Publish-Subscribe I/O Virtualization for Real-Time Process Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current industrial control systems face limitations in scalability, reconfigurability, reliability, and performance due to hardware-driven architectures, which restrict their ability to handle dynamic memory management, communication efficiency, and real-time data synchronization, leading to issues in data archiving and system resilience.
Innovation Solution
A multi-purpose hardware/software architecture decouples hardware from software, enabling dynamic simulation and run-time process control through a virtualized environment that abstracts I/O operations, allowing for easier scaling, reconfiguration, and improved reliability and availability by using virtual and physical components that cooperate in real-time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If hardware-driven architecture is used, then system stability is maintained, but scalability and reconfigurability are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The system is segmented into virtual components (virtual process control modules, virtual I/O devices) that can be independently configured, deployed, and managed. This segmentation allows individual virtual modules to be scaled and reconfigured without affecting the entire system, resolving the contradiction between maintaining hardware stability and enabling system adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a virtualization dimension that overlays the physical hardware architecture. By creating a virtual layer that abstracts I/O operations and process control functions, the system gains scalability and reconfigurability in this new dimension while the underlying hardware remains stable and unchanged.
2Productivity
If centralized hardware devices are used, then data management is simplified, but communication efficiency and real-time performance degrade
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized data management function is segmented and distributed to virtual I/O devices and process control modules that operate closer to the data sources. This segmentation reduces communication hops and transmission delays, improving both communication efficiency and real-time performance while maintaining organized data management through the virtualization framework.
Solution Approach 2:
Virtual I/O devices serve as intermediaries between physical hardware and process control applications. These virtual intermediaries buffer and manage data flow, reducing direct communication overhead and transmission delays while maintaining organized data management through standardized interfaces and protocols.
3Reliability
If physical I/O devices are used, then direct hardware control is achieved, but system resilience and elasticity are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of physical I/O devices and process control modules. These virtual copies can be replicated, migrated, and managed independently from the physical hardware, enabling system resilience through redundancy and elasticity through dynamic resource allocation while reducing direct hardware dependency.
Solution Approach 2:
By introducing the virtualization dimension, the system decouples software from hardware, allowing virtual components to be resilient and elastic in the virtual space while physical hardware remains stable. This dimensional separation enables resilience features like virtual migration and load balancing without increasing physical hardware complexity.
4Adaptability or versatility
If dynamic memory management is implemented, then system flexibility improves, but hardware constraints limit performance
Solution Approach 1:
Memory management is segmented into virtual memory spaces for each virtual process control module and I/O device. This segmentation allows each virtual component to have flexible memory allocation independent of hardware constraints, while the underlying physical memory is efficiently managed through the virtualization layer, maintaining both flexibility and performance.
Data Source
AI summary
A Multi-Purpose Dynamic Simulation and run-time Control platform includes a virtual process environment coupled to a physical process environment, where components/nodes of the virtual and physical process environments cooperate to dynamically perform run-time process control of an industrial process plant and/or simulations thereof. Virtual components may include virtual run-time nodes and/or simulated nodes. The MPDSC includes an I/O Switch which delivers I/O data between virtual and/or physical nodes, e.g., by using publish/subscribe mechanisms, thereby virtualizing physical I/O process data delivery. Nodes serviced by the I/O Switch may include respective component behavior modules that are unaware as to whether or not they are being utilized on a virtual or physical node. Simulations may be performed in real-time and even in conjunction with run-time operations of the plant, and/or simulations may be manipulated as desired (speed, values, administration, etc.). The platform simultaneously supports simulation and run-time operations and interactions/intersections therebetween.