Intent-based process control configuration models

Process control application engineering would be substantially less expensi ve if supported with readable self-documentation. An important advance woul d be models and languages designed to more clearly represent application In tent (as formalized herein), without the usual implementation obscurity. Th is paper analyzes how Intent, in the sense later defined can be usefully de fined and expressed. Process control has traditionally been defined in term s of a number of automation levels. This supports the intended Intent conce pt in one way, defining the implementation of higher application goals in t erms of lower level ones. But a different? even more useful model is the le veling of physical sciences where each level of problem is best addressed b y an appropriate kind of theory, itself dependent on lower level theories. Each theory must be proved by more fundamental theories even though those t heories are much too complex to address the higher level problem directly. But more than leveling is needed. At each application level, the associated language should support concepts that make its normal usages clear. It sho uld ensure that appropriate application practices can be expressed transpar ently in terms of their Intent. It should allow; the engineer to clearly re late the result to the expected implementation, allowing him full control o ver the application. The paper will expand on prior papers to show more gen erally how these concepts can be developed. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.