Multiple controllers configuration management interface for system connectivity

• US 10,095,202 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2015
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2014
• 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., Asenjo, Juan L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo, Kenneth M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shafayet, Mohammed
• Application Number:
  US14/639,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20150277406A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• Field of Search: 700 19, 700 83
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 17/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0423 Input/output
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/13185 Software function module for simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/15006 Set configuration from master control station
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23446 HIL hardware in the loop, simulates equipment to which a control module is fixed
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25057 Configuration stored in distributed database for real time use
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25083 For each subsystem a configuration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A configuration management interface system is provided for standardizing communication between an external application and one or more hardware or emulated industrial controllers. The interface system reads one or more industrial control programs and presents available data tags defined by the control programs to a user via an interface screen. The user can select a subset of the available data tags that are to be exposed to the external application for data communication. Based on the selected data tags, controller configuration information read from the control programs, and additional configuration information provided by the user, the interface system generates a control unit file that acts as a communication bridge between the external application and the selected data tags residing on the industrial controllers. The control unit file can be used to interface the application (e.g., an industrial simulation or another type of application) with either hardware controllers or emulated controllers.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a memory that stores executable components; and

a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, that executes the computer-executable components, the executable components comprising;

a control program import component that imports one or more industrial control programs and identifies a set of available data items defined by the one or more industrial control programs;

an interface component that renders the set of available data items on an interface display and receives, via interaction with the interface display, selection input selecting a subset of the available data items and configuration input defining a synchronization period specifying a frequency of data updates between one or more emulated industrial controllers and a simulation application that executes a simulation of an industrial control system, wherein the one or more emulated industrial controllers emulate, within a simulation system that executes the simulation application, operating platforms of respective hardware industrial controllers that are separate from the one or more emulated industrial controllers; and

a control unit generation component that generates, based on the subset of the available data items, the configuration input, and controller configuration information read from the one or more industrial control programs, a control unit file that establishes exchange of simulated I/O data between the subset of the available data items within the one or more emulated industrial controllers and respective I/O of the simulation application,

wherein

the control program import component, the interface component, and the control unit generation component are components of the simulation system,

the control unit generation component generates the control unit file to synchronize the simulated I/O data between the one or more emulated industrial controllers and the simulation application at the frequency defined by the synchronization period,

the control unit file comprises a model description file that is readable by the simulation application and that identifies the subset of the available data items to the simulation application, and a control description file that defines, for a data item of the subset of the available data items, a communication path to an emulated industrial controller, of the one or more emulated industrial controllers, on which the data item resides, and

the control unit file is configured to serve as a communication interface between the simulation application and at least one of the hardware industrial controllers that executes an industrial control program of the one or more industrial control programs.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the control unit generation component generates, as part of the control unit file and based on the controller configuration information, a control assembly that manages data exchange between the control unit file and the subset of the available data items via one or more application programming interfaces that respectively execute on the one or more emulated industrial controllers.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the control assembly controls execution of the one or more industrial control programs executing on the one or more emulated industrial controllers in accordance with commands generated by the simulation application.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the control unit generation component reads, from the one or more emulated industrial control programs, controller configuration information identifying the one or more application programming interfaces that respectively execute on the one or more emulated industrial controllers, and generates the control description file to include the controller configuration information.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the control unit file establishes data exchange between the subset of the available data items within the one or more emulated industrial controllers and at least one of a product life cycle management application, a data collection application, a visualization application that renders values of at least one data item of the subset of the available data items on a graphical interface, an analytics application that performs a data analysis on at least one data item of the subset of the available data items, or a cloud gateway application that retrieves data values associated with the subset of the available data items and sends the data values to a cloud platform for collection and analysis.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein, in response to commands generated by the simulation application and via interaction with an application programming interface that executes on the emulated industrial controller, the control unit file at least one of reads data from or writes data to data items, of the subset of the available data items, defined on the one or more emulated industrial controllers.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the control unit file generates a monitoring window that displays data values for the subset of the available data items during data exchange between the one or more emulated industrial controllers and the simulation application.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the control unit file includes a copy of the one or more industrial control programs.

9. A method, comprising:

importing, by a system comprising a processor, one or more industrial control programs;

analyzing, by the system, the one or more industrial control programs to identify available data tags and controller configuration information defined by the one or more industrial control programs;

displaying, by the system, the available data tags on a tag selection display;

receiving, by the system via interaction with the tag selection display, selection input that selects a subset of the available data tags;

receiving, by the system via interaction with a configuration display, configuration input specifying a synchronization period that defines a frequency of data updates between one or more emulated industrial controllers and a simulation application that executes a simulation of an industrial control system, wherein the one or more emulated industrial controllers emulate, on a computing device that executes the simulation application, operating platforms of respective hardware industrial controllers that are separate from the computing device;

receiving, by the system, information identifying a simulation application that is to communicate with the one or more emulated industrial controllers respectively executing the one or more industrial control programs; and

generating, by the system, a control unit file based on the subset of the available data tags and the controller configuration information,

wherein

the control unit file is configured to establish exchange of data between data points of the simulation application and the subset of the available data tags on the one or more emulated industrial controllers, and to synchronize simulated I/O data between the one or more emulated industrial controllers and the simulation application at the frequency defined by the synchronization period,

the generating comprises generating, as part of the control unit file, a model description file that identifies the subset of the available data tags to the simulation application, and a control description file that defines, for a data tag of the subset of the available data tags, a communication path to one of the one or more emulated industrial controllers on which the data tag resides, and

the control unit file is configured to serve as a communication interface between the simulation application and at least one of the hardware industrial controllers that executes an industrial control program of the one or more industrial control programs.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the generating comprises generating, as part of the control unit file, a control assembly that controls data communication between the control unit file and the subset of the available data tags via one or more application programming interfaces installed on the one or more emulated industrial controllers.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising exchanging the data between the simulation application and the subset of the available data tags residing on the one or more emulated industrial controllers using the control unit file.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the generating further comprises generating the control unit file to include a copy of the one or more industrial control programs.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the control unit file is further configured to establish data exchange between the subset of the available data tags on the one or more emulated industrial controllers and at least one of a product life cycle management application, a data collection application, a visualization application that renders values of at least one data tag of the subset of the available data tags on a graphical interface, an analytics application that performs a data analysis on at least one data value from the subset of the available data tags, or a cloud gateway application that retrieves data values associated with the subset of the available data tags and sends the data values to a cloud platform for collection and analysis.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the control unit file is configured to, in response to commands generated by the simulation application and via interaction with an application programming interface that executes on the emulated industrial controller, at least one of read data from or write data to data tags, of the subset of the available data tags, defined on the one or more emulated industrial controllers.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising generating, by the system, a monitoring window that displays data values for the subset of the available data tags during data exchange between the one or more emulated industrial controllers and the simulation application.

16. 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:

importing one or more industrial control programs;

identifying available data items and controller configuration information defined by the one or more industrial control programs based on analysis of the one or more industrial control programs;

displaying the available data items on a configuration display;

receiving, via interaction with the configuration display, selection input that selects a subset of the available data items;

receiving, via interaction with a configuration display, configuration input specifying a synchronization period that defines a frequency of data updates between one or more emulated industrial controllers respectively executing the one or more industrial control programs and a simulation application that executes a simulation of an industrial control system, wherein the one or more emulated industrial controllers emulate, on a computing device that executes the simulation, operating platforms of respective hardware industrial controllers that are separate from the computing device;

receiving information identifying a simulation application that is to communicate with the one or more emulated industrial controllers respectively, wherein the simulation application is configured to execute a simulation of an industrial control system; and

generating a control unit file based on the subset of the available data items and the controller configuration information, wherein the control unit file is configured to establish data exchange between the subset of the available data items and simulated I/O points of the simulation application, and to synchronize simulated I/O data between the one or more emulated industrial controllers and the simulation application at the frequency defined by the synchronization period,

wherein the generating comprises generating, as part of the control unit file, a model description file that identifies the subset of the available data items to the simulation application, and a control description file that defines, for a data item of the subset of the available data items, a communication path to an emulated industrial controller of the one or more emulated industrial controllers on which the data item resides, and

the control unit file is configured to serve as a communication interface between the simulation application and at least one of the hardware industrial controllers that executes an industrial control program of the one or more industrial control programs.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the generating comprises generating, as part of the control unit file, a control assembly that controls data communication between the control unit file and the subset of the available data tags via one or more application programming interfaces installed on the one or more emulated industrial controllers.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise exchanging data between the simulation application and the subset of the available data tags residing on the one or more emulated industrial controllers using the control unit file.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the generating further comprises generating the control unit file to include a copy of the one or more industrial control programs.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the control unit file generates monitoring window that displays data values for the subset of the available data items during data exchange between the one or more emulated industrial controllers and the simulation application.