A distributed control system includes: a plurality of control devices; a process IO master device shared by the control devices and including an output authority table and an output data memory having areas for storing data outputted from the control devices; and a plurality of process IO modules connected to the process IO master device and each connected to a sensor/actuator, wherein the output authority table provides an authority that determines the control device of which output data is to be adopted, for each of addresses corresponding to the actuators.

A runtime environment for execution of an event driven control program for a distributed control system including one or multiple computing resources, wherein the control program includes at least two function blocks. The runtime environment includes for each computing resource an event executor which is configured for execution of sets of events and respective associated data on the respective computing resource. And wherein the runtime environment includes for each function block a memory resource, which memory resource is configured to: store a set of events and associated data for each function block if the data is produced by the function block; and/or store a reference to a set of events and associated data for each function block if the data is consumed by the function block.

In the conventional distributed control system, since each control device updates the data area at a timing when a control packet is received, in a case where there is a difference in communication delay between the control devices or in a case where the communication delay includes jitter, it is difficult to match the contents of data in all the control devices in a case of focusing on a certain moment during system operation. Therefore, depending on the start timing of a control application, the control application operates on the basis of different data between the control devices, thus limiting control performance improvement. Accordingly, time slots on the network are allocated according to the result of a calculation unit, and a cyclic memory synchronization update unit synchronizes the timing of reflecting data in the input/output and the cyclic memory and the timing of using data of a cyclic memory.

Systems and methods for automatic feedback control are provided. According to one embodiment of the disclosure, a method for automatic feedback control may commence with receiving high-level control references by a low-level controller communicatively coupled to a high-level controller via the network connection. The method may further include generating, by the low-level controller, low-level control references for a hardware asset based at least in part on the high-level control references. The method may continue with transferring control of the hardware asset to the low-level controller in response to a loss of the network connection. The method may further include adjusting the low-level control references by a low-level control mechanism associated with the low-level controller in response to the loss of the network connection.

A control system includes a control unit configured to control a target controlled apparatus, and at least one communication processing unit configured to execute communication processing in communication between the target controlled apparatus and the control unit, and in the control system, the communication processing unit sequentially measures a processing time of the communication processing and sequentially outputs delay information indicating the measured processing time to the control unit, and the control unit sequentially acquires the delay information from all of a plurality of the communication processing units, and sequentially updates delay information incorporated in a control algorithm for controlling the target controlled apparatus based on the acquired delay information.

A process control system for controlling a process including a plurality of sub-processes, the process control system including a plurality of control modules each associated with one of the plurality of sub-processes. At least one of the plurality of control modules includes a model, a communicator, and a controller. The model includes a sub-process model defining a relationship between variables of the associated sub-process, and an inter-sub-process model defining a relationship between a variable of another sub-process and at least one of the variables of the associated sub-process. The communicator communicates with control module associated with the another sub-process to determine an updated value for the variable of the another sub-process. The controller uses the model and the updated value to determine a control signal for adjusting a manipulated variable of the associated sub-process. The process control method is also provided that is performed by the process control system.

A distributed control system and a control method for the distributed control system are provided that reduce adjustment and setup steps required when the system are applied to a control using sensors and actuators. The distributed control system includes a central communication unit and terminal communication units, the central communication unit and the terminal communication units connected to each other through a network. Communication control setup is automatically performed for each of the terminal communication units when control is exercised by using sensors and actuators connected to the terminal communication units based on each transmission characteristic of the time when a physical quantity generated by driving each of the actuators propagates to each of the sensors and on the setup of required performance of control.

An industrial control system may receive processing information from at least two control systems associated with at least two components within an industrial automation system. The processing information may include a processing load value for each of the at least two control systems. The industrial control system may then distribute processing loads associated with the at least two control systems when a total processing load between the at least two control systems is unbalanced.

A relay interface module that is commutatively connectable to at least one I/O device and a controller, wherein the relay interface module is configured to provide data from the I/O device to at least one controller in a distributed control system (DCS) via a communication interface. An application related to a particular I/O device may then be executed freely on any controller present in a DCS without losing real time connection with the associated I/O device. Data can be transferred from an I/O device to an associated application executed on a controller such that the real time connection between the I/O device and the application being executed is maintained.

A distributed building management system for controlling a building control device of a building includes a virtual controller that is hosted on a computing device and an edge controller that is associated with the building control device. The virtual controller includes a virtual container or a virtual machine that has control logic that generates control commands for controlling the building control device. The edge controller includes control logic that is configured to at least selectively provide closed loop control of one or more functions of the building control device. The edge controller is in operative communication with the virtual controller and is configured to receive and execute the control commands generated by the virtual controller.