Data federation with industrial control systems

Abstract

An organizational model of a hierarchical system can be distributed across various elements of an enterprise. Such elements include representations of the system that are maintained on higher-level business servers and other representations that serve control elements of the system such as programmable logic controllers and/or other industrial control components. In one aspect, an industrial automation system is provided. The system includes at least one controller to instantiate a portion of an organizational hierarchy. A communications component in the controller interacts with at least one other portion of the organizational hierarchy to facilitate data exchange and control between various components of an enterprise.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system that facilitates data federation, comprising:
 a processor, coupled to a memory, that executes computer-executable components, the computer-executable components comprising:
 a configuration component configured to receive first configuration information that defines a mount point of an industrial controller, wherein the mount point defines a location in a hierarchical data structure where a first subset of the hierarchical data structure stored on the industrial controller connects to a second subset of the hierarchical data structure; and 
 an aggregation component configured to aggregate the first portion of the hierarchical data structure and the second portion of the hierarchical data structure at the location based on the mount point. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the hierarchical data structure comprises a hierarchical model of an industrial organization. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the hierarchical model defines at least one of a plant level of the industrial organization or an enterprise level of the industrial organization. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the configuration component is further configured to receive second configuration input that facilitates creation of the first subset of the hierarchical data structure in the industrial controller. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the first subset of the hierarchical data structure comprises a first set of nodes that define first hierarchical relationships between first entities relating to control of an industrial asset of an industrial organization. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the second subset of the hierarchical data structure comprises a second set of nodes that define second hierarchical relationships between second entities of the industrial organization. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the second entities relate to a business operation of the industrial organization. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the first set of nodes are associated with a set of data items stored on the industrial controller. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the hierarchical data structure defines at least a line level of the industrial organization, wherein the line level comprises at least one of an equipment component, a control component, a production component, a segment component, or a miscellaneous component. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable components further comprise a controller component configured to convert a flat data structure to a hierarchical format based on the hierarchical data structure. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the configuration component is further configured to receive second configuration information that sets a tag associated with the hierarchical data structure as one of public or private, and wherein setting the tag as public renders the tag viewable from an application that reads data from the industrial controller. 
     
     
         12 . A method for federation of data, comprising:
 defining a mount point for an industrial controller, wherein the mount point defines a location within a hierarchical data structure at which a first portion of the hierarchical data structure that is stored on the industrial controller connects to a second portion of the hierarchical data structure that is stored on a device that communicates with the industrial controller; and   aggregating the first portion of the hierarchical data structure and the second portion of the hierarchical data structure based on the mount point.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising defining the first portion of the hierarchical data structure in the controller, wherein the defining the first portion comprises defining one or more first nodes that define first hierarchical relationships between first entities relating to control of an industrial asset of an industrial enterprise. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising defining the second portion of the hierarchical data structure in the device, wherein the defining the second portion comprises defining one or more second nodes that define second hierarchical relationships between second entities of the industrial enterprise. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the defining the second portion comprises defining the second hierarchical relationships between the second entities relating to one or more business operations of the industrial enterprise. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the defining the first portion or the defining the second portion comprises defining at least one of a line level of the industrial enterprise, wherein the line level comprises at least one of an equipment component, a control component, a production component, a segment component, or a miscellaneous component. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising at least one of converting a flat data structure to a hierarchical format based on the hierarchical data structure. 
     
     
         18 . A computer-readable storage device having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computing system including a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 defining a mount point of an industrial controller, wherein the mount point defines a node of a hierarchical data model at which a first subset of the hierarchical data model that is stored in the industrial controller connects to a second portion of the hierarchical data model that is stored in a device that is networked to the industrial controller; and   aggregating the first subset of the hierarchical data model and the second subset of the hierarchical data model based on the mount point.   
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable storage device of  claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise defining the first subset of the hierarchical data model in the industrial controller, wherein the defining the first subset comprises defining one or more first hierarchical relationships between first entities relating to control of an industrial asset of an industrial enterprise. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable storage device of  claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise defining the second subset of the hierarchical data model in the device, wherein the defining the second subset comprises defining one or more second hierarchical relationships between second entities relating to a business operation of the industrial enterprise.