Protected Safety Intent Library for Harmful Process Change Detection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Intent-based production processes face challenges in detecting and preventing potentially harmful changes that could compromise functional safety and productivity, particularly in autonomous automation systems where malicious or accidental misconfigurations can occur.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a machine-readable production model linking intent and process models, with a safety library protected by security mechanisms, evaluates changes in process intent to identify potentially harmful intent and provides a report for auditing, using a combination of automated and manual validation processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If intent-based automation systems are implemented to improve efficiency and quality, then productivity and operational autonomy are enhanced, but the system becomes vulnerable to malicious attacks and accidental misconfigurations that compromise functional safety
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments safety-critical functions from regular intent-based engineering mechanisms by implementing a dedicated safety layer with safety intent rules. This separation ensures that safety evaluations are independently processed and not compromised by regular operational changes, resolving the contradiction between operational autonomy and functional safety.
Solution Approach 2:
A safety evaluation mechanism acts as an intermediary between the intent model and the production process. This intermediary evaluates intent changes against safety rules before execution, preventing harmful configurations while allowing efficient operational changes, thus maintaining both productivity and reliability.
2Reliability
If security mechanisms are implemented to protect safety library from attacks, then functional safety is improved, but device complexity and maintenance difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The safety library and its security mechanisms are extracted as a separate, protected component from the regular intent-based engineering system. This extraction allows security mechanisms to be implemented without complicating the main operational system, as the safety layer operates independently with its own access control and validation rules.
Solution Approach 2:
Safety intent rules and security mechanisms are established in advance before operational intent changes are processed. This preliminary setup of safety constraints allows the system to automatically evaluate and block harmful changes without requiring complex real-time analysis, reducing overall system complexity.
3Reliability
If comprehensive safety evaluation of intent changes is performed, then functional safety is enhanced, but processing time and operational speed are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The safety evaluation mechanism performs partial validation by checking only safety-critical aspects of intent changes against the safety library, rather than进行全面 analysis. This selective evaluation maintains functional safety while minimizing processing time overhead, allowing most operational changes to be approved quickly.
Solution Approach 2:
Safety rules and constraints are pre-configured in the safety library during system setup. This preliminary action allows the evaluation mechanism to perform rapid pattern-matching against predefined safety rules rather than analyzing safety implications in real-time, thus enhancing safety without significantly impacting processing speed.
4Reliability
If safety library is maintained outside regular engineering mechanisms, then safety integrity is improved, but ease of operation and system accessibility are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments access rights and operational interfaces between regular engineering mechanisms and the protected safety library. Regular operators can access and modify operational parameters freely, while safety library modifications require elevated security credentials. This segmentation maintains safety integrity while preserving ease of operation for routine tasks.
Solution Approach 2:
An access control intermediary manages interactions between regular engineering mechanisms and the safety library. This intermediary automatically handles authentication and authorization, allowing operators to access safety functions when needed without manually navigating complex security protocols, thus maintaining both safety integrity and operational ease.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for detection of harmful process intent in an intent-based production process includes: providing a machine-readable production model linking an intent model, correlating to process intent, including production process functions, constraints on measurable properties on the production process functions, and/or production process function sequences required for the production process, and a process model, correlating to process knowledge comprising a production process behavior; determining a safety library of at least one safety process intent, the safety library being protected by security mechanisms to be maintained outside of regular intent-based engineering mechanisms and operation mechanisms; evaluating changes of process intent in view of potentially harmful process intent dependent on the at least one safety process intent; and providing a report of potentially harmful process intent for auditing based on the potentially harmful process intent.