Utilizing quality-of-service metrics to facilitate transitions between I/O channels for I/O server services

A process control system, comprising:

• one or more field devices configured for implementation in a process control system to facilitate controlling a particular portion of an industrial process at a process plant;
• and
• one or more hosts that are communicatively coupled to the one or more field devices and that are configured to:
• (i) receive process control traffic from a plurality of controller services by way of a plurality of I/O channels each of which couples the one or more I/O server services to a different one of the plurality of controller services, wherein the plurality of I/O channels includes a first I/O channel that is designated as an active I/O channel and one or more other I/O channels that are designated as inactive I/O channels, wherein each controller service is implemented in a respective container and is executing a same control routine to generate process control traffic including a set of commands to control a same portion of an industrial process via the same one or more field devices and sends the process control traffic including the set of commands to the same portion of the industrial process including the same one or more field devices via the one or more I/O server services;
• (ii) utilize the process control traffic received via the first I/O channel to control the one or more field devices to drive one or more process outputs and to thereby control the portion of the industrial process thereby controlling the portion of the industrial process using the process control traffic from a first one of the controller services that is connected to the one or more I/O server services via the first I/O channel;
• (iii) evaluate a plurality of a quality-of-service (“QoS”) metrics for the plurality of I/O channels, wherein each of the QoS metrics corresponds to a different one of the plurality of I/O channels;
• (iv) detect a second I/O channel from the one or more other I/O channels that has a best QoS metric from the plurality of QoS metrics;
• and
• (v) respond to detecting the best QoS metric by transitioning the active I/O channel, including:
• (a) designate the second I/O channel as the active I/O channel and the first I/O channel as one of the inactive channels;
• and
• (b) utilize process control traffic received via the second I/O channel to control the one or more field devices to drive the one or more process outputs and to thereby control the portion of the industrial process thereby controlling the portion of the industrial process using the process control traffic from a second one of the controller services that is connected to the one or more I/O server services via the second I/O channel.

A server configured to facilitate transitioning between containerized controller services in a process control environment, the server comprising:

• a communication interface configured to be communicatively coupled to a plurality of I/O channels each of which couples the communication interface to a different one of a plurality of controller services;
• one or more processors communicatively coupled to the communication interface;
• and
• one or more memories, communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, storing machine readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
• (i) receive process control traffic from the plurality of controller services by way of the communication interface, wherein the plurality of I/O channels includes a first I/O channel that is designated as an active I/O channel and one or more other I/O channels that are designated as inactive I/O channels, wherein each controller service is implemented in a respective container and is executing a same control routine to generate process control traffic including a set of commands to control a same portion of an industrial process via the same one or more field devices and sends the process control traffic including the set of commands to the same portion of the industrial process including the same one or more field devices via the one or more I/O server services;
• (ii) utilize the process control traffic received via the first I/O channel to control the one or more field devices to drive one or more process outputs and to thereby control the portion of the industrial process thereby controlling the portion of the industrial process using the process control traffic from a first one of the controller services that is connected to the one or more I/O server services via the first I/O channel;
• (iii) evaluate a plurality of a quality-of-service (“QoS”) metrics for the plurality of I/O channels, wherein each of the QoS metrics corresponds to a different one of the plurality of I/O channels;
• (iv) detect a second I/O channel from the one or more other I/O channels that has a best QoS metric from the plurality of QoS metrics;
• and
• (v) respond to detecting the best QoS metric by transitioning the active I/O channel, including:
• (a) designate the second I/O channel as the active I/O channel and the first I/O channel as one of the inactive channels;
• and
• (b) utilize process control traffic received via the second I/O channel to control the one or more field devices to drive the one or more process outputs and to thereby control the portion of the industrial process thereby controlling the portion of the industrial process using the process control traffic from a second one of the controller services that is connected to the one or more I/O server services via the second I/O channel.