Scalable edge compute in a distributed control environment
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsRobert Chavez, Rita H. Wouhaybi, Mark Yarvis, Kirk Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various systems and methods may be used to implement a software defined industrial system. For example, an edge control node of the industrial system may include a system on a chip including a microcontroller (MCU) to convert IO data. The system on a chip includes a central processing unit (CPU) in an initial inactive state to receive an activation signal from, for example, an orchestration server, and change to an activated state in response to receiving the activation signal.
Claims22
An edge control node of an industrial control system comprising:
- an input/output (IO) subsystem for receiving a signal from a field device and generating IO data;
- and
- a system on a chip including:
- a networking component communicatively coupled to a network;
- a microcontroller (MCU) to convert the IO data from the IO subsystem and send the converted data via the networking component to an orchestration server via the network;
- and
- a central processing unit (CPU) initially in an inactive state to change to an activated state in response to an activation signal being received at the edge control node from the orchestration server via the networking component.
At least one non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions, which when executed by a processor of an orchestration server, cause the processor to perform operations to:
- receive input/output (IO) data, the IO data received via a bridge connecting the orchestration server to an edge control node, wherein the IO data is converted at a microcontroller (MCU) of the edge control node from data generated at an IO subsystem to a packet sent by a networking component;
- send an authenticated activation code to the edge control node to activate a central processing unit (CPU) of the edge control node, wherein the CPU is initially placed in an inactivated state;
- and
- send processing instructions to the CPU for execution.
An industrial control system comprising:
- a ring network including a plurality of edge control nodes;
- an orchestration server;
- a bridge connecting the orchestration server to the ring network;
- and
- wherein the plurality of edge control nodes includes a first edge control node comprising:
- a system on a chip including:
- a microcontroller (MCU) to convert input/output (IO) data from an IO subsystem and send the converted data via a networking component to the orchestration server via the bridge;
- and
- a processor in an initial inactive state to:
- receive an activation signal from the orchestration server;
- and
- change to an activated state in response to receiving the activation signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.