Remote I/O & Distributed Control

Publié le 3 November 2026

In complex operating environments—such as railway networks, energy infrastructure, and critical industrial systems—signal management has undergone a fundamental shift. As systems become larger and more decentralized, traditional architectures that route all field signals back to a central controller are reaching their limit in terms of cabling costs, system complexity, and maintenance overhead.

Distributed control offers a powerful alternative: positioning input/output functions directly at the edge, closest to the field equipment. But adopting Remote I/O is more than a hardware swap—it requires rethinking how system architectures are designed around real-world application needs.

Remote I/O: Why Distributed Control Starts at the Edge

Automation systems are increasingly distributed. Sensors, actuators and equipment may be located throughout a train, energy infrastructure, industrial installation or other critical application. All of these elements still need to interact with the control architecture.

This creates an important question: should every field signal return to one central location, or should part of the I/O architecture move closer to the equipment?

Bringing I/O closer to field equipment

Remote I/O allows input and output functions to move closer to field equipment. The conceptual architecture becomes:

FIELD EQUIPMENT → REMOTE I/O → COMMUNICATION → CONTROL.

Remote I/O is therefore more than a collection of input and output channels. It becomes part of the overall system architecture.

Start with architecture, not hardware

Where is the equipment physically located?
Where are signals produced?
Which systems require access to them?
How should control functions be distributed?
How should the different parts communicate?
How might requirements evolve?

These questions help define what the I/O architecture actually needs to achieve before hardware is selected.

BRIO within distributed automation architectures

Within the LEROY Automation portfolio, BRIO addresses Remote I/O requirements. BRIO can be considered as a building block within a wider architecture involving field equipment, I/O, communication and control.

Design around the application

There is no universal architecture for every project. Railway, Energy, Defence and industrial applications present different field constraints and integration requirements. The objective is not simply to distribute hardware. It is to build the architecture around the reality of the application.

Designing a distributed control architecture?

Talk to LEROY Automation about Remote I/O and integration requirements.