A method and decoder-based irrigation controller, and method and programming chart, are provided. In some embodiments, a decoder-based irrigation controller comprises a microcontroller; and a first connector coupled to the microcontroller and configured to couple to a reader, wherein the reader comprises an optical reader configured to read an optically readable pattern, wherein the first connector is further configured to couple an input from the reader to the microcontroller; and wherein the microcontroller is configured to interpret the input from the reader and perform an action at the decoder-based irrigation controller according to the input.

A method includes transmitting, over a virtual private network (VPN) to a remotely-located control platform, a request for first information associated with a BOOTP protocol synchronization process. The method also includes receiving, from the control platform, a first response comprising the requested first information. The method further includes receiving, over a local network from an embedded device in a distributed control system, a request for second information associated with the BOOTP protocol. In addition, the method includes transmitting, to the embedded device, a second response comprising the requested second information.

A software defined distributed control system (SDCS) in a process plant includes an application layer that includes a plurality of containers instantiated in a data cluster. Each of the containers is an isolated execution environment executing within the local operating system of a respective computing node. The containers cooperate to facilitate execution of a control strategy in the SDCS, and includes a hyper converged infrastructure (HCI) operating across the data cluster, which HCI is configured to communicate with the application layer via an adapter service. The HCI includes software-defined (SD) compute resources, SD storage resources, SD networking resources, and an orchestrator service. The orchestrator service is programmed to configure a first container to include a service executing within the first container. It also assigns the first container to execute on an available hardware resource to control a plurality of field devices operating in the process plant.

A method is provided for connecting an input/output interface of a tester equipped for control unit development to a model of a technical system present in the tester using an already-existing basic test model of a control unit. The input/output interface is designed for connecting a hardware implementation of the control unit or for connecting a technical system to be controlled, and the model to be connected to the input/output interface is a test model of the technical system to be controlled or a test model of the control unit. The already-existing basic test model of the control unit is accessed, and at least one communication requirement is extracted from the basic test model of the control unit.

A software defined (SD) process control system (SDCS) includes a control container having contents which are executable during run-time of the process plant to control at least a portion of an industrial process. The SDCS also includes a security service associated with the control container and including contents which define one or more security conditions. The security service executes via a container on a compute node of the SDCS to control access to and/or data flow from the control container based on the contents of the security container.

A process control system includes a plurality of field devices operating to control a process. A communication infrastructure couples the field devices to a software-defined control system (SDCS) that receives data from the field devices and transmits instructions to the field devices. A data cluster, executing the SDCS, includes a plurality of computing nodes, each of which includes a processor executing an operating system, a memory, and a communication resource coupled to one or more other computing nodes in the data cluster. First and second containers, each of which is an isolated execution environment, are instantiated on a first computing node within the operating system of the first computing node. The second container is instantiated within the first container. The first and second containers correspond to levels of a hierarchical structure of the SDCS.

A control system for controlling operation of a plurality of building control devices includes a pool of virtual controllers that are hosted on one or more computing device and are configured to provide control commands for controlling one or more associate building control devices of the plurality of building control devices. Each of a plurality of edge controllers are associated with at least one building control device and are configured to receive and execute control commands from one or more of the virtual controllers to control the associated one or more building control devices. An orchestrator is configured to monitor one or more operational characteristics of each of the virtual controllers and to modify one or more aspects of the pool of virtual controllers when one or more of the operational characteristics of one or more of the virtual controllers meets predetermined characteristics.