Patent ID: 7437203

Claim:
A Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) assembly for controlling a system including plant units each having an Input/Output (I/O) port and carrying out a system function comprising: communication means; a plurality of cells interconnected by the communication means, each cell comprising: a microprocessor; a power supply; a memory for storage of data; and an I/O port for reception and transmission of data from a plant unit of the system and/or other cells; each of said cells being programmed to be independently operable to carry out at least part of any function of the system, the system function comprising one or more of communications, automation, monitoring, data logging or control; at least some of said cells being programmed to have a data control function to configure and re-configure each cell to perform at least part of different system functions, the data control function having means to transfer to and store instructions in any of the plurality of cells for subsequent reconfiguration of any of the plurality of cells, the data control function having means to reconfigure another cell by transferring instructions from one cell to the other cell so that the other cell performs at least part of another different function of the system and means to transfer the particular function allocated to a cell to another cell on sensing malfunction of the cell such that the other cell performs the same particular function as previously performed by the malfunctioning cell; and each of said cells being programmed to enable its data control function to source data from and to make data available to other cells as required.