Central Clock Management for Coordinated Real-Time Application Execution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing industrial automation systems struggle to coordinate the execution of multiple real-time applications from different manufacturers without interference, ensuring consistent real-time quality across heterogeneous architectures, especially when these applications are developed independently and need to interact in various runtime scenarios.
Innovation Solution
A centralized clock management system integrates various real-time applications using a common clock understanding, generating derived trigger signals from a central clock source, allowing flexible operation across different runtime scenarios without modifying the applications, and enabling coordinated execution through a well-defined interface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple independent real-time applications from different manufacturers are executed in a heterogeneous system, then application versatility and independence are improved, but coordination difficulty and interference between applications increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a clock management system as an intermediary component that mediates between multiple independent real-time applications and the underlying hardware clock resources. This central clock management entity coordinates clock signal distribution, manages clock sources, and synchronizes application execution without requiring modifications to the applications themselves, thereby resolving the coordination complexity while preserving application independence
Solution Approach 2:
The clock management system is designed as a universal platform that can handle multiple clock sources (internal/external), support various clock signal types, and serve multiple real-time applications simultaneously. This multi-functional design allows the system to accommodate diverse applications from different manufacturers while maintaining unified coordination through a single clock management interface
2Device complexity
If a single monolithic runtime application is used, then system simplicity is improved, but application independence and flexibility are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the runtime environment into independent real-time applications that can be executed separately within a common execution environment. Each application maintains its independence and can be developed, deployed, and managed separately, while the clock management system provides unified coordination. This segmentation enables application independence while maintaining system simplicity through centralized clock control
3Device complexity
If real-time applications are modified to integrate them into a coordinated system, then coordination capability is improved, but application portability and reusability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The clock management system serves as an intermediary layer that provides coordination capabilities without requiring modifications to the real-time applications. Applications interact with the clock management system through standardized interfaces, allowing them to maintain their original code and logic while gaining coordinated execution capabilities. This approach preserves application portability and reusability across different runtime scenarios
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method and a clock management system for the synchronized execution of a plurality of real-time applications (RTA1, RTA2, S2 SN, S2 PNT) in an industrial automation system, wherein the real-time applications (RTA1, RTA2, S2 SN, S2 PNT) run in a common execution environment (AU), in particular on a common hardware platform.In the execution environment (AU), a central clock management system (S1 RSC) is executed, wherein the central clock management system (S1 RSC) generates and provides a derived trigger signal (TR) from a central clock (TRS) for controlling the operation of the respective real-time applications (RTA1, RTA2, S2 SN, S2 PNT), wherein a plurality of sources for the central clock (TRS) are available and at least one of the sources for the central clock (TRS) is selected, and wherein the clock management system (S1 RSC) processes a configuration (CFG), wherein the configuration specifies one of the sources for the central clock (TRS) and includes instructions for deriving the respective trigger signals (TR) for the real-time applications (RTA1, RTA2, S2 SN, S2 PNT) from the central clock (TRS).This enables cross-application consideration of clock cycles and interchangeability of the clock source without adapting the applications / real-time applications, so that the applications can be used flexibly in different runtime scenarios via system configuration and a mixed operation of runtime scenarios based on different clock sources is possible.