A method of channel mapping in an industrial process control system, the method comprising: a) discovering a plurality of devices within an industrial process control system; b) obtaining at least one signal characteristic for each of the plurality of devices, wherein the at least one signal characteristic comprises one or more of: signal references from devices, timeliness of signal transmissions, and resource constraints including network bandwidth; c) determining channel mapping by a processing unit acting as a channel mapping agent, wherein the plurality of devices are mapped to a plurality of communication channels, wherein the channel mapping maps each device to a communication channel for signal transmission, and wherein the determining comprises utilizing the at least one signal characteristic for each of the plurality of devices, wherein step c) comprises determining the communication channel for each device from a number of possible communication channels for each device, the determining comprising utilizing an optimization objective, and wherein utilizing the optimization objective comprises determining a channel mapping that minimises resource usage for the plurality of communication channels; and d) configuring the devices according to the channel mapping, wherein the plurality of communication channels comprises a client/server communication channel and a publish/subscribe communication channel, wherein the plurality of devices comprises a first plurality of devices and second plurality of devices, wherein the first plurality of devices are mapped to the client/server communication channel, and wherein the second plurality of devices are mapped to the publish/subscribe communications channel. a) discovering a plurality of devices within an industrial process control system; b) obtaining at least one signal characteristic for each of the plurality of devices, wherein the at least one signal characteristic comprises one or more of: signal references from devices, timeliness of signal transmissions, and resource constraints including network bandwidth; c) determining channel mapping by a processing unit acting as a channel mapping agent, wherein the plurality of devices are mapped to a plurality of communication channels, wherein the channel mapping maps each device to a communication channel for signal transmission, and wherein the determining comprises utilizing the at least one signal characteristic for each of the plurality of devices, wherein step c) comprises determining the communication channel for each device from a number of possible communication channels for each device, the determining comprising utilizing an optimization objective, and wherein utilizing the optimization objective comprises determining a channel mapping that minimises resource usage for the plurality of communication channels; and d) configuring the devices according to the channel mapping, wherein the plurality of communication channels comprises a client/server communication channel and a publish/subscribe communication channel, wherein the plurality of devices comprises a first plurality of devices and second plurality of devices, wherein the first plurality of devices are mapped to the client/server communication channel, and wherein the second plurality of devices are mapped to the publish/subscribe communications channel.