Automatic discovery of relationships among equipment through observation over time

A system comprising at least one computing device comprising at least one processor, a memory, and instructions executable by the at least one processor to create an application comprising:

• a) a software module identifying a plurality of data sources associated with an automation environment;
• b) a software module detecting one or more events or one or more state changes in the data sources;
• c) a software module storing the detected events or state changes;
• d) a software module detecting synchrony in the detected events or state changes by performing operations comprising:
• i) identifying combinatorial pairs of data sources having an event or state change occurring within a predetermined time window;
• and ii) conducting pairwise testing for each identified combinatorial pair of data sources by applying an algorithm to the events or state changes occurring within the predetermined time window;
• e) a software module determining one or more relationships for at least one identified combinatorial pair of data sources, wherein the one or more relationships comprise directionality information associated with the relationships, wherein the directionality information is indicative of a controller-controlled relationship between the data sources in the combinational pairs, respectively, and
• f) a software module storing the determined relationships in a database.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage media encoded with instructions executable by one or more processors to provide an application comprising:

• a) a software module identifying a plurality of data sources associated with an automation environment;
• b) a software module detecting one or more events or one or more state changes in the data sources;
• c) a software module storing the detected events or state changes;
• d) a software module detecting synchrony in the detected events or state changes by performing operations comprising:
• identifying combinatorial pairs of data sources having an event or state change occurring within a predetermined time window;
• and conducting pairwise testing for each identified combinatorial pair of data sources by applying an algorithm to the events or state changes occurring within the predetermined time window;
• e) a software module determining one or more relationships for at least one identified combinatorial pair of data sources, wherein the one or more relationships comprise directionality information associated with the relationships, wherein the directionality information is indicative of a controller-controlled relationship between the data sources in the combinational pairs, respectively, and
• f) a software module storing the determined relationships in a database.