A motor control center (MCC) for an industrial system includes a plurality of sections and a safety bus. Each section includes one or more units. Each unit includes one or more industrial control devices. The safety bus is configured to receive safety signals from a safety distribution unit and delivers the safety signals to each unit of the plurality of section.

A method for detecting misconfigured industrial automation devices within an operational technology (OT) network of programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and/or distributed control systems (DCSs), each PLC including one or more central processing unit (CPU) cards, one or more communication cards, and one or more input/out (I/O) cards, each I/O card controlling a machine or process in a physical network, the method including parsing a project file that includes information about a PLC and its configuration, and about the logic that runs on the PLC, generating a network layout configured in the project the, based on the results of the parsing, scanning the PLC including extracting information regarding the PLC configuration and the network layout, generating an actual network layout, based on the results of the scanning, and comparing the actual network layout with the network layout configured in the project file, to detect misconfigurations in the project file.

An access control system controls access of a user to one or more operating functions of a technical installation. The access control system includes a receiving device configured to read access authorization data from a mobile data medium and an access control device configured to receive and validate the access authorization data from the receiving device. The receiving device continuously adds a dynamic portion to the access authorization data to create dynamic access authorization data and sends the dynamic access authorization data to the access control device. The access control device, in response to the dynamic access authorization data corresponding to a defined expectation, generates a release signal for those operating functions for which the access authorization data is valid.

A control device includes an arithmetic processing part, a programmable circuit part, and an abnormality notification part. The programmable circuit part includes a storage part, an abnormality detection part, and an abnormality recording part. The storage part stores a configuration data. The abnormality detection part detects a soft error of the storage part. The abnormality recording part records information of the soft error detected by the abnormality detection part. The abnormality notification part determines whether information of a new soft error is recorded in the abnormality recording part, and when determining that information of a new soft error is recorded, notifies the arithmetic processing part of occurrence of the new soft error.

A rail-mounted device for automation systems having at least one local bus interface for connecting the rail-mounted device to a local bus of an automation system, and a power supply unit that has at least one input and at least one output through which the power supply unit is connectable to at least one electronic control unit of the automation system. The power supply unit of the rail-mounted device is equipped to detect a voltage drop or a loss of voltage at the input of the power supply unit and to provide a supply voltage at a minimum of one output of the power supply unit over a limited period by means of the electrical energy stored in the energy storage device. The rail-mounted device has at least one signal output for indicating a voltage drop or voltage loss detected at the input of the power supply unit.

A control device that has received a request for starting the execution of a control program issues a comparison request to two control devices that store shared information, the control devices that have received the comparison request each compare unique information created by the own control device with unique information on the own control device contained in a piece of the shared information stored in each control device, and when the comparison result satisfies a prescribed condition, the execution of the control program is permitted.

A control device (10) connectable to an imaging device (42) for controlling a control-target device includes an execution unit (11) that executes a control program to control the control-target device and outputs a first trigger signal when data (112) variable with execution of the control program satisfies a first condition, a receiver (63) that repeatedly receives image information indicating an image captured by the imaging device (42) and receives, from an environment detector including the imaging device (42) or a device (41) different from the imaging device, a second trigger signal indicating detection of environmental information including a result of detection performed by the environment detector satisfying a second condition, and a saver (66) that saves the image information received by the receiver (63) into a second storage (67) when receiving the first trigger signal from the execution unit (11) or receiving the second trigger signal with the receiver (63).

A secure control system includes a network of multiplexers that control end/field devices of an infrastructure system, such as an electric power grid. The multiplexers have a default secure lockdown state that prevents remote access to data on the multiplexers and prevents modification of software or firmware of the multiplexer. One or more of the multiplexers include a physical authentication device that confirms the physical proximity of a trusted individual when remote access is requested. A user accesses the network and one of the multiplexers remotely by way of login credentials. The trusted individual confirms the identity of the remote user and operates the physical authentication device connected with and in proximity to that multiplexer, thereby confirming that the remote user can be trusted to access data and reconfigure the multiplexers. The multiplexer connected with the physical authentication device generates a token that is passed to each of the multiplexers that the remote user needs access to. The token may specify a time period, after which, the multiplexers will reenter secure lockdown mode.

The present disclosure resides in a method for monitoring an automated plant, which has a fieldbus access unit connected with a first communication network, wherein the first communication network has a plurality of field devices and network nodes, wherein a communication driver, which runs in a first frame application, which is implemented in a client computer connected with the fieldbus access unit via a second communication network, queries structure data of network nodes and field devices present in the first communication network, wherein the structure data are generated by the fieldbus access unit in the context of the query by scanning the address space of the network level and determining the network nodes and field devices present in the address space. The present disclosure further resides in a fieldbus access unit and an arrangement, comprising a client computer and a fieldbus access unit.

A method and edge device for controlling data exchange of an industrial edge device with an industrial automation arrangement and a data cloud, wherein the edge device includes a first communication connection to the industrial automation arrangement and a second communication connection to a network of the data cloud, where the edge device includes applications exchanging data, and where the edge device includes a control device to control the data to be exchanged, wherein whether data exchange of an application is controlled via the first communication connection and the data exchange is implemented directly via the second communication connection or vice versa is defined for each application, where a data flow control device ensures simultaneous direct data exchange by an application via both communication connections does not occur, such that rigorous checking of applications or containers within the applications with respect to data security is not required.