Process Plant Smart Search With Secure Edge Gateway Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Process control systems in industrial plants face challenges in providing secure and efficient search functionality for process plant-related data, especially when accessed remotely, due to the complexity and distribution of data across various subsystems, and the risk of cyber intrusions.
Innovation Solution
A system that includes a process plant search query server capable of analyzing search queries using contextual knowledge repositories and temporal databases, providing ranked search results, and securely delivering data to external systems through an edge gateway system with unidirectional data diodes for enhanced security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If process plant data is made accessible remotely for search and viewing, then operational efficiency and accessibility are improved, but security risk and vulnerability to cyber intrusions increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an edge gateway system as an intermediary component that sits between the process control system and external networks. This gateway provides secure data extraction, filtering, and transmission capabilities, allowing remote access to process plant data while maintaining security boundaries. The gateway acts as a controlled interface that prevents direct access to the control system, thereby mitigating cyber intrusion risks while enabling operational efficiency improvements.
2Measurement precision
If search functionality is enhanced with contextual knowledge repositories and temporal databases, then search precision and operational efficiency are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the enhanced search system into distinct functional modules: a knowledge repository for contextual information, a temporal database for historical data, a search query server for processing requests, and an edge gateway for data extraction. This segmentation allows each component to specialize in specific tasks, improving search precision while managing system complexity through modular architecture that can be implemented and maintained independently.
3Reliability
If data is extracted and filtered through multiple layers for secure remote delivery, then security and data integrity are improved, but data processing time and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The edge gateway system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring data extraction rules, filtering criteria, and transmission parameters before actual data requests are made. The system establishes security protocols, data mappings, and filtering logic in advance, allowing rapid data delivery when queries are submitted without requiring complex real-time processing decisions, thereby reducing data processing time while maintaining high security standards.
Data Source
AI summary
To provide enhanced search capabilities in a process control system, a knowledge repository is generated that includes both contextual data and time series data. The contextual data organizes process plant-related data according to semantic relations between the process plant-related data and the process plant entities. When a user submits a process plant search query related to process plant entities within a process plant, search results are obtained by identifying a data set from the knowledge repository. The contextual data categorizes process parameters so that users can search for a particular process parameter category. Users can tag previous searches to execute them once again at a later time. Users can also execute queries for predicted or future states of process plant entities, batch queries regarding batch processes, soft sensor analytics and monitoring applications, parameter lifecycle applications, perturbation applications, step testing applications, or batch provisioning and scheduling applications using the knowledge repository.