Process Historian Timestamp Preservation for IED Event Data
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional process historian systems fail to effectively preserve timestamps from Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) in industrial automation environments, leading to loss of meaningful timestamp data due to value-based exception reporting rather than time-driven reporting.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where event data from IEDs, including timestamps, is received and processed by a controller without modification, allowing the original timestamp to be preserved and stored in a historian repository, using a gateway device and transaction management module to ensure accurate timestamp retention and efficient data transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If value-based exception reporting is used at the interface node, then data processing is simplified, but timestamp data from IEDs is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having the IED generate and attach timestamps to events before transmission. The interface node then preserves these pre-generated timestamps rather than generating new ones, ensuring timestamp information is retained while maintaining processing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The interface node acts as an intermediary that receives events with timestamps from IEDs and preserves these timestamps when forwarding to the historian. This intermediary role allows the system to maintain timestamp integrity without requiring complex processing at each node.
2Reliability
If the controller processes and modifies event data before storage, then data quality is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The interface node extracts only the essential timestamp information from incoming events and preserves it, rather than performing comprehensive data modification. This extraction approach maintains data quality by preserving critical timestamp information while minimizing processing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a copy of the timestamp data from the IED event and preserves it in the historian storage. This copying mechanism ensures timestamp integrity is maintained without requiring the controller to extensively process or modify the original event data, thus reducing processing time.
3Device complexity
If timestamps are generated at the interface node, then data synchronization is simplified, but original event timing information is lost
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of the interface node generating timestamps as in traditional systems, the inversion principle is applied by having the IED (source device) generate the timestamp and the interface node preserve it. This reversed approach maintains original event timing information while the interface node still performs synchronization functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The IED performs self-service by generating its own timestamp for events before transmission. This eliminates the need for the interface node to generate timestamps, allowing the interface node to focus on preserving the original timing information while maintaining synchronization.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided herein are systems, methods, and software for preserving timestamp data in an industrial automation environment. In one implementation, one or more computer-readable storage media having program instructions stored thereon to preserve timestamp data in an industrial automation environment, wherein the program instructions, when executed by a computing system, direct the computing system to at least receive, at a controller, event data of an event from an electronic device, wherein the event data comprises a status of the event and the timestamp of the event. The program instructions also direct the computing system to determine an identification value based on the event data and load the status of the event, the timestamp of the event, and the identification value to a queue within the controller. The timestamp of the event includes the timestamp transmitted from the electronic device.