A real-time Linux execution environment for function-block based distributed control applications

The function block (FB) construct has been adopted by recent IEC standards for the design of reusable, interoperable, distributed control applications. Complete applications can be defined in the design level as networks of interconnected FB instances. In this paper an execution environment for FB-based distributed control applications is presented. The proposed environment favors the deployment and re-deployment of complex distributed control applications and provides the infrastructure that is required to satisfy real-time constraints for this application domain. Specific tools have been developed in the context of the model integrated mechatronics paradigm, to support the automatic code generation of implementation models from FB design models as well as their subsequent deployment on the proposed execution environment. Performance metrics prove the real-timeliness of the implemented environment.