The industrial internet is a new type of infrastructure that integrates a new generation of information and communication technology with the industrial economy. It can monitor various sensors and controllers and continuously improves every procedure in the industrial production process through technologies such as mobile communications, big data, and artificial intelligence, thereby greatly increasing manufacturing efficiency and product quality, reducing product costs and resource consumption, and realizing the intelligence transformation of traditional industries.

With the accelerating commercialization of 5G and post-5G technologies and the constant emergence of new applications built on those technologies, the industrial internet can be accessed through heterogeneous multi-services and multi-protocols with different requirements for network resources and quality of service (QoS). Physical technologies in industrial scenarios are also heterogeneous. The industrial internet itself supports various types of network structures, such as campus area network (CAN), Modbus, time sensitive networks (TSN), ethernet, WiFi, and 5G. For different applications in the existing industrial internet protocol, performing intelligent fusion control is a key issue. At the same time, the industrial internet presents a model that can define business-oriented functions and combine network resources, which has cross-scenario and cross-business adaptability, meaning that one physical network/computing technology can serve different industrial scenarios as needed. Due to the lack of overall design at the network architecture level, existing industrial networks use relatively independent and dedicated systems and protocols, therefore it is difficult to achieve efficient integration and definability of various networks. In view of the current industrial Internet systems, considering the rigidity of the architecture, the monotony of its service, and the difficulty of addressing unknown threats, research must focus on the overall multi-modal industrial Internet network, crossing business, network, and security levels.

The aim of this special issue is to collect original research articles and review articles on the latest developments in the field. It is essential now to construct definable multi-modal industrial internet and endogenous security services under cloud-network fusion modes, lay theoretical foundations, and develop prototype systems and demonstration applications. Submissions focusing on the use of new theories, technologies, and methods are particularly encouraged, and we welcome both original research and review articles.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• The architecture of industrial internet convergence control
• Software-defined industrial internet
• Automatic orchestration of heterogeneous industrial internet services
• Computing power services that support industrial intelligence
• Security technology in the industrial internet
• Robust transmission in the industrial internet
• Network control management in the industrial internet
• Addressing routing based on industry logs
• Heterogeneous network integration and composite business deployment
• Prototype system and demonstration application of industrial internet