Generic shadowing in industrial process plants

A shadowing device included in a process plant, the shadowing device comprising:

• one or more processors;
• one or more interfaces communicatively connecting the shadowing device to a configuration database of the process plant and to a shadowed device, the shadowing device and the shadowed device included in the process plant, and each of the shadowing device and the shadowed device performing respective operations to control, in real-time, an industrial process in the process plant;
• one or more tangible memories storing a shadow library, the shadow library storing a set of signatures of control objects that have been downloaded from the configuration database via the one or more interfaces, the downloaded set of signatures excluding a signature of a source function block associated with the shadowed device;
• and
• a shadow manager comprising computer-executable instructions that are stored on the one or more tangible memories and that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the shadowing device to:
• receive, from the shadowed device, an indication of the source function block, wherein the source function block has been configured and downloaded into the shadowed device, and the source function block that has been configured and downloaded into the shadowed device is an instantiated source function block;
• when a signature corresponding to the source function block is not stored in the shadow library, (i) create, based on the received indication of the source function block, a signature of the source function block, (ii) store the created signature of the source function block in the shadow library, and (iii) instantiate, at the shadowing device, a shadow of the source function block indicated by the created signature of the source function block;
• and
• when a signature corresponding to the source function block is stored in the shadow library, (i) determine, based on the received indication of the source function block, a discrepancy between the source function block and the stored signature corresponding to the source function block, (ii) update the stored signature corresponding to the source function block based on the discrepancy, (iii) store the updated signature of the source function block in the shadow library, and (iv) instantiate, at the shadowing device, a shadow of the source function block indicated by the updated signature of the source function block,
• wherein the one or more processors of the shadowing device are configured to:
• execute the instantiated, shadowed source function block at the shadowing device during the real-time control of the industrial process in the process plant, thereby generating a copy of dynamic data generated by the instantiated source function block executing at the shadowed device, the copy of the dynamic data being mirrored dynamic data;
• and
• provide the mirrored dynamic data to one or more other devices and/or function blocks executing in the process plant during the real-time control of the industrial process, thereby shadowing, by the shadowing device, the instantiated source function block executing at the shadowed device.