System and method for monitoring and/or diagnosing operation of a production line of an industrial plant

A method for at least one of online monitoring and diagnosis of the operation of a production system of an industrial plant,

• wherein the production system is a combination of a production line and an automation system controlling the operation of the production line, and at least one first operational state and a second operational state of the production line are dependent on at least one control input signal to the production line,
• wherein the method is performed by a remote data processing server which is connected to at least one of the production line and the automation system via a first data communication network, the remote data processing server containing an output interface connected to either (i) at least one of a monitoring module and a diagnosing module implemented in the remote data processing server, or (ii) at least one of the first data communication network and a second data communication network distinct from the first data communication network,
• wherein the method comprises:
• receiving, over the first data communication network, a digital input signal reflecting the at least one control input signal;
• receiving, as a measured operational state, a digital output signal reflecting the second operational state;
• determining at least one first modelled state and a second modelled state corresponding to the at least first operational state and the second operational state, respectively, by inputting the digital input signal and the digital output signal to a digital observer model of the production line and the automation system and by processing the digital observer model;
• forwarding the at least one first modelled state and the second modelled state to the output interface;
• providing the digital observer model to contain a model of the production line based on at least one of linear state equations and non-linear state equations of elements of the production line, and a model of the automation system containing copies of the control functions performed by the automation system;
• providing the measured operational states to include signal values of at least one of sensors and actuators, software states, and information about internal variables or instruction pointers of the software programs belonging to the automation system;
• providing the digital input signal and the digital output signal to each contain a time stamp indicating a point in time when the at least one control input signal and when the second operational state were taken, respectively;
• and
• time synchronizing the processing of the digital observer model with the time stamps of the digital input and output signals.

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having computer instructions tangibly recorded thereon that, when executed by a processor of a computer processing device in a remote data processing server, cause the computer processing device to carry out a method for at least one of online monitoring and diagnosis of the operation of a production system of an industrial plant,

• wherein the production system is a combination of a production line and an automation system controlling the operation of the production line, and at least one first operational state and a second operational state of the production line are dependent on at least one control input signal to the production line,
• wherein the remote data processing server is connected to at least one of the production line and the automation system via a first data communication network, the remote data processing server containing an output interface connected to either (i) at least one of a monitoring module and a diagnosing module implemented in the remote data processing server, or (ii) at least one of the first data communication network and a second data communication network distinct from the first data communication network,
• wherein, by executing the computer instructions, the computer processing device of the remote data processing server is configured to:
• receive, over the first data communication network, a digital input signal reflecting the at least one control input signal;
• receive, as a measured operational state, a digital output signal reflecting the second operational state;
• determine at least one first modelled state and a second modelled state corresponding to the at least first operational state and the second operational state, respectively, by inputting the digital input signal and the digital output signal to a digital observer model of the production line and the automation system and by processing the digital observer model;
• forward the at least one first modelled state and the second modelled state to the output interface;
• provide the digital observer model to contain a model of the production line based on at least one of linear state equations and non-linear state equations of elements of the production line, and a model of the automation system containing copies of the control functions performed by the automation system;
• provide the measured operational states to include signal values of at least one of sensors and actuators, software states, and information about internal variables or instruction pointers of the software programs belonging to the automation system;
• provide the digital input signal and the digital output signal to each contain a time stamp indicating a point in time when the at least one control input signal and when the second operational state were taken, respectively;
• and
• time synchronize the processing of the digital observer model with the time stamps of the digital input and output signals.