Method and System for Providing Time-Critical Control Applications

A method for providing time-critical control applications via sequence control components which are each loadable into and executable in a sequence control environment formed via a server device, the time-critical control applications each utilizing periodically captured measurement and/or state variables to periodically determine manipulated variables for a process to be controlled or regulated, the method comprising:

• executing a plurality of mutually redundant sequence control components in parallel with one another, each plurality of mutually redundant sequence control components consistently subscribing to data streams containing the periodically captured measurement and/or state variables and transmitting the determined manipulated variables to at least one of actuators and control units via data streams;
• specifying quality of service requirements for transmitting the data streams;
• transmitting the measurement and/or state variables to the mutually redundant sequence control components, a sequence number assigned to a respective capture time being included;
• transmitting, by the mutually redundant sequence control components, the determined manipulated variables to at least one of the actuators and control units, the sequence number assigned to the respective process cycle being included;
• identifying and filtering, by at least one of the actuators and control units, duplicates of the transmitted manipulated variables based on the sequence numbers;
• utilizing the same sequence numbers used to transmit the determined manipulated variables for the respective process cycle following the respective capture time of the measurement and/or state variables to transmit the measurement and/or state variables for the respective capture time;
• and
• reserving resources for transmitting the data streams in communication devices forwarding the data streams in accordance with the quality of service requirements in an event of sufficient availability;
• wherein the resources comprise at least one of usable transmission time windows, bandwidth, assured maximum latency, queue number, queue cache and address cache in switches or bridges.

A system for providing time-critical control applications, comprising:

• a plurality of server devices;
• a plurality of sequence control environments formed via the server devices;
• and
• a plurality of sequence control components for providing the control applications, each of the plurality of sequence control components being loadable into and executable in a sequence control environment formed via a server device;
• wherein the control applications are configured to each use periodically captured measurement and/or state variables to periodically determine manipulated variables for a process to be controlled or regulated;
• wherein the sequence control components are configured to be executed in parallel with one another as mutually redundant sequence control components, to each consistently subscribe to data streams containing the periodically captured measurement and/or state variables and to transmit the determined manipulated variables to at least one of actuators and control units via data streams;
• wherein the system is configured such that quality of service requirements are specified for transmitting the data streams and the measurement and/or state variables are transmitted to the mutually redundant sequence control components, a sequence number assigned to a respective capture time being include;
• wherein the sequence control components are configured to transmit the determined manipulated variables to at least one of the actuators and control units, the sequence number assigned to the respective process cycle being included;
• wherein at least one of the actuators and control units are configured to identify and filter duplicates of the transmitted manipulated variables based on the sequence numbers;
• wherein the system is further configured such that the same sequence numbers used to transmit the determined manipulated variables for the respective process cycle following the respective capture time of the measurement and/or state variables are also used to transmit the measurement and/or state variables for the respective capture time;
• wherein the system is further configured such that resources for transmitting the data streams are reserved in communication devices forwarding the data streams in accordance with the quality of service requirements in an event of sufficient availability;
• and
• wherein the resources comprise at least one of usable transmission time windows, bandwidth, assured maximum latency, queue number, queue cache and address cache in switches or bridges.