Flexible and scalable monitoring systems for industrial machines

A system, comprising:

• a backplane configured to communicatively couple to a plurality of circuits, and to receive monitoring data from at least one circuit coupled to the backplane, wherein the monitoring data includes at least one of measurements of an operating parameter of a machine component acquired by a sensor or at least one value characterizing the monitoring data at a status time;
• and
• a condition processing circuit coupled to the backplane and configured to retrieve a first selected portion of the monitoring data from the backplane in response to receipt of a conditioning command from a first network, and to transmit the retrieved first selected portion of the monitoring data to the first network,
• wherein the condition processing circuit is prohibited from transmitting information to the backplane, and wherein the first network is not communicatively coupled to a second network, the second network being in communication with a control system operative to control the operating parameter of the machine component.

A method, comprising:

• communicatively coupling a first input circuit and a second input circuit to a backplane;
• transmitting, by the first input circuit, first monitoring data to the backplane, the first monitoring data representing measurements of a first operating parameter of a first machine component acquired by a first sensor;
• transmitting, by the second input circuit, second monitoring data to the backplane, the second monitoring data representing measurements of a second operating parameter of a second machine component acquired by a second sensor, different from the first sensor;
• communicatively coupling a protection processing circuit to the backplane;
• retrieving, by the protection processing circuit, first selected monitoring data from the backplane in response to receipt of a first protection command from an internal network in communication with a control system operative to control operating parameters of the first and second machine components, the first selected monitoring data including at least a portion of at least one of the first or second monitoring data,
• determining, by the protection processing circuit, a value characterizing the first selected monitoring data,
• transmitting, by the protection processing circuit, the determined value to the backplane;
• and
• outputting, by the backplane, the determined value for receipt by an external network that is not communicatively coupled to the internal network.