Systems and methods for sharing control devices on an IO network

摘要

Certain embodiments of the invention can include systems and methods for enabling the operation of multiple control devices on the same network. Each control device on a network can be configured to monitor and receive input messages from multiple IO devices on the network. The control devices may also be configured to send output messages to one or more of the IO devices. According to certain embodiments, one control device may send output messages to certain IO devices while another IO device may send output messages to different IO devices. The input and output messages can both be sent via multicast according to certain embodiments.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
associating, by a control device on a network, a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address of the control device with a subset comprising at least two of a plurality of input/output (I/O) devices on the network, wherein the associating comprises identifying the I/O devices in the subset based at least in part on whether the I/O devices in the subset are configured for a safety integrity level; monitoring, by the control device, for an input message from the plurality of I/O devices; receiving, by the control device, the input message from at least one of the plurality of I/O devices, wherein the at least one of the plurality of I/O devices is not one of the subset of I/O devices, and wherein the input message comprises monitoring data for an asset; sending, by the control device, an output message to the subset of I/O devices using the unique IP address of the control device, wherein the subset of I/O devices is configured to listen from the control device based on the unique IP address; and wherein the input message is received via multicast and the output message is sent via multicast.