Abstract: A system and method for real time updating of process applications includes a first execution engine executing a first process application to control a process device, an update manager receiving an updated software, the update manager being a second software container deployed in the deployment unit; initializing the updated software in a second execution engine; determining an application state of the first process application; instructing a transfer of the application state from the first execution engine to the second execution engine; instructing the second execution engine to execute the updated process application using the received application state; and instructing the first execution engine to stop writing output signals for the process device, and instructing the second execution engine to write output signals for the process device.

Abstract: A method for automatic generation of a specification for an IT topology of a control system, the method comprising: creating a system structure from a machine-readable data defining production process requirements and generating specification data of the IT topology based on the extracted system structure; optimizing the generated specification data of the IT topology by utilization of pre-defined rules and generating abstract aggregated IT topology data based on the optimized specification data; and instantiating and mapping the abstract aggregated IT topology data to specific technology instance data.

Abstract: A method of commissioning a field device in an industrial system network includes: a) connecting a field device to an industrial system network; c) providing information about the field device, the information including functional information for the field device; d) utilizing the functional information for the field device to retrieve information relating to a role of the field device in an automation application; f) utilizing capability information relating to a field device type of the field device and the information relating to the role of the field device in the automation application to retrieve a parameter set for the field device for operation in the automation application; and g) downloading the parameter set to the field device.

Abstract: A method for creating a virtual deployment of a distributed control system (DCS) for a given industrial process, comprising: providing a topology of the assets executing the industrial process, as well as control logic for controlling these assets; providing at least one I/O simulator that is configured to supply data; determining a topology of devices that form part of the DCS; establishing based at least in part on this topology of devices, at least one declarative and/or imperative description of the DCS that characterizes multiple devices of the DCS, their placement, and their connections; creating virtual instances of the devices of the DCS and their connections in a chosen environment.

Abstract: A method for managing the transfer of a live containerized stateful process automation application from a source node to a target node of a process control system includes obtaining data relating to execution of the application at the source node and deriving from the data an application execution profile; obtaining an evaluation of available computing resources at the target node; determining feasibility of the transfer by comparing the available computing resources to the application execution profile; and in response to the transfer being determined to be feasible, initiating the transfer of the application from the source node to the target node.

Abstract: An industrial information identification and retrieval system includes: a crawler; a search engine; a result processor; and a web user interface “web UL” The crawler identifies devices and their associated Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture “OPC UA” servers within a network as identified OPC UA servers. The crawler browses the identified OPC UA servers and extracts and stores data items in a database as extracted data items. The search engine searches the extracted data items and provides search results to the result processor. The result processor determines a score for each search result. The web UI presents the search results according to the scores.

Abstract: A method for conveying messages between a first software application in a first container and a second software application in a second container includes receiving, by a first connectivity service an ordered sequence of messages sent by the first application; transmitting, by the first connectivity service, at least two copies of each message to a second connectivity service, wherein the at least two copies are routed on at least partially redundant paths and wherein each copy is indicative of a position of the original message in the original ordered sequence; and forwarding, by the second connectivity service, at least one copy of each message to the second application, in the order given by the original ordered sequence.

Abstract: A method for visualizing a rule of an industrial process includes providing a topology model of the industrial process, wherein the industrial process comprises at least one sensor and at least one actuator; attributing the topology model with a rule comprising a triple < cause, traversal, effect >, wherein the cause comprises a range of values from the at least one sensor, the effect comprises an action performed by the at least one actuator, and the traversal comprises a relation between the cause and the effect; marking the cause, the traversal and/or the effect; and visualizing the elements of the rule in the topology model.

Abstract: A safety interlock recommendation system includes at least one process data source, an edge device, wherein the process data source is configured for providing IOS device stream data to the edge device; wherein the edge device comprises an operational technology edge application unit, OT edge application unit, and a stream analysis unit; wherein the OT edge application unit is configured for providing operation technology stream data, OT stream data; wherein the stream analysis unit comprises an online machine learning model, being configured for determining online analysis data using the provided process stream data and the provided OT stream data; wherein the OT edge application unit is configured for determining a short-term recommendation using the online analysis data.

Abstract: A method for an automatic generation of industrial process graphics includes: receiving engineering data, device data, and sensor data of an industrial plant having a plurality of field devices, the engineering data, device data, and sensor data being assigned to a single or multiple field devices; extracting field device information for each field device of a plurality of the field devices from the assigned engineering data, device data, and sensor data; and generating a plurality of process graphics for each field device of the plurality of the field devices. The plurality of process graphics for each field device covers a plurality of different abstraction levels of the industrial plant.

Abstract: A method used for generating a zoomable diagram includes providing a topology diagram of at least a part of the industrial plant for interacting with components of the industrial plant; generating, for each zoom-level of the zoomable diagram, a zoomed diagram comprising a zoomed view of each one of the plurality of objects and connections, by applying at least following rules to each object: from a first predefined zoom-level, collapse all objects of a plant-segment to one object and keep only connections that cross the plant-segment's border, and introduce an plant-segment related alarm measure as a function of all alarm statuses of the plurality of objects of the plant-segment; and when interacting with the components of the industrial plant, determining, for each plant-segment, the plant-segment related alarm measure, and outputting the plant-segment related alarm measure for healing a cause of the alarm.

Abstract: An anomaly detection and recovery system (ADRS) for an open platform communications united architecture (OPC UA)-based industrial automation network that includes OPC UA devices includes an anomaly detector is configured to monitor an OPC UA traffic stream comprising OPC UA messages of the OPC UA devices and analyze the OPC UA traffic stream using OPC UA semantics of the industrial automation network for anomaly detection.

Abstract: A computer-implemented update management method for managing transfer of an application state from a source node to at least one target node of a distributed control system, includes identifying a first part of the application state which can be transferred independently of a second part of the application state; determining that the first part can be transferred from the source node to the at least one target node during one execution cycle of the application; performing a first partial update by transferring the first part of the application state from the source node to the at least one target node during a first execution cycle of the application; and performing a second partial update by transferring the second part of the application state from the source node to the at least one target node during a second, subsequent execution cycle of the application.

Abstract: A system and method includes partitioning a network into first and second sub-networks connected by a network connection. A first component with first configuration data and a first local server are located in the first sub-network; a second component with second configuration data and a second local server are located in the second sub-network. The first configuration data is stored on the first and second local servers. The network connection is interrupted and the first configuration data is updated on the first local server. The network connection is re-connected, and if the first configuration data on the second local server is unchanged, the first configuration data on the second local server is overwritten.

Abstract: A method of channel mapping in an industrial process control system includes: a) discovering a plurality of devices within the industrial process control system; b) obtaining at least one signal characteristic for each of the plurality of devices; c) determining channel mapping by a processing unit acting as a channel mapping agent, the plurality of devices being mapped to a plurality of communication channels, the channel mapping mapping each device to a communication channel for signal transmission, and the determining including utilizing the at least one signal characteristic for each of the plurality of devices; and d) configuring the devices according to the channel mapping.

Abstract: A method for conveying messages between a first software application in a first container and a second software application in a second container includes receiving, by a first connectivity service an ordered sequence of messages sent by the first application; transmitting, by the first connectivity service, at least two copies of each message to a second connectivity service, wherein the at least two copies are routed on at least partially redundant paths and wherein each copy is indicative of a position of the original message in the original ordered sequence; and forwarding, by the second connectivity service, at least one copy of each message to the second application, in the order given by the original ordered sequence.

Abstract: A method for controlling an industrial process includes providing process data of the industrial process to an active instance of a control software as input, based on this input, updating an internal state of the active instance of the control software that is characterized by a set of internal variables of this active instance; based on this updated internal state, determining an output signal and outputting this output signal to at least one piece of equipment that is configured to alter a state, and/or a behavior, of the industrial process. The method further includes providing a prioritized subset of the internal variables that characterize the state of the active instance to at least one further instance of a control software that is configured to take over control of the industrial process in case of a failure and/or malfunction of the active instance.

Abstract: A system and method for real time updating of process applications includes a first execution engine executing a first process application to control a process device, an update manager receiving an updated software, the update manager being a second software container deployed in the deployment unit; initializing the updated software in a second execution engine; determining an application state of the first process application; instructing a transfer of the application state from the first execution engine to the second execution engine; instructing the second execution engine to execute the updated process application using the received application state; and instructing the first execution engine to stop writing output signals for the process device, and instructing the second execution engine to write output signals for the process device.

Abstract: An industrial field device replacement system includes: an input unit; and a processing unit. The input unit receives an identification of a specific device to be replaced, the specific device being in a network of a plurality of devices, and the input unit providing the identification of the specific device to the processing unit. Prior to replacement of the specific device, the processing unit determines one or more further devices of the plurality of devices that would be affected by replacement of the specific device, the determination including utilization of the identification of the specific device. Prior to replacement of the specific device, the processing unit changes a mode of operation of the one or more further devices from a normal mode into a safe mode such that the one or more further devices will not be affected when the specific device is not available.

Abstract: A method for providing an attribute of an element in a processing system having a plurality of elements, the processing system being represented as a directed graph having a plurality of nodes and directed edges, each node representing an element, each node having an attribute, and each directed edge representing a relation between two elements of the plurality of elements, the method including: selecting one node of the plurality of nodes as a starting node; constructing a subgraph, the subgraph including all the nodes that are forward-connected by at least one directed edge from the starting node; and outputting all nodes and the attribute of the nodes of the subgraph.