Partitioning program for highly distributed control system to reduce network traffic

摘要

A program for partitioning a centrally developed industrial control program into component that may be download to distributed devices for execution and control of an industrial process divides elements of the control program into spatially linked elements which are associated with physical devices that have defined locations and spatially independent elements that have no defined location within the control structure. The spatially linked elements are grouped together according to their proximity and the spatially independent elements are assigned to those groupings so as to minimize communications between the various links. The cost of the grouping, the band width of the signals and the capabilities of the modules are also considered.