OT Communication Analytics Platform for Cross-Layer Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
In operational technology (OT) environments, data accessibility and communication across multiple control layers is limited, making it difficult to monitor and maintain the systems efficiently, leading to inefficient use of computing and network resources.
Innovation Solution
A plant communication analytics (PCA) platform that captures, consolidates, and analyzes communication messages across OT control layers, identifying request and response messages, generating communication entries, and performing actions to address identified issues, thereby facilitating efficient maintenance and troubleshooting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If data is captured and monitored across multiple OT control layers, then monitoring capability and system visibility are improved, but device complexity and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a data lake as an intermediary component that receives and stores communication data from multiple OT control layers (process control, safety systems, manufacturing execution). This centralized data repository enables cross-layer monitoring without requiring complex point-to-point connections between systems, thereby improving data accessibility while managing system complexity through a standardized intermediate layer.
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring system is designed with universal data collection capabilities that can interface with multiple different OT control layer protocols and systems (process control systems, safety systems, manufacturing execution systems) through a common platform. This multi-functional approach allows the same monitoring infrastructure to serve multiple purposes across different control layers, reducing overall system complexity.
2Productivity
If communication data from multiple control layers is collected and analyzed, then troubleshooting efficiency is improved, but computing and network resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and isolates communication data from multiple OT control layers into a dedicated data lake, separating the data collection and storage function from the analysis function. This extraction allows troubleshooting analytics to be performed on demand or in batches rather than requiring continuous real-time processing of all communication data, thereby reducing ongoing computing resource consumption while maintaining the ability to efficiently troubleshoot when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary data collection and storage actions by capturing communication data from multiple control layers and storing it in the data lake before troubleshooting is actually needed. This preliminary action prepares the data for future analysis without requiring intensive computing resources at the moment of troubleshooting, allowing efficient problem-solving when issues arise while minimizing continuous resource consumption.
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 1C
AI summary
A device may obtain a set of communication messages, wherein the set of communication messages is associated with communications between a plurality of operational technology (OT) devices across a plurality of OT control layers of an OT environment. The device may determine whether each communication message, of the set of communication messages, is a request message or a response message and thereby determine whether at least one communication message has a communication message match. The device may generate, based on determining whether the at least one communication message has a communication match, one or more communication entries, wherein a communication entry, of the one or more communication entries, includes message header information of a request message of the set of communication messages. The device may cause, based on the one or more communication entries, one or more actions to be performed.