Real-time high-speed clock signal for industrial network emulation

A method, comprising:

• executing, by a system comprising a processor, a simulation of an industrial system under control of an industrial controller based on a digital model of the industrial system;
• receiving, by the system, streams of controller data from the industrial controller directed to respective emulated devices of the digital model;
• and
• sending, by the system, streams of simulated device data generated by the respective emulated devices to the industrial controller, wherein the sending comprises:
• in response to receiving a controller data packet via a stream of controller data, of the streams of controller data, designated as a clock signal that drives sending of packets of the simulated device data from the emulated devices to the industrial controller via the streams of the simulated device data, sending the packets of the simulated device data generated by the emulated devices to the industrial controller via the streams of the simulated device data,
• wherein the stream of controller data designated as the clock signal supersedes a system clock of an operating system of the system in driving the sending of the packets of the simulated device data.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system comprising a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• executing a simulation of an industrial system under control of an industrial controller based on a virtual model of the industrial system, wherein the executing comprises:
• receiving streams of controller data from the industrial controller directed to respective emulated devices of the digital model;
• and
• sending streams of simulated device data generated by the respective emulated devices to the industrial controller, wherein the sending comprises, in response to receiving a controller data packet via a stream of controller data, of the streams of controller data, designated as a clock signal that triggers sending of packets of the simulated device data from the emulated devices to the industrial controller, sending the packets of the simulated device data generated by the emulated devices to the industrial controller via the streams of the simulated device data, and
• the stream of controller data designated as the clock signal substitutes for a system clock of an operating system of the system in triggering the sending of the packets of the simulated device data.