Highly Managed Alarms (HMAs). It also incorporated standardized alarm states and suppression methods to explicitly design the alarm system accounting for human limitations.
- CQI and MCS for URLLC TS 38.300CR0154
In Release 17, the new work for the ISA (International Society of Automation) function focused on formally redefining the term "alarm" within 3GPP specifications to align with the ANSI/ISA 18.2 standard and EEMUA findings. This redefinition establishes the core principle that an alarm must require an operator response and introduces key concepts from the alarm management lifecycle, such as alarm rationalization and alarm suppression states. The changes aimed to increase alarm information quality to better support operational processes and enable automation in line with industrial IoT (IIoT) and URLLC enhancements.
In Release 18, the primary advancement for the ISA function was the formal redefinition of the term "alarm" within 3GPP specifications to align with the ANSI/ISA 18.2 standard, mandating that an alarm must require an operator action. This introduced key concepts from the alarm management lifecycle, including alarm rationalization and the classification of "Highly Managed Alarms" (HMAs), while also adopting detailed alarm states and suppression methods as defined by the ISA standard to improve alarm quality and semantics.
Explore further
Broader topics and technologies where ISA plays a role.
Defining Specifications
3GPP specifications that define or reference ISA, with the latest known release. Sourced from the 3GPP document catalog — see methodology.
| Specification | Title | Release |
|---|---|---|
| TS 32.859 vc10 | Alarm Management Quality Improvement Study | Rel-12 |
| TS 38.300 vj00 | NG-RAN Overall Description | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.304 vj00 | UE RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE Procedures | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.331 vj00 | NR Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification | Rel-19 |