Distributed autonomous process interface systems based on data distribution service middleware

A method of a collaborative automation platform for use in industrial plant applications within the petrochemical industry, the method comprising:

• converting measurement data received from one or more field instruments to digital data values via an autonomous process interface system connected to the one or more field instruments;
• transmitting, via a master autonomous process interface system, the digital data values to an input/output processing and inferential modeling server;
• determining unmeasured process properties of the digital data values according to one or more inferential models;
• and
• publishing status changes represented by the digital data values and the unmeasured process properties to subscribers via a control server for performing respective tasks more efficiently by using the unmeasured process properties, wherein
• the method is executed via real-time data distribution system (DDS) middleware interconnected between the control server and the autonomous process interface system of the collaborative automation platform, and
• the published unmeasured process properties including quality of service control policy for controlling the operation of the respective subscribers such that the quality of service control policy dictates an amount of data history to be published to each subscriber, how each subscriber is to utilize the published unmeasured process properties, and data availability and priority in transmitted data to subscribers based on at least one metric related to each subscriber.

A distributed control system, comprising:

• a plurality of distributed autonomous process interface (DAPI) systems, wherein each DAPI system is connected to one or more field instruments;
• an input/output processing and inferential modeling server configured to receive converted field instrument data from a master autonomous process interface system that is connected to the plurality of DAPI systems;
• a control server configured to acquire status changes from the received converted field instrument data, determine unmeasured process properties, and publish the unmeasured process properties to one or more subscribers;
• and
• real-time data distribution service (DDS) middleware configured to interconnect process control applications of the control server with the plurality of DAPI systems of the distributed control system,
• the published unmeasured process properties including quality of service control policy for controlling the operation of the one or more subscribers such that the quality of service control policy dictates an amount of data history to be published to each subscriber, how each subscriber is to utilize the published unmeasured process properties, and data availability and priority in transmitted data to subscribers based on at least one metric related to each subscriber.