A network controller automatically adjusts a computer network based on the operational information of an industrial device. The network controller receives a notification from a network element in the computer network that the industrial device attached to the network element has an administrative shell. The administrative shell includes operational information describing the operation of the industrial device. The network controller retrieves the administrative shell from the industrial device. The network controller parses the operational information in the administrative shell to determine an intent for the industrial device, and adjusts the computer network based on the intent of the industrial device.

A network controller automatically adjusts a computer network based on the operational information of an industrial device. The network controller receives a notification from a network element in the computer network that the industrial device attached to the network element has an administrative shell. The administrative shell includes operational information describing the operation of the industrial device. The network controller retrieves the administrative shell from the industrial device. The network controller parses the operational information in the administrative shell to determine an intent for the industrial device, and adjusts the computer network based on the intent of the industrial device.

A field control system includes: a control component for exchanging electric signals with at least one field device; and a processing component for processing electric signals exchanged between the at least one field device and the control component. The processing component and the control component are electro-conductively and mechanically connected or connectable. In a connected state, the electric signals are exchangeable between the at least one field device and a control system connected to the field control system by the processing component and the control component.

A field control system includes: a control component for exchanging electric signals with at least one field device; and a processing component for processing electric signals exchanged between the at least one field device and the control component. The processing component and the control component are electro-conductively and mechanically connected or connectable. In a connected state, the electric signals are exchangeable between the at least one field device and a control system connected to the field control system by the processing component and the control component.

A computer-implemented method for providing a service-based control application for an industrial plant includes automatically segmenting an initial control code for the industrial plant into a plurality of code blocks and automatically creating a plurality of services, each service implementing the functionality of one or more of the plurality of code blocks. The automatically creating of the plurality of services is carried out considering a similarity of a criticality assigned to each of the plurality of code blocks, such that code blocks having more similar criticality are more likely to be implemented within the same service.

A communication method between a master and a device, the master transmits in a subcycle a received condition message (RCM) for an immediately prior subcycle, wherein the RCM is an ACK when a transmission from the device in the preceding subcycle was correctly received and the RCM is a NACK when a transmission from the device in the preceding subcycle was not correctly received, comprising: including in each transmitted condition message a current priority data acknowledgement flag (CPDAF), the CPDAF being transmitted set in each condition message for each subcycle of an offset cycle after the master correctly received in a current cycle a priority data message, the offset cycle being defined as the second and subsequent subcycles of a current cycle and the first subcycle of a next cycle, the CPDAF being transmitted as cleared otherwise.

An input/output unit is a test pulse width calculation device for calculating a time width of a test pulse for use in a failure diagnosis test of a PLC. The input/output unit includes a memory that stores a threshold for detection of noise superposed on a signal to be input to an input circuit of the PLC, and a processor. The processor includes a voltage value acquirer and a test pulse width calculator. The voltage value acquirer acquires a measurement value of voltage in an input path of the signal to be input to the input circuit. The test pulse width calculator calculates, based on the measurement value of voltage and the threshold, a reference noise width that is a reference for calculating a test pulse width, and calculates the test pulse width that is larger than the calculated reference noise width.

A control device (1) includes a master-information processing unit (10), and a slave-information processing unit (20) including an information processing CPU (220) that performs information processing through a general-purpose OS, and a distribution control CPU (210) that measures an operating state of the information processing CPU (220) through a real-time OS. The master-information processing unit (10) acquires, from the slave-information processing unit (20), information indicating the operating state of the information processing CPU (220) in the slave-information processing unit (20), determines, based on the acquired information, whether to request the slave-information processing unit (20) to perform information processing, and transmits, when determining to request the slave-information processing unit (20) to perform the information processing, a signal requesting the information processing to the slave-information processing unit (20). The information processing CPU (220) in the slave-information processing unit (20) performs the information processing upon receiving the signal requesting the information processing.

In some embodiments, a controller is configured to be operably coupled to a series of safety relays. Each safety relay is coupled to a machine from a plurality of machines. The controller is configured to receive a signal indicative of a potential collision between any machine from the plurality of machines that is coupled to the at least one of the safety relays that was activated. The controller is configured to send, in response to the signal indicative of the potential collision, a signal to at least one of the safety relays from the series of safety relays to activate the at least one of the safety relays, thereby stopping motion of any machine from the plurality of machines that is coupled to the at least one of the safety relays that was activated.

Aspects of the present disclosure can involve systems and methods for a mobile device connected to a local area network (LAN) facilitating connections between a programmable logic controller (PLC) and one or more apparatuses, the mobile device involving a camera and a microphone, which can involve receiving input from one or more of the camera and the microphone; generating one or more of executable code for the PLC and configuration information for the one or more apparatuses from parsing of the input; and transmitting, over the LAN, the one or more of the executable code for the PLC and the configuration information for the one or more apparatuses to the PLC.