Publish-subscribe communication architecture for highly-versatile field devices in control and automation systems

A highly-versatile (HV) field device comprising:

• a processor;
• a communication adapter configured to be coupled to an advanced physical layer (APL) communication network and to receive, via the APL communication network, a power signal provided by an APL power switch either directly or via one or more APL field switches;
• a memory device, coupled to the processor, the memory device storing (i) a plurality of pre-defined publish lists, each list corresponding to one of at least two available publish categories, each publish list comprising a set of parameters associated with the HV field device, and (ii) a set of instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to:
• receive, from a client device or application, a message indicating a one of the at least two available publish categories, the publish category indicating a category of information desired by the client device or application;
• transmit, to the client device or application, an identification of each of the plurality of pre-defined publish lists corresponding to the indicated publish category;
• receive, from the client device or application, a selection of one of the plurality of pre-defined publish lists identified by the HV field device;
• transmit, to the client device or application, the set of parameters associated with the selected one of the plurality of publish lists.

A system comprising:

• a controller controlling a plant that performs operations on one or more materials to transform the one or more materials into a product;
• a communication network;
• a plurality of highly-versatile (HV) field devices coupled by the communication network to the controller, the plurality of HV field devices receiving commands from the controller and transmitting parameter values to the controller, each of the plurality of HV field devices comprising:
• a processor;
• a communication adapter configured to be coupled to an advanced physical layer (APL) communication network and to receive, via the APL communication network, a power signal provided by an APL power switch either directly or via one or more APL field switches;
• a memory device, coupled to the processor, the memory device storing (i) a plurality of pre-defined publish lists, each list corresponding to one of at least two available publish categories, each publish list comprising a set of parameters associated with the process control field device, and (ii) a set of instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to:
• receive, from a client device or application, a message indicating a one of the at least two available publish categories, the publish category indicating a category of information desired by the client device or application;
• transmit, to the client device or application, an identification of each of the plurality of pre-defined publish lists corresponding to the indicated publish category;
• receive, from the client device or application, a selection of one of the plurality of pre-defined publish lists identified by the HV field device;
• transmit, to the client device or application, the set of parameters associated with the selected one of the plurality of publish lists.

A method comprising:

• transmitting to a highly-versatile (HV) field device a message indicating a selection of a first one of a plurality of publish categories, each of the plurality of publish categories corresponding to a type of information;
• receiving, from the HV field device, an identification of each of a plurality of publish lists corresponding to the first one of the plurality of publish categories, each of the plurality of publish lists comprising a set of parameters associated with the HV field device;
• transmitting to the HV field device a selection of a first one of the plurality of publish lists identified by the HV field device;
• receiving, from the HV field device, the set of parameters associated with the first one of the one of the plurality of publish lists,
• wherein the HV field device includes a communication adapter configured to be coupled to an advanced physical layer (APL) communication network and to receive, via the APL communication network, a power signal provided by an APL power switch either directly or via one or more APL field switches.