An Automation Network With Actively Managed Redundant Connectivity

Abstract

A control network for supporting multiple industrial automation devices which operate in radio coverage of at least one radio access network includes: a processor configured to execute applications; at least two wireless network interfaces, each configured to communicate with the automation devices; and a traffic controller configured to provide a logical connection from an executing application to one of the automation devices by maintaining at least two contemporaneous physical connections using respective wireless network interfaces and the radio access network. The control network is further configured to repeatedly adapt a physical redundancy of the logical connection. In some embodiments, the control network is configured to determine a level of independence between the physical connections on the basis of measurements, and adapt the redundancy accordingly. The level of independence may be determined by comparing time series of a quality-of-service related quantity.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.