An information collecting device controls a plant based on process data acquired from controllers and field devices connected to the controllers. The information collecting device includes an arithmetic controller and an update controller. The arithmetic controller collects first information which is engineering information of the plant and second information which is device information from a controller, a field device or a combination of both selected from the controllers and the field devices. The update controller generates third information based on a definition in which the first information and the second information are set in advance, and updates the third information in a storage based on a preset update cycle.

This invention describes a method for detecting a misconfiguration of a machine function of a first industrial machine (M1). A set (N) of second industrial machines (MS) from said several other industrial machines (MO) is created by identifying a predetermined feature of the first industrial machine (M1) in several other industrial machines (MO). A first configuration value is created, which relates to the machine function of the first industrial machine (M1), and a second configuration value is created which relates to the machine function of the second industrial machines (MS). Depending on a relation of the first configuration value to the second configuration value a deviation value is determined by a configuration anomaly detection module (CADM). For detecting the misconfiguration of the first industrial machine (M1) the deviation value is compared with a predetermined threshold value.

The present disclosure provides a conveyor system controller (11, 12, 13, 14), comprising: a data storage unit (101) configured to store a plurality of data entries, each data entry comprising a data entry ID, a data entry version identifier, and a data payload representing operating information of the controller or another controller; a processing unit (102); a first interface (103) for communicating with another controller. The controller is configured to transmit a first data packet comprising data entry ID and data entry version identifier of a data entry in the data storage unit, to other controllers; and to receive a second data packet transmitted by said another controller, the second data packet comprising data entry ID and data entry version identifier of a data entry of said another controller; and compare the received data entry version identifier of the second data packet, with a data entry version identifier of a corresponding data entry in the data storage unit having a same data entry ID as the second data packet.

An apparatus, system, and method to manage communications within a network, such as a wireless network and/or at least partially included within a hazardous area, includes creating a master CRC array from master configuration structures, creating a main master CRC value from the master CRC array, receiving a main slave CRC value, and determining if the main master CRC value and the main slave CRC value are different.

A system and a method for executing a work process on an object. The system includes at least one work station, an acquisition device, a control device and an auditor device.

Techniques for determining device-specific information such as commissioning data, location information, images, and other data descriptive of a process device installed in a plant include obtaining the device-specific information at a local device during the process device's commissioning. Based on this information, the local device determines the relative order of the process device within a process flow, and may determine a process element alignment map indicating the activation order of a plurality of process elements within the flow. A user may modify the map at the local device. The map is transmitted to a process control big data network for use in discovery and learning analytics. The device-specific information and/or the map may be utilized to generate, at the local device, representations/views of the process flow, which may include real-time operational data. A user may zoom in or out on these views for more or less detail.

The invention relates to a field device for connection to a programmable logic controller having hardware comprising a processing unit, a memory and a data interface for communication with the programmable logic controller. The field device is characterized in that it is configured to receive compatibility information from the programmable logic controller by means of the data interface, wherein a firmware having a plurality of functions for operating the field instrument is stored in the memory, wherein the processing unit is configured to release a subset of the functions of the firmware for execution in dependence on the compatibility information to produce a behavior of the field device which is adapted to the compatibility information of the programmable logic controller.

A field device management system include a plurality of field devices equipped in a plant, one or more host devices equipped at a place distant from the plant and configured to connect to the field devices via a first network, and a terminal apparatus configured to connect to the field devices via a second network and to connect to the host devices via a third network. The terminal apparatus includes a first communication interface module configured to perform field communication with the field devices via the second network, a second communication interface module configured to perform near field communication with the host devices via the third network, and a controller that, when updating data of any one of the field devices, performs communication with the host devices through the second communication interface module, and receives update permission information from the host device through the second communication interface module.

Techniques for commissioning a process control device in a process plant include obtaining, at a portable computing device, commissioning data for commissioning the respective process control device for operation, such as a device tag. The portable computing device then transfers the commissioning data to a component in the same process control loop as the process control device via a wireless communication link. For example, the component includes a radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near field communication (NFC) unit for receiving RFID/NFC signals. When the portable computing device is within RFID/NFC communication range of the component, the commissioning data is transferred via an RFID/NFC signal to the component. The commissioning data is received while the component is in an unpowered state, where the RFID/NFC signal energizes the RFID/NFC unit at the component for receiving the signal.

In some examples, a controller dynamically configures a property associated with monitoring performed by an agent. The controller stores, in a repository, metadata relating to the agent. The controller receives, from the agent, first sensor data that excludes the metadata, and uses indexing information in the first sensor data to retrieve the metadata from the repository.