Processing, June 2020

PLC SCADA Build your dream system o n a f l e x i b l e p l atform Innovative projects from three processing industries demonstrate what is possible today By Travis Cox Inductive Automation ith todays technologies its easier than ever to build your dream system Organizations that implement versatile industrial application platforms are giving W themselves the opportunity to do things they werent able to do before More and more entities are embracing modern application platforms and technologies allowing themselves to create innovative industrial systems across numerous industries Supervisory control and data acquisition SCADA can be a strong foundation for digital transformation projects A flexible scalable SCADA platform enables connectivity to multiple sources of data edge computing MQTT the cloud mobility and more While the following examples are from three different process industries all of these projects were built on the same SCADA platform With this open interoperable standards based approach numerous technologies can be combined for innovative solutions to fit any need From edge to cloud in record time System integrator Industrial Networking Solutions INS helped ARB Midstream put up a new SCADA system network and control center in just six months The extremely tight timeline was dictated by the purchase agreement when ARB acquired a large pipeline system in Texas and Oklahoma The system had 37 sites including 25 truck injection stations and eight truck terminals It included more than 900 miles of active pipeline and 950000 barrels of storage The previous SCADA system had issues with remote connectivity which had to be solved in addition to the challenge of the aggressive schedule We needed to build a SCADA system in six months said Jerod Blocker operational technology manager for ARB We were able to accomplish that using a blend of different newer technologies executing on cloud computing software defined WAN and edge computing Mo Moore manager of software services at INS said the project brought together a blend of technologies that could benefit other projects as well The diverse technologies that were implemented as part of this project from the SD WAN to edge products using MQTT to SCADA in the cloud really are the gold standard for companies running remote assets or even plant toplant technologies in manufacturing said Moore Its really where people should be going in the future The project used Ignition for SCADA Amazon Web Services for cloud hosting Moxa industrial computers Ignition Edge with Cirrus Link MQTT and Cradlepoint NetCloud Perimeter SD WAN INS created an abstracted overlay network built on cellular technology That allowed ARB to have fully secure and encrypted end to end communications between remote assets and the cloud We implemented user defined types and templates to really make the graphical development and tag structure rollout a much more efficient process said Moore Without having those capabilities built into the SCADA software theres no way we could have made the tight timeline MQTTs speed and low bandwidth usage were a big help too Ninety seven edge gateways communicated to 145 devices moving polling to the edge of the network All data was reported by exception to a central server using MQTT reducing the bandwidth needed and providing access to more data at faster rates The project allowed ARB to easily deploy items to numerous disparate remote assets Other benefits included a cloud hosted solution that keeps CapEx costs down store and forward and the web based SCADA system that lets managers help with troubleshooting from any location ARB now has a secure reliable scalable network that will allow it to grow and acquire more remote assets Edge and MQTT for autonomous operation at remote sites Streamline Innovations used Ignitions SCADA MQTT edge computing and mobile capabilities to facilitate the automation of natural gas treating units that convert extremely toxic hydrogen sulfide H2S into fertilizer grade sulfur The solution increased 28 Processing JUNE 2020 Images courtesy of Inductive Automation MadTree Brewing now has more data than ever before and has its entire process on a single platform