Compute fabric enabled process control

Abstract

An industrial process control system includes a compute fabric having a first portion operating on-premises at an industrial process plant controlled by the industrial process control system and a second portion operating remotely from the industrial process plant controlled by the industrial process control system. The system also includes one or more transmitters in the process plant measuring or sensing physical parameters and includes one or more physical control elements in the process plant, each physical control element responsive to a respective setpoint parameter. The system further includes a plurality of micro-encapsulated execution environments instantiated in the compute fabric, each executing at least a portion of a control module that receives data from the one or more transmitters and transmits at least one setpoint parameter to each of the one or more physical control elements to cause the physical control elements to control a process in the industrial process plant.

1 . An industrial process control system comprising:
 a compute fabric having (i) a first portion operating on-premises at an industrial process plant controlled by the industrial process control system and (ii) a second portion operating remotely from the industrial process plant controlled by the industrial process control system;   one or more transmitters in the process plant measuring or sensing physical parameters in the process plant;   one or more physical control elements in the process plant, each physical control element responsive to a respective setpoint parameter;   a plurality of micro-encapsulated execution environments (MEEEs) instantiated in the compute fabric and each executing at least a portion of a control module that receives data from the one or more transmitters and transmits at least one setpoint parameter to each of the one or more physical control elements to cause the physical control elements to control a process in the industrial process plant.   
     
     
         2 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of MEEEs is communicatively coupled to at least one other of the plurality of MEEEs by a secured point-to-point (PTP) or peer-to-peer (P2P) connection. 
     
     
         3 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more transmitters is coupled to at least one of the plurality of MEEEs by a secured PTP or P2P connection. 
     
     
         4 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more physical control elements is coupled to at least one of the plurality of MEEEs by a secured PTP or P2P connection. 
     
     
         5 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 2 , wherein the secured PTP or P2P connection is an encrypted connection. 
     
     
         6 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 2 , wherein the secured PTP or P2P connection includes a virtual private network (VPN) and/or a virtual network (VNet). 
     
     
         7 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 2 , wherein:
 each MEEE, each transmitter, and each physical control element comprises an endpoint of at least one secured PTP or P2P connection, and   each pair of communicatively coupled endpoints is communicatively coupled by a respective secured PTP or P2P connection.   
     
     
         8 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 1 , further comprising a managed gateway disposed within the industrial process control plant. 
     
     
         9 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 1 , further comprising instantiating, between at least one of the one or more transmitters and a corresponding one of the plurality of MEEEs, a MEEE executing a virtual device corresponding to the respective transmitter, and wherein the virtual device receives data from the corresponding transmitter and transmits the received data to the respective one or more of the plurality of MEEEs. 
     
     
         10 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 1 , further comprising instantiating, between at least one of the one or more physical control elements and a corresponding one of the plurality of MEEEs, a MEEE executing a virtual device corresponding to the respective physical control element, and wherein the virtual device transmits to the corresponding physical control element data received from the respective one or more of the plurality of MEEEs. 
     
     
         11 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of MEEEs is redundant to another of the plurality of MEEEs. 
     
     
         12 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 1 , further comprising, instantiated in the compute fabric, a second plurality of MEEEs, each executing at least a portion of a second control module that receives data from one or more second transmitters measuring or sensing physical parameters in a second process plant, and transmits to one or more second physical control elements in the second process plant second setpoints to cause the physical control elements in the second process plant to control a second process in the second process plant. 
     
     
         13 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 12 , further comprising, instantiated in the compute fabric, a third plurality of MEEEs, the third plurality of MEEEs cooperating to facilitate optimization of the first and second pluralities of MEEEs. 
     
     
         14 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 13 , wherein facilitating optimization of the first and second pluralities of MEEEs comprises facilitating optimization of (i) compute fabric processor and/or memory resources, (ii) communication latency, and/or (iii) the process or second process in the process plant or second process plant. 
     
     
         15 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 1 , further comprising an operator interface API facilitating communication, over a secure PTP or P2P connection, between an operator interface and the control module operating on the compute fabric, the operator interface operable to control the process plant. 
     
     
         16 . An industrial process control system according to  claim 1 , further comprising a management interface API facilitating communication, over a secure PTP or P2P connection, between a management interface and the compute fabric, the management interface operable to monitor the performance of the compute fabric and/or the performance of the process control system. 
     
     
         17 . A method of performing process control in an industrial process plant producing a physical product, the method comprising:
 instantiating in a compute fabric a plurality of micro-encapsulated execution environments (MEEEs), each executing at least a portion of a control module that receives data from one or more transmitters measuring or sensing physical parameters in the process plant and transmits to one or more physical control elements in the process plant setpoints to cause the physical control elements to control a process in the industrial process plant.   
     
     
         18 . A method of effecting control of a plurality of industrial processes operating in respective industrial process plants at different physical locations to produce respective physical products, the method comprising:
 instantiating in a compute fabric a first plurality of micro-encapsulated execution environments (MEEEs), each executing at least a portion of a first control module that receives data from one or more first transmitters measuring or sensing physical parameters in a first process plant and transmits to one or more first physical control elements in the first process plant first setpoints to cause the first physical control elements to control a first process in the first process plant;   instantiating in the compute fabric a second plurality of MEEEs, each executing at least a portion of a second control module that receives data from one or more second transmitters measuring or sensing physical parameters in a second process plant and transmits to one or more second physical control elements in the second process plant second setpoints to cause the second physical control elements to control a second process in the second process plant;   instantiating in the compute fabric a third plurality of MEEEs, the third plurality of MEEEs cooperating to facilitate optimization of the first and second pluralities of MEEEs.   
     
     
         19 . A process control system comprising:
 a compute fabric extending to a first process plant, a second process plant remote from the first process plant, and a set of shared computing resources remote from both the first process plant and the second process plant;   a first set of transmitters, disposed within the first process plant, and each operable to measure or sense a respective physical parameter in the first process plant;   a second set of transmitters, disposed within the second process plant, and each operable to measure or sense a respective physical parameter in the second process plant;   a first set of physical control elements, disposed in the first process plant, and each operable to receive a respective setpoint and to adjust the physical control element according to the setpoint;   a second set of physical control elements, disposed in the second process plant, and each operable to receive a respective setpoint and to adjust the physical control element according to the setpoint;   a first plurality of micro-encapsulated execution environments (MEEEs), each executing at least a portion of a first control module that receives data from one or more transmitters of the first set of transmitters and/or transmits to one or more of the first set of physical control elements first setpoints;   a second plurality of MEEEs, each executing at least a portion of a second control module that receives data from one or more transmitters of the second set of transmitters and/or transmits to one or more of the second set of physical control elements second setpoints;   a third plurality of MEEEs, the third plurality of MEEEs cooperating to facilitate optimization of the first and second pluralities of MEEEs.