Communication Device and Method for Transmitting Data Within an Industrial Automation System

A method for transmitting data inside an industrial automation system, wherein the industrial automation system comprises at least one subnetwork having a group of communication devices and a subnetwork control device, the method comprising:

• acquiring, by a name or configuration service component assigned to the subnetwork control device, IPv4 addresses and associated device names for the group of communication devices;
• calculating a respective IPv6 address for the group of communication devices from an IPv6 prefix assigned to the at least one subnetwork and the IPv4 addresses of the communication devices;
• requesting, by a name service agent assigned to the subnetwork control device, acquisition of the calculated IPv6 addresses and the associated device names for the group of communication devices in at least one superordinate name service server of the industrial automation system;
• storing the calculated IPv6 addresses and the associated device names in the at least one superordinate name service server in an event of a successful request;
• determining address translation rules for the group of communication devices from the IPv4 addresses of the communication devices and the calculated IPv6 addresses;
• performing, by an address translation unit assigned to the subnetwork control device, address translation between IPv4 addresses and IPv6 addresses based on the determined address translation rules.