Cloud-enabled testing of control systems

A method for one-technician function testing of an output from a controller of a control system to a field device, the method comprising:

• setting an output of a controller to a controller value using a mobile computing device, the mobile computing device located within a distance suitable for physical interaction with and/or visual inspection of a field device that is communicatively coupled to the controller through an input/output (I/O) network for the one-technician function testing, wherein the mobile computing device executes an application that interfaces with the controller through a wireless network, the field device is in its conventional operating state communicatively coupled to the controller through the I/O network, and the field device and the controller are sufficiently distanced apart from one another that conventional testing would require two technicians;
• receiving, by the field device, the set output from the controller, wherein the set output is received by the field device through the I/O network;
• and
• receiving, by the mobile computing device, an indication of an observed response of the field device to the set output of the controller.

A system to test a control system requiring one technician, the system comprising:

• a control system including a controller and a field device, wherein the field device is in its conventional operating state communicatively coupled to the controller and is sufficiently distanced from the controller that conventional testing would require two technicians;
• a mobile computing device running an application, wherein the application provides an interface that allows a technician to control or monitor the controller while observing the field device or while applying a field signal to the field device for a one-technician function test, wherein the mobile computing device is located within a distance suitable for physical interaction with and/or visual inspection of the field device;
• and
• a cloud computing system that is communicatively coupled to the controller and the mobile computing device, wherein the cloud computing system provides the application with cloud services to communicatively couple the mobile computing device and the controller and to store test results in a cloud storage.