Virtualized Real-Time I/O for Scalable Process Control Loops
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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 bandwidth, and processor capabilities, leading to inefficiencies in data archiving, communication, 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 for real-time process control and simulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If hardware-driven architecture is used in process control systems, then system stability and reliability are maintained, but scalability, reconfigurability, and adaptability are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of physical I/O components through virtualization. Virtual I/O devices and virtual controllers replicate the functionality of physical hardware, allowing multiple virtual instances to share underlying physical resources. This enables flexible reconfiguration and scaling without adding physical hardware, resolving the contradiction between reconfigurability and hardware complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a virtualization layer as an intermediary between physical hardware and control software. This virtualization layer abstracts physical I/O operations, allowing software to interact with virtualized resources rather than direct hardware. This mediator enables dynamic reconfiguration and improved adaptability while maintaining stable hardware foundations.
2Reliability
If physical I/O devices are directly connected to controllers, then real-time control performance is achieved, but system elasticity and fault tolerance are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the monolithic hardware architecture into separate virtualized components. Physical I/O devices are virtualized into independent virtual I/O instances that can be dynamically allocated and configured. This segmentation allows fault isolation where failures in one virtual component do not propagate to others, improving fault tolerance without requiring complex hardware redundancy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of I/O connectivity from direct physical connections to virtualized logical connections. This parameter change enables dynamic reconfiguration of I/O paths, load balancing across multiple controllers, and improved fault tolerance through virtual redundancy, all while maintaining real-time control performance.
3Productivity
If centralized hardware devices are used for data archiving and communication, then system management is simplified, but communication bandwidth and data processing capabilities are constrained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes communication and data archiving resources universal through virtualization. A single physical communication infrastructure supports multiple virtualized data highways and I/O operations simultaneously. This multi-functionality allows the same physical bandwidth to serve multiple control loops and data archiving functions, increasing overall data processing capability without requiring additional physical communication channels.
4Adaptability or versatility
If virtualized components are introduced to improve scalability and reconfigurability, then adaptability increases, but system complexity and implementation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The virtualization layer is designed to self-manage resource allocation and configuration. Virtual I/O devices automatically discover available resources and configure themselves, reducing the need for manual intervention. This self-service capability simplifies the implementation of complex virtualized systems, allowing scalability without proportionally increasing operational complexity.
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.