Distributed allocation of real-time function blocks in an IPCMS

In the area of industrial process control and measurement systems (IPCMS), many applications are real-time and are specified in terms of function blocks-functional units with specific monitoring, measurement or control tasks. In order to guarantee that the application's requirements and time constraints are met, it is necessary to identify a suitable mapping between the function blocks and the physical devices. This paper proposes an allocation policy for function blocks in a real-time IPCMS which will not only guarantee that time constraints are met, but will also tend to minimize the response time of the applications being executed.