OT-IT Dependency Mapping for Industrial Plant Fault Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial plants face challenges in diagnosing and remediating faults due to the complex interdependencies between operation technology (OT) and information technology (IT) equipment, making it difficult to identify the root cause of issues in OT equipment failures.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method is introduced to determine the dependency of OT equipment on IT equipment within a distributed control system, identifying responsible controllers and potential causes of failures by analyzing the IT landscape, and performing remedial actions to restore functionality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If distributed control systems with mixed OT and IT equipment are used in industrial plants, then functionality and integration capability are improved, but fault diagnosis difficulty and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the complex OT-IT dependency network into individual dependency relationships between specific OT equipment and IT equipment. Each piece of OT equipment is analyzed separately to identify its specific IT dependencies, transforming an overwhelming system-level complexity into manageable component-level analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary fault diagnosis mechanism that acts as a bridge between OT equipment and IT equipment. This intermediary automatically queries controller information, analyzes dependency relationships, and presents potential fault causes in a structured manner, reducing the complexity of direct OT-IT interaction analysis.
2Adaptability or versatility
If distributed control systems with mixed OT and IT equipment are used in industrial plants, then functionality and integration capability are improved, but fault diagnosis difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-establishing and storing dependency relationships between OT equipment and IT equipment before faults occur. When a fault is detected, the system can immediately query and display relevant dependency information without requiring complex real-time analysis, significantly reducing fault diagnosis difficulty.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by automatically querying controller information and dependency relationships when OT equipment faults are detected. This feedback mechanism provides operators with structured diagnostic information about potential IT-related causes, transforming an otherwise difficult diagnostic process into a guided inquiry process.
3Device complexity
If manual fault diagnosis methods are used in complex OT-IT systems, then system complexity is lower, but time consumption and productivity decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service by automatically querying controller information and analyzing dependency relationships without requiring manual intervention. The system autonomously identifies potential fault causes and presents them to operators, eliminating time-consuming manual tracing of OT-IT dependencies and significantly improving maintenance efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual mechanical fault diagnosis methods with automated computer-implemented analysis. Instead of manually tracing dependency relationships and querying controllers, the system uses automated software to perform these tasks, reducing time consumption while managing system complexity through structured data organization.
4Productivity
If automated dependency analysis is implemented, then fault diagnosis speed and productivity are improved, but device complexity and implementation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system achieves universality by designing a multi-functional automated analysis platform that can handle various types of OT equipment, IT equipment, and controller types through a unified interface. This universal approach improves maintenance efficiency across different plant configurations while managing implementation complexity through standardized data structures and query mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method for determining the dependency of a given piece of operational technology (OT) equipment in an industrial plant on information technology (IT) equipment includes querying from a distributed control system of the industrial plant, which of a plurality of controllers is responsible for the piece of OT equipment; determining from a representation of the information technology (IT) landscape of the industrial plant pieces of IT equipment on which the correct functioning of the controller is dependent; and determining these pieces of IT equipment as the subset of the IT landscape on which the given piece of OT equipment depends.