Redundant Automation Control with Independent Failover Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional redundant automation systems, especially those outsourced to cloud services, face unacceptable downtime due to high failure rates, which is inadequate for automation technology requiring continuous operation.
Innovation Solution
A redundant automation system is created with two control applications, one as the master and the other as a reserve, communicatively coupled via separate internet or computer network paths with no or minimal common communication hubs, ensuring reliable failover and utilizing computing resources from different locations with independent energy supplies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If control applications are outsourced to cloud services, then device complexity is reduced and ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to high failure rates and unacceptable downtime
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the control functionality into two independent control applications running on separate cloud infrastructure. Each control application operates independently with its own communication path to the automation installation, so that a failure in one does not affect the other. This segmentation allows the system to maintain cloud-based operation simplicity while achieving high reliability through redundancy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameters of the cloud services by selecting computing resources from different locations with independent energy supplies. This parameter change in location and energy supply independence transforms the reliability characteristics of cloud services, reducing the impact of localized failures and improving overall system reliability while maintaining the ease of cloud-based operation.
2Reliability
If redundant control applications are implemented with separate communication paths, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces communication hubs as intermediaries that simplify the network topology. The two control applications communicate with the automation installation through separate paths that may share common communication hubs at strategic points. This intermediary approach allows the system to maintain separate communication paths for reliability while using standardized hub components to manage complexity, rather than requiring completely independent point-to-point connections.
3Reliability
If computing resources are selected from different locations with independent energy supplies, then reliability is improved, but loss of information increases due to synchronization challenges
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary synchronization of the two control applications before any failure occurs. The control applications are kept synchronized through continuous communication via the synchronization path, so that when a failover is needed, the reserve control application already has up-to-date information about the automation installation state. This preliminary synchronization action prevents information loss during failover while allowing the use of geographically distributed computing resources with independent energy supplies.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for creating a redundant automation system, a computer program and a computer-readable medium, wherein the redundant automation system includes at least one automation installation to be controlled that is installed at an installation location and two control applications that are communicatively interconnected via a synchronization path, and includes a plurality of communication hubs and communication paths connecting these to one another, where one of the control applications operates as the master and the other control application operates as a reserve, such that when the control application operating as the master fails, the control application operating as the reserve function as the master, and where the locations of the computing resources for the control applications are selected such that the control applications are connected to the at least one automation installation via two different communication paths preferably having no or a minimal number of common communication hubs.