Industrial Computer Virtualization: The "Digital Key" to Unlocking Parallel Operation of Multiple Systems
On the automated production line of a smart factory in Shenzhen, one industrial computer simultaneously runs an HMI monitoring system on Windows 10, a PLC control program on Linux, and an AI visual inspection algorithm on Ubuntu. The three systems interact with each other in real time, leading to a 40% reduction in equipment failure rates and a 25% increase in production efficiency. Behind this scenario lies the "multi-task parallel" capability endowed to the industrial computer by virtualization technology. However, many enterprises encounter difficulties when attempting to deploy it: hardware resource conflicts causing system crashes, insufficient virtual machine performance affecting real-time control, and a lack of network isolation triggering data security risks... How can these bottlenecks be overcome to truly achieve efficient collaboration among multiple systems on an industrial computer? This article will deeply analyze the core principles of virtualization technology and provide you with practical solutions by combining real-world cases of the USR-EG628 industrial IoT controller.
In traditional industrial computer architectures, multiple systems need to share hardware resources such as CPUs, memory, and storage. For example, an auto parts manufacturer once attempted to run both an MES system (Windows) and a PLC control program (Linux) simultaneously on an industrial PC. However, due to the competitive occupation of memory by the two systems, the PLC scan cycle was extended by 30%, leading to frequent production line shutdowns. More severely, when the Windows system performed a virus scan, the CPU usage rate soared to 90%, directly causing PLC communication interruptions and resulting in the scrapping of raw materials worth tens of thousands of yuan.
Industrial control has extremely high real-time requirements, such as the need to control the response delay of a temperature control system within milliseconds. However, traditional virtualization technologies (such as full virtualization) introduce significant delays in hardware resource scheduling: the hypervisor needs to intercept and forward all hardware access requests, increasing the execution time of critical instructions by 5-10ms. In an application at a semiconductor packaging factory, this delay caused the equipment temperature fluctuation range to expand by 1.5°C, resulting in an 8% decrease in product yield.
When multiple systems operate in parallel, the isolation of network communication is crucial. An industrial computer at a chemical enterprise once experienced a major safety accident due to the lack of network isolation between virtual machines, which allowed the operation instructions of the HMI system to be maliciously tampered with. Traditional solutions rely on VLANs or firewalls for isolation, but their configuration is complex and they are easily bypassed, making it difficult to meet the "zero-trust" security requirements of industrial scenarios.
Modern industrial computers generally adopt processors that support Intel VT-x or AMD-V technology. Through hardware-assisted virtualization (HAV), the physical CPU is divided into multiple logical cores, with each virtual machine having exclusive access to a portion of the core resources. For example, the RK3562J quad-core 64-bit Cortex-A53 processor equipped in the USR-EG628 industrial IoT controller achieves dynamic allocation of core resources through HAV technology: when running a PLC control program, two cores can be locked to run at full speed, ensuring a stable scan cycle within 5ms; at the same time, one core is allocated to the HMI system for human-machine interaction processing, and the remaining core is used for data logging. This hybrid scheduling mode of "dedicated cores + shared cores" reduces performance losses to less than 3% when multiple systems operate in parallel.
To meet the real-time requirements of industrial control, virtualization technology has introduced real-time extension (Real-Time Hypervisor) functionality. Taking Xen RT as an example, it ensures low latency for critical tasks through the following mechanisms:
Priority Preemption: Assign the highest priority to real-time tasks such as PLC control programs. When they need to execute, they can immediately preempt the CPU time slices of other virtual machines;
Deterministic Scheduling: Adopt a fixed-cycle scheduling algorithm to ensure that real-time tasks obtain execution rights within predetermined time windows, avoiding delay fluctuations caused by resource competition;
Direct I/O Access: Through PCIe pass-through technology, virtual machines are allowed to directly access physical network cards, serial ports, and other peripherals, eliminating I/O delays introduced by the virtualization layer.
In tests on the USR-EG628, by configuring a Xen RT real-time virtualization environment, the standard deviation of the PLC control program's scan cycle was reduced from 1.2ms in traditional solutions to 0.3ms, fully meeting the requirements of the IEC 61131-3 standard for hard real-time systems.
To solve the problem of multi-system network isolation, virtualization technology has introduced software-defined networking (SDN) functionality. The WukongEdge edge computing platform built into the USR-EG628 supports the following network isolation solutions:
Virtual Switch (vSwitch): Create independent virtual network interfaces (vNICs) for each virtual machine and achieve logical isolation through a virtual switch. For example, the vNIC of the PLC control program can be configured to only allow Modbus TCP protocol communication, while the vNIC of the HMI system opens HTTP/HTTPS access permissions;
Traffic Mirroring and Monitoring: Through port mirroring functionality, the network traffic of key virtual machines is copied to a monitoring system to detect abnormal communication behaviors in real time;
VPN Tunnel Encryption: Establish IPSec VPN tunnels for virtual machines undergoing remote maintenance to ensure the security of data transmission.
In the deployment of a power monitoring system, the USR-EG628 achieved network isolation for 12 virtual machines through SDN technology, successfully intercepting an SQL injection attack against the HMI system and improving system availability to 99.99%.
The USR-EG628 adopts the RK3562J industrial-grade chip, whose hardware design deeply optimizes virtualization performance:
Quad-core 64-bit Cortex-A53 CPU: With a main frequency of 2.0GHz and support for hardware virtualization extensions, it can simultaneously run four high-performance virtual machines;
1.0TOPS NPU computing power: Provides dedicated computing power for edge computing tasks such as AI visual inspection, avoiding competition for CPU resources with control programs;
Rich interfaces: 2 RS485 ports, 1 RS232 port, 1 CAN port, 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports, and 2 USB 3.0 ports, supporting independent access to different peripherals by multiple systems;
Fanless cooling: With an IP40 protection rating, it adapts to a wide temperature range of -40°C to 85°C, ensuring 7x24-hour stable operation.
The USR-EG628 comes pre-installed with the WukongEdge edge computing platform, providing the following virtualization functions:
KVM Full Virtualization: Supports parallel operation of multiple operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and Ubuntu, compatible with over 90% of industrial software;
Docker Containerization: Provides an isolated operating environment for lightweight applications (such as data collection scripts), with startup times shortened to 500ms;
Low-Code Development: Built-in Node-RED visual programming tool allows for the rapid construction of virtualized applications without writing code;
Remote Management: Enable the creation, configuration, monitoring, and maintenance of virtual machines through a web interface or SSH, supporting batch operations.
In a renovation project of a packaging machinery manufacturer, the USR-EG628 replaced the original industrial PC and simultaneously ran:
Virtual Machine 1: Windows 10 + HMI monitoring software, responsible for human-machine interaction;
Virtual Machine 2: Ubuntu + Python scripts, processing sensor data and uploading it to the cloud;
Container 1: Node-RED process engine, achieving equipment linkage control.
After the renovation, the equipment failure rate decreased by 60%, and maintenance costs were reduced by 45%.
In a rail transit signal control system, the USR-EG628 was deployed in a dual-machine hot standby architecture:
Master Controller: Runs a real-time Linux system to execute critical control logic;
Standby Controller: Runs the same system and synchronizes the master controller's state in real time through heartbeat detection;
Virtual Machine Migration: When the master controller fails, the standby controller can take over all virtual machines within 100ms to ensure control continuity.
This solution achieves a system availability of 99.999%, meeting the stringent safety requirements of rail transit.
As you read this, over 500 enterprises worldwide have achieved virtualization upgrades for their industrial computers through the USR-EG628. The practices of these pioneers prove that an optimized virtualization solution can increase the hardware utilization rate of industrial computers by 300%, improve maintenance efficiency by 50%, and enhance system security by 80%.
Act now, and you will receive:
Free access to the "White Paper on Industrial Computer Virtualization Deployment," including detailed configuration guides for the USR-EG628;
One-on-one solution design services from dedicated engineers to tailor a multi-system parallel operation architecture for you;
Priority access to trial samples of the USR-EG628 to personally test its virtualization performance;
Join an industrial virtualization technology exchange community to share practical experiences with peers.
Contact us, and let's jointly usher in the era of "multi-task parallelism" for industrial computers! In the wave of intelligent manufacturing, choosing the right virtualization technology means choosing competitiveness for the next decade.
