Virtual Control Nodes With I/O Switching for Real-Time Load Balancing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current industrial control systems face limitations in scalability, reconfigurability, reliability, availability, and performance due to hardware-centric architectures that tightly bind control functions to specific hardware, leading to inefficiencies in data management and communication, and lack of effective virtualization for real-time process control.
Innovation Solution
A multi-purpose hardware/software architecture decouples hardware from software, enabling dynamic simulation and run-time production control through virtual and physical environments that cooperate to enhance system resilience, responsiveness, and elasticity, utilizing an I/O Switch to abstract I/O delivery and support virtual nodes for seamless operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hardware-centric architecture is used to implement process control, then system stability and reliability are improved, but scalability and reconfigurability deteriorate due to tight binding between control functions and specific hardware
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments control functions into virtual nodes that can be independently deployed and managed. Each virtual node encapsulates specific control logic and can be scaled or reconfigured without affecting other nodes, resolving the contradiction between system stability and scalability by enabling modular architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a virtualization layer as an intermediary between hardware and control software. This layer decouples the tight binding between control functions and specific hardware, allowing control logic to be migrated across different hardware platforms while maintaining system reliability through abstracted hardware interfaces.
2Adaptability or versatility
If virtualization is implemented for process control, then scalability and reconfigurability are improved, but real-time performance and determinism may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different quality characteristics to different virtual nodes based on their specific requirements. Critical real-time control functions are allocated to virtual nodes with guaranteed resource allocation and prioritized scheduling, while less time-sensitive functions can utilize shared resources, thus maintaining real-time performance for critical operations while enabling overall system scalability.
3Productivity
If multiple control functions are consolidated on shared hardware, then resource utilization and cost efficiency are improved, but system complexity and fault isolation difficulties increase
Solution Approach 1:
The virtualization architecture segments control functions into isolated virtual nodes that run on shared physical hardware. Each virtual node maintains its own execution environment and resource allocation, enabling efficient resource utilization through consolidation while preserving fault isolation capabilities. When a fault occurs in one virtual node, it does not propagate to other nodes, simplifying fault isolation despite shared hardware infrastructure.
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.