Automation Object Hierarchies for Consistent Industrial IDE Data Propagation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation systems require integrated development environments (IDEs) that can efficiently design, program, and configure multiple aspects of automation systems using a common design environment and data model, addressing the piecemeal design approach and testing challenges of disparate system aspects.
Innovation Solution
An integrated development environment (IDE) that supports an object-based model with automation objects as building blocks, enabling integrated, multi-discipline programming of control, visualization, and other aspects, and includes features like data logging configuration, inheritance, and hierarchical linkages to ensure consistency and dynamic updates across industrial projects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional piecemeal design approach is used for industrial automation systems, then each aspect (control, visualization, configuration) can be designed independently, but the system requires multiple separate design environments and increases testing complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate design environments (control programming, visualization design, device configuration) into a single integrated development environment. This unified IDE allows engineers to work with all system aspects simultaneously using a common data model, eliminating the need for disparate tools and reducing integration complexity while maintaining design flexibility through the object-based architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated development environment serves multiple functions that were previously handled by separate tools: control program development, visualization application design, device configuration, and data logging setup. This universal platform reduces the number of separate systems needed while providing comprehensive automation system design capabilities through a single unified interface.
2Reliability
If separate design environments are used for different automation system aspects, then each tool can be optimized for its specific function, but development cycles are extended and consistency across system aspects is difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically generating consistent configurations across all automation system aspects when a single automation object is modified. When control logic, visualization, or device parameters are changed in one location, the system proactively updates all related components throughout the project, ensuring consistency is maintained before deployment without requiring manual synchronization.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated development environment implements feedback mechanisms that automatically detect and propagate changes across the entire automation system. When modifications are made to automation objects, the system provides real-time feedback by updating all dependent components and notifying users of changes, ensuring consistency is maintained throughout the development cycle and reducing the time needed to verify system coherence.
3Productivity
If automation objects with hierarchical linkages are used, then consistency across the system is ensured and updates are propagated automatically, but the initial system setup and object configuration become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the automation system into modular automation objects with defined hierarchical relationships. Each object represents a discrete functional element (control logic, visualization component, device parameter) that can be independently configured but automatically linked to related components. This segmentation allows complex systems to be built from manageable modules while the automated linkage reduces the perceived configuration complexity through clear object boundaries and relationships.
Solution Approach 2:
The automation objects are organized in nested hierarchical structures where parent objects contain or reference child objects. This nesting allows complex automation systems to be built by layering components (e.g., a control system containing visualization elements containing device parameters) while automatically maintaining relationships. The nested structure simplifies configuration by allowing engineers to work at appropriate levels of abstraction without managing all underlying details simultaneously.
Data Source
AI summary
An industrial integrated development environment (IDE) provides a development framework for designing, programming, and configuring multiple aspects of an industrial automation system using a common design environment and data model. Projects creating using embodiments of the IDE system can be built on an object-based model rather than, or in addition to, a tag-based architecture. To this end, the IDE system can support the use of automation objects that serve as building blocks for this object-based development structure. These automation objects represent corresponding physical industrial assets and have associated programmatic attributes relating to those assets, including data logging and device configuration parameters. Functional relationships between automation objects can be defined to yield object hierarchies, and object attributes can be propagated across objects up and down the hierarchy.