Industrial simulation using redirected I/O module configurations

• US 10,037,443 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2014
• Issued: 07/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Maturana, Francisco P., Staron, Raymond J., Carnahan, Danny L., Hall, Kenwood H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rivas, Omar Fernandez
• Assistant Examiner(s): KHAN, IFTEKHAR A
• Application Number:
  US14/504,118
• Publication Number:
  US 20150019191A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,399 Days
• Field of Search: 703 7
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 17/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0423 Input/output
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/13174 Pc, computer connected to plc to simulate machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06G 7/66 for control systems for optimisation G06G7/122

Abstract

A simulation environment is provided for running a process simulation used to validate an industrial control program. The simulation environment exposes the I/O module configurations defined in the control program and retrieves module configuration information therefrom. This I/O module configuration information is combined with generic, module-specific I/O module profiles to create a pool of available controller I/O points, which can be selectively associated with I/O points in the simulation to create an I/O point mapping. During control program validation, simulated I/O data is exchanged between the process simulation and the I/O module instances in the controller in accordance with the I/O point mapping. A variation of these techniques for use with cloud-based emulations is also described.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a configuration retrieval component configured to discover and retrieve I/O module configuration data associated with a virtualized controller executing on a cloud platform, wherein the I/O module configuration data defines one or more clone I/O points of the virtualized controller, and the virtualized controller executes a control program;

a data exchange model configured to

retrieve, from cloud-based storage, a generic I/O module profile corresponding to an I/O module represented by the I/O module configuration data, and

customize the generic I/O module profile using the I/O module configuration data to yield an available clone I/O point list identifying the one or more clone I/O points of the virtualized controller; and

an I/O normalization component configured to convert a communication protocol of the one or more clone I/O points to yield one or more converted I/O points that conform to a standardized communication protocol,

wherein the data exchange model is further configured exchange simulation data between the one or more converted I/O points and corresponding one or more simulation I/O points of a cloud-based simulation of an industrial automation system in accordance with the standardized communication protocol and based on execution of the control program on the virtualized controller;

the system further comprises an emulation master role component configured to modify the control program executing on the virtualized controller based on configuration input received via a client device to yield a modified control program, and

executing the modified control program on a physical industrial controller to cause the physical industrial controller to process input signals received from input devices of the industrial automation system and to control output signals directed to output devices of the industrial automation system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the emulation master role component is configured to communicatively link the system to the client device via a cloud portal.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the emulation master role component is further configured to receive, from the client device, mapping input that selectively associates a clone I/O point from the one or more clone I/O points with a simulation I/O point of the one or more simulation I/O points to yield an I/O point mapping.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the data exchange model is further configured to exchange the simulation data between the one or more converted I/O points and corresponding one or more simulation I/O points in accordance with the I/O point mapping.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the emulation master role component is further configured to send the available clone I/O point list to the client device for selection of the clone I/O point to be mapped to the simulation I/O point.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a motion analyzer component configured to monitor the cloud-based simulation and the virtualized controller during a simulation sequence and generate a performance statistic for the simulation sequence.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the data exchange model is further configured to update at least one of the cloud-based simulation or the virtualized controller based on operational data generated by the industrial automation system and received at the cloud platform.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising receiving the operational data from a cloud agent device that collects the operational data from the industrial automation system and sends the operational data to the cloud platform.

9. A method, comprising:

retrieving, by a system comprising a processor, I/O module configuration information from a virtualized controller instantiated in the cloud platform, wherein the virtualized controller executes a control program, and the I/O module configuration information defines one or more clone I/O points of the virtualized controller;

identifying, by the system, an I/O module corresponding to the I/O module configuration information;

retrieving, by the system, a generic I/O module profile corresponding to the I/O module from cloud storage;

customizing, by the system, the generic I/O module profile using the I/O module configuration information resulting in an available clone I/O point list identifying the one or more clone I/O points of the virtualized controller;

converting, by the system, a communication protocol of the one or more clone I/O points to a standardized communication protocol to yield one or more converted I/O points of the virtualized controller;

exchanging, by the system, simulation data between the one or more converted I/O points and one or more simulation data points of an industrial automation simulation in accordance with the standardized communication protocol and based on execution of the control program on the virtualized controller, wherein the industrial automation simulation simulates an industrial automation system;

modifying, by the system, the control program executing on the virtualized controller in accordance with configuration input received from a client device communicatively connected to the cloud platform to yield a modified control program; and

executing the modified control program on a physical industrial controller, wherein the executing causes the physical industrial controller to process input signals received from input devices of an industrial automation system and to control output signals directed to output devices of the industrial automation system.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving, from the client device, mapping input data that selectively associates one of the one or more converted I/O points with a simulation point of the one or more simulation points to yield an I/O point mapping.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the exchanging the simulation data comprises exchanging the simulation data between the one or more converted I/O points and the one or more simulation data points based on the I/O point mapping.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending the available clone I/O point list to the client device,

wherein the receiving the mapping input data comprises receiving the mapping input data generated based on interaction with the available clone I/O point list via the client device.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

executing a simulation sequence of the industrial automation simulation and the virtualized controller; and

generating simulation performance data based on a monitoring of the virtualized controller and the industrial automation simulation during the simulation sequence.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving at least one of operational data or device configuration data generated by industrial devices of the industrial automation system corresponding to the industrial automation simulation; and

modifying at least one of the industrial automation simulation or the virtualized controller based on at least one of the operational data or the device configuration data.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system comprising a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

discovering an I/O module configuration corresponding to an I/O module instance defined in a virtualized controller instantiated on a cloud platform, wherein the I/O module configuration defines one or more clone I/O points of the virtualized controller, and the virtualized controller executes a control program;

retrieving, from a module profile storage maintained on the cloud platform, a generic I/O module profile corresponding to an I/O module identified by the I/O module configuration;

customizing the generic I/O module profile using the I/O module configuration to yield an available clone I/O point list identifying the one or more clone I/O points of the virtualized controller;

converting a communication protocol of the one or more clone I/O points to a standardized communication protocol to yield one or more converted I/O points of the virtualized controller;

performing a simulation sequence using the virtualized controller executing the control program and a simulation that executes on the cloud platform, wherein the simulation simulates an industrial automation system, and the performing comprises exchanging simulation data between the simulation and the virtualized controller via the one or more converted I/O points according to the standardized communication protocol and based on execution of the control program on the virtualized controller;

modifying the control program executing on the virtualized controller based on configuration input received from a client device communicatively connected to the cloud platform to yield a modified control program; and

executing the modified control program on a physical industrial controller of the industrial automation system, wherein the executing causes the physical industrial controller to process input signals received from input devices of an industrial automation system and to control output signals directed to output devices of the industrial automation system.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise communicatively linking a clone I/O point selected from the available clone I/O point list to a simulation I/O point of the simulation based on mapping data received from the client device, and wherein the mapping data selects the clone I/O point to be linked to the simulated I/O point.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

rendering the available clone I/O point list on the client device; and

receiving the mapping data from the client device via interaction with the available clone I/O point list via the client device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise generating simulation performance data based on a monitoring of the virtualized controller and the simulation during the simulation sequence.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

monitoring for a change to at least one of the modified control program executing on the physical industrial controller or a configuration of the physical industrial controller; and

in response to detecting the change based on the monitoring, updating the virtualized controller in accordance with the change.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving at least one of operational data or device configuration data generated by industrial devices of the industrial automation system; and

modifying the simulation based on at least one of the operational data or the device configuration data.