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 for operating an automated system, the system comprising: a controlled device for performing an action as a function of received control data; a first control device for receiving system data and generating control data for controlling the controlled device as a function of the received system data; and a second control device for receiving input data and generating output data as a function of the input data according to a computer-implemented mapping algorithm; wherein the method comprises: adapting the computer-implemented mapping algorithm such that the second control device, upon receiving the system data as input data generates output data that is similar to the control data generated by the first control device with a predetermined similarity degree, wherein the computer-implemented mapping algorithm includes a neural network algorithm and/or a machine learning algorithm.

A method for operating an automated system, the system comprising: a controlled device for performing an action as a function of received control data; a first control device for receiving system data and generating control data for controlling the controlled device as a function of the received system data; and a second control device for receiving input data and generating output data as a function of the input data according to a computer-implemented mapping algorithm; wherein the method comprises: adapting the computer-implemented mapping algorithm such that the second control device, upon receiving the system data as input data generates output data that is similar to the control data generated by the first control device with a predetermined similarity degree, wherein the computer-implemented mapping algorithm includes a neural network algorithm and/or a machine learning algorithm.

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.