Apparatus and Method for Controlling a Safety-Critical Process

Abstract

A method for controlling a safety-critical process of a technical installation includes providing a first safe signaling unit and a second safe signaling unit that are connected to the safety-critical process via I/O channels. The method includes connecting the first safe signaling unit and the second safe signaling unit via a physical connection. The method includes implementing a safety-related communication protocol for failsafe data exchange on a logical level over the physical connection between the first signaling unit and the second signaling unit. The method includes exchanging data between the first safe signaling unit and the second safe signaling unit in a failsafe manner using the safety-related communication protocol to control the safety-critical process. The physical connection is implemented via a power supply network.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.