Partial redundancy for i/o modules or channels in distributed control systems

A system comprising:

• at least one processing device configured to communicate over multiple communication paths;
• at least one first input/output (I/O) module comprising multiple first I/O channels, each first I/O channel configured to provide one of the communication paths;
• a second I/O module comprising multiple second I/O channels, wherein each second I/O channel is configured to provide a redundant communication path for one of the first I/O channels,
• wherein the at least one first I/O module and the second I/O module include fault detection circuits configured to detect a fault condition with at least one of:
• the at least one first I/O module and the first I/O channels;
• wherein the system is configured to provide the redundant communication paths for only a subset of the first I/O channels.

A method comprising:

• obtaining at least one first input/output (I/O) module comprising multiple first I/O channels, each first I/O channel configured to provide a communication path;
• and
• creating redundant communication paths using a second I/O module comprising multiple second I/O channels, wherein each second I/O channel is configured to provide one of the redundant communication paths for one of the first I/O channels;
• wherein redundant communication paths are provided for only a subset of the first I/O channels.