Architectural approach to cope with network-induced problems in network control systems design

Abstract

In the field of process control engineering, network-based systems enable extensive, flexible and scalable applications in industrial automation and control. However, network-induced problems are influencing the stability and performance and they are introducing constraints in the system design and operation. While most of the existing design methodologies are searching for the specific solution within the domain of the control theory, we propose the comprehensive architectural approach that addresses wide range of the network-related issues and copes with them in the effective way. Presented solution combines several architectural styles encapsulating the actuating, sensing and control functionality into the unified service-oriented components, while the data transport is supported through event-triggered distributed middleware components. Given architectural approach decouples the design of process control functionality from the properties of the control network infrastructure. The effectiveness of the proposed solution is verified through the analysis of the system operation in the given case-study.