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US-12621218-B2 - Automated device os and application management at the edge

US12621218B2US 12621218 B2US12621218 B2US 12621218B2US-12621218-B2

Abstract

Systems/methods for monitoring and management of field devices and equipment at the edge provide an interworking component that runs on or at an edge device to facilitate monitoring and management of the field devices and equipment. In particular, the edge based interworking component allows operations, administration, and management (OA&M) services to be performed for both the hardware making up the devices as well as the operating systems and software applications running on the hardware. In some embodiments, OA&M services includes one or more IT orchestration services for the hardware as well as the operating systems and software applications running on the hardware. Such an arrangement allows monitoring and management of the field devices and equipment that have heretofore been performed by traditional control systems to be partly or entirely pushed down to the edge and/or pushed up to the cloud, depending on the particular implementation.

Inventors

  • Mark Bertolina
  • Richard Chaney
  • Sandip Mondal
  • Briane Ritchie
  • Ling Wu

Assignees

  • SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC SYSTEMS USA, INC.
  • Schneider Electric USA, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20231010

Claims (17)

  1. 1 . An Ethernet Advanced Physical Layer (Ethernet-APL) based edge device, comprising: a processor; a storage system communicatively coupled to the processor; an autonomous application stored on the storage system, the autonomous application, when executed by the processor, causes the Ethernet-APL based edge device to perform a predefined device-specific operation; and an interworking component stored on the storage system, the interworking component, when executed by the processor, allows an external system to provide IT (information technology) operations, administration, and management (OA&M) services to the Ethernet-APL based edge device, wherein the interworking component includes an interworking application programming interface (API) component configured to allow the Ethernet-APL based edge device to interact with the external system using an API of the external system.
  2. 2 . The Ethernet-APL based edge device of claim 1 , wherein the IT OA&M services include IT orchestration services.
  3. 3 . The Ethernet-APL based edge device of claim 1 , wherein the interworking component includes an interworking orchestration component configured to perform microservice management services for the autonomous application.
  4. 4 . The Ethernet-APL based edge device of claim 3 , wherein the microservice management services includes an IT interface mapping service configured to map event types and data types of the autonomous application to one or more microservices for the external system.
  5. 5 . The Ethernet-APL based edge device of claim 3 , wherein the interworking orchestration component includes a spoofing service configured to provide one or more messages of a type expected to be received by the external system.
  6. 6 . The Ethernet-APL based edge device of claim 1 , wherein the Ethernet-APL based edge device is: an Ethernet-APL end point field device, or an Ethernet-APL bridge.
  7. 7 . An Ethernet Advanced Physical Layer (Ethernet-APL) based industrial system, comprising: an Ethernet-APL based network; and a plurality of Ethernet-APL based edge devices connected to the Ethernet-APL based network, each of a respective Ethernet-APL based edge device including an autonomous application thereon configured to cause the respective Ethernet-APL based edge device to perform a predefined device-specific operation; wherein at least one of the respective Ethernet-APL based edge devices of the plurality of Ethernet-APL based edge devices further includes an interworking component thereon, the interworking component configured to allow an external system to provide IT (information technology) operations, administration, and management (OA&M) services to the at least one of the respective Ethernet-APL based edge devices, wherein the interworking component includes an interworking application programming interface (API) component configured to allow the at least one of the respective Ethernet-APL based edge devices to interact with the external system using an API of the external system.
  8. 8 . The Ethernet-APL based industrial system of claim 7 , wherein the IT OA&M services include IT orchestration services.
  9. 9 . The Ethernet-APL based industrial system of claim 7 , wherein the interworking component includes an interworking orchestration component configured to perform microservice management services for the autonomous application.
  10. 10 . The Ethernet-APL based industrial system of claim 9 , wherein the microservice management services includes an IT interface mapping service configured to map event types and data types of the autonomous application to one or more microservices for the external system.
  11. 11 . The Ethernet-APL based industrial system of claim 9 , wherein the interworking orchestration component includes a spoofing service configured to provide one or more messages of a type expected to be received by the external system.
  12. 12 . The Ethernet-APL based industrial system of claim 7 , wherein one or more of the plurality of Ethernet-APL edge devices is: an Ethernet-APL end point field device, or an Ethernet-APL bridge.
  13. 13 . A method of monitoring and managing an Ethernet Advanced Physical Layer (Ethernet-APL) based edge device, the method comprising: providing an Ethernet-APL based network; connecting a plurality of Ethernet-APL based edge devices to the Ethernet-APL based network; executing an autonomous application on each of a respective Ethernet-APL based edge device, the autonomous application configured to cause each of the respective Ethernet-APL based edge device to perform a predefined device-specific operation; and executing an interworking component on at least one of the plurality of Ethernet-APL based edge devices, the interworking component configured to allow an external system to provide IT (information technology) operations, administration, and management (OA&M) services to the at least one of the plurality of Ethernet-APL based edge devices, wherein the interworking component includes an interworking application programming interface (API) component configured to allow the at least one of the plurality of Ethernet-APL based edge devices to interact with the external system using an API of the external system.
  14. 14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein IT orchestration services are provided to the at least one of the plurality of Ethernet-APL based edge devices as part of the IT OA&M services.
  15. 15 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising providing an interworking orchestration component in the interworking component, the interworking orchestration component configured to perform microservice management services for the autonomous application.
  16. 16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising providing an IT interface mapping service in the microservice management services, the IT interface mapping service configured to map event types and data types of the autonomous application to one or more microservices for the external system.
  17. 17 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising providing a spoofing service in the interworking orchestration component, the spoofing service configured to provide one or more messages of a type expected to be received by the external system.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of priority to and incorporates herein by reference U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/414,846, entitled “ADVANCED PHYSICAL LAYER FIELD DEVICE APPLICATION MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN MACHINE INTERFACE,” filed Oct. 10, 2022. FIELD The present disclosure relates generally to field devices, and more particularly to operations, administration, and management (OA&M) of Ethernet Advanced Physical Layer (Ethernet-APL) based end point field devices. BACKGROUND Ethernet is a network communication standard defined in IEEE 802.3 that is widely used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN), wide area networks (WAN), and other networks. Ethernet-APL is an extension of the Ethernet standard to support more demanding industrial applications and is defined in IEEE 802.3cg. Among other things, Ethernet-APL provides high-speed communication over long distances, supplies both power and communication signals over a single twisted-pair cable, and implements protective measures that enable safe use of field devices and equipment in hazardous locations. The availability of power and high-speed communication over long distances in field devices and equipment provides a number of benefits. For example, the power and high-speed communication greatly improves scalability with regard to the number of Ethernet-APL field devices and instruments that can be connected. In addition, the ability to use Ethernet based communication allows more functionally sophisticated field devices and equipment to be deployed. Moreover, transitioning to an Ethernet-APL network is relatively seamless, as most industrial facilities already have an existing Ethernet network. However, while a number of advances have been made in field devices and equipment, further improvements are continually needed. SUMMARY Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for monitoring and management of field devices and equipment at the edge. The systems and methods herein provide an interworking component that runs on or at an edge device to facilitate monitoring and management of the field devices and equipment. In particular, the edge based interworking component allows IT (information technology) operations, administration, and management (OA&M) services to be performed for both the hardware making up the devices as well as the operating systems and software applications running on the hardware. In some embodiments, the OA&M services includes one or more IT orchestration services for the hardware as well as the operating systems and software applications running on the hardware. Such an arrangement allows monitoring and management of the field devices and equipment that have heretofore been performed by traditional control systems to be partly or entirely pushed down to the edge and/or pushed up to the cloud, depending on the particular implementation. In general, in one aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an Ethernet-APL based edge device. The Ethernet-APL based edge device comprises, among other things, a processor, and a storage system communicatively coupled to the processor. The Ethernet-APL based edge device additionally comprises an autonomous application stored on the storage system, the autonomous application, when executed by the processor, causes the Ethernet-APL based edge device to perform a predefined device-specific operation. The Ethernet-APL based edge device further comprises an interworking component stored on the storage system, the interworking component, when executed by the processor, allows an external system to provide IT OA&M services to the Ethernet-APL based edge device. In general, in another aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an Ethernet-APL based industrial system. The Ethernet-APL based industrial system comprises, among other things, an Ethernet-APL based network, and a plurality of Ethernet-APL based edge devices connected to the Ethernet-APL based network. Each Ethernet-APL based edge device includes an autonomous application thereon that is configured to cause the edge device to perform a predefined device-specific operation. At least one Ethernet-APL based edge device further includes an interworking component thereon that is configured to allow an external system to provide IT OA&M services to the edge device. In general, in still another aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method of monitoring and managing an Ethernet-APL based edge device. The method comprises, among other things, providing an Ethernet-APL based network, and connecting a plurality of Ethernet-APL based edge devices to the Ethernet-APL based network. The method additionally comprises executing an autonomous application on each Ethernet-APL based edge device, the autonomous application configured to cause each edge device to perform a predefined device-specific operation. The method further co