Regional big data in process control systems

A method of utilizing regional big data to improve the operation of a process plant controlling a process, the method comprising:

• collecting data at one or more regional big data nodes of the process plant, wherein:
• each of the one or more regional big data nodes corresponds to a respective region included in a plurality of regions of the process plant,
• the collected data includes data transmitted by a respective plurality of local big data nodes of the respective region, and
• each local big data node transmits, in real-time, respective data resulting from on-line operations of the respective region of the each local big data node;
• storing the collected data as regional big data at the one or more regional big data nodes;
• performing, by the one or more regional big data nodes, one or more learning analyses on at least a portion of the regional big data;
• generating learned knowledge based on results of the one or more learning analyses;
• and
• causing a change in operations of at least a portion of the process plant based on the results of the one or more learning analysis, including transmitting the learned knowledge to a recipient big data node corresponding to the at least the portion of the process plant.

A system for supporting regional big data in a process plant comprising:

• one or more regional big data nodes;
• a plurality of local big data nodes;
• and
• a communications network communicatively connecting the one or more regional big data nodes and the plurality of local big data nodes, the plurality of local big data nodes being arranged into a plurality of regions, each of which is serviced by a respective regional big data node included in the one or more regional big data nodes, wherein the respective regional big data node is configured to:
• collect data generated in real-time by a set of local big data nodes associated with the respective region serviced by the respective regional big data node, the data generated in real-time by the set of local big data nodes due to real-time control of a process in the process plant;
• store the collected data as respective regional big data at a big data storage area included in the respective regional big data node;
• and
• perform, using a big data analyzer included in the respective regional big data node, a learning analysis on at least a portion of the stored respective regional big data, and
• generate learned knowledge based on the result of the performed learning analysis;
• and
• at least one of (i) store, at the big data storage area, the learned knowledge as additional respective regional big data, or (ii) transmit the learned knowledge to a recipient big data node included in the process plant.