Virtualized Industrial Control Architecture for Flexible Reconfiguration

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Current industrial control systems face limitations in resiliency, responsiveness, and elasticity due to hardware-driven architectures that are difficult to reconfigure, scale, and are tied to proprietary hardware, leading to inefficient data management and communication bottlenecks.

Innovation Solution

An open architecture industrial control system decouples hardware from software, utilizing basic function nodes (BFN) and advanced function nodes (AFN) with a network connection, enabling virtual devices to operate independently and communicate using a self-describing, protocol-agnostic data messaging scheme, allowing for hardware location independence and easy reconfiguration.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Stability of the object's composition

If hardware-driven architecture is used, then system stability is improved, but adaptability and ease of reconfiguration deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesystem stabilityVSAvoidadaptability

Core Design Contradiction:

Stability of the object's compositionVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments control functions into virtual devices that can be independently deployed and managed across multiple hardware platforms. Virtual devices are separated from physical hardware, allowing the system to maintain stable hardware infrastructure while enabling flexible software-based reconfiguration and adaptation of control functions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements a universal hardware platform that can host multiple virtual devices and control functions. This multi-functional architecture allows the same physical hardware to serve different control purposes through software configuration, improving both stability (reliable hardware) and adaptability (flexible software deployment).

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

2Reliability

If proprietary hardware is used, then reliability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovereliabilityVSAvoiddevice complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent creates virtual copies of control devices that run on standardized hardware platforms. Instead of requiring proprietary physical hardware for each control function, the system uses virtualized representations that can be deployed across commodity hardware, reducing complexity and cost while maintaining reliability through software-based control logic.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

Solution Approach 2:

The system replaces proprietary mechanical/physical hardware systems with software-based virtual devices. This substitution eliminates the need for specialized proprietary hardware while maintaining control reliability through virtualized control logic that can be consistently deployed across standardized platforms.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

3Device complexity

If centralized hardware devices are used, then data management is simplified, but communication bottlenecks and responsiveness deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata management complexityVSAvoidresponsiveness

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSSpeed

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments centralized data management functions into distributed virtual devices that can process and communicate data locally before centralized collection. This segmentation reduces communication bottlenecks by enabling edge processing while maintaining simplified data management through standardized interfaces and protocols across the distributed system.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

4Reliability

If hardware is tightly coupled with software, then system reliability is improved, but ease of reconfiguration and scalability deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesystem reliabilityVSAvoidease of reconfiguration

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements dynamic coupling between hardware and software through virtualization. Virtual devices can be dynamically created, moved, and configured across hardware platforms without physical reconfiguration. This dynamic architecture maintains reliability through consistent virtual interfaces while enabling easy reconfiguration and scalability through software-based deployment.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentUS11137745B2Open architecture industrial control system

Publication Date: 2021.10.05 FISHER ROSEMOUNT SYST INC

AI summary

An industrial control system, such as a process control for use in a process plant, uses a hardware/software architecture that makes the system more reactive by making the system more resilient, responsive, and elastic. The industrial control system includes one or more distributed input/output (I/O) controller devices (BFN I/O controllers) which are coupled to field devices within a plant and provide direct or indirect access to the field devices for control and messaging purposes, one or more advanced function and computation nodes, and one or more user nodes coupled to the BFN I/O controllers via a network connection. The advanced function nodes store and execute virtual machines, devices, or entities, which decouples the hardware used in the control system from the software that functions on that hardware, making the system easier to scale, reconfigure, and change. Moreover, the industrial control system uses a self-describing data messaging scheme that provides both the data and a description of the data from a sender to a receiver, which enables different messaging protocols and data formats to be used in the control system, which also makes the system more open.