As publishers we are often faced with difficult choices; the page count of any particular issue is finite and limited; there is either a shortage of worthwhile content to support a particular feature or we are inundated with valuable content and have to edit to available space. For our annual scada review we are generally faced with the latter problem and must précis submissions.
In order to prevent such editing from keeping valuable insights out of the hands of readers, this year we have published the full-length questionnaire responses online and encourage readers to make use of these online resources to drill down into interesting aspects of the subject projects of our 2014 scada review. To make it easy we have linked the full-length articles via a QR code at the end of each printed review.
Drill for gold
For readers, the value of scada reviews is not always about the capabilities of the scada product – it may be about how the project has been engineered or managed: risk mitigation, handover procedures, the application of particular standards or HMI design considerations. This year’s reviews contain insights into all of these, and more . . . And we remind readers that they can often glean as much from the 'No' or 'N/A' answers as from the more comprehensive answers.
Highlights of Schneider Electric’s submission on a greenfields project monitoring the MeerKAT SKA (Square Kilometre Array) infrastructure include interfacing to a wide array of non-plc devices and subsystems – power meters, MCCs, Energy Management system, HVAC and Fire Control systems – and the application of their trademark redundancy architecture.
GE Intelligent Platform’s submission focuses on the upgrade of the existing scada system on a mineral processing plant with emphasis on continuous operational improvement and operational efficiency, quality and workflow. The system interfaces to an expert system for flotation and provides users with access to plant data via their mobile devices as well as on multiple resolution fixed displays. A highlight of their current Historian offering is that it is Hadoop ready and enables a site to store all data on a cloud-based GE server.
While the majority of this year’s reviews feature applications in the process industries, Adroit’s submission presents an automated product testing solution with performance recording in the manufacturing industry. In this application, pumps are tested against performance benchmarks per pump model and data is accessible over the local network.
With the project goals of improved safety, increased throughput and enhanced product accounting, the redevelopment of an existing bulk fuel depot provided Rockwell Automation with the opportunity to display their product’s integration capabilities – again with many non-traditional front ends including tank gauging systems, fuel loading bay controllers, an ESD, MCCs and MVCBs. Drill down into this review to pick up tips on risk mitigation and the application of international standards.
On a different tack altogether, and recognising the mission-critical nature of today’s scada systems, this year’s Wonderware submission answers the question: “Who is policing the policemen? The subject project is about the application of Wonderware’s Sentinel Services, which were added to continuously monitor the scada infrastructure of an existing scada system. This offers a different take on benchmarking – system operational benchmarking as opposed to production benchmarking.
Trends
Looking at the vendor responses, I was surprised that the progress in the area of cloud computing for scada is so slow.
It was encouraging to see that users are beginning to provide greater support for mobile device access of scada data.
Also noticeable is that some vendors have been developing powerful security architectures that span their complete product offerings.
Thank you
On behalf of our readers we again thank the end-users, SIs and vendors for their efforts in comprehensively completing our 2014 scada questionnaire, for sharing their expertise and experience and continuing to expand the knowledge base of the C&I industry in South and southern Africa.
Notes:
* The order of appearance of scada reviews is based on the order in which they were received by SA Instrumentation and Control.
* Some reviewer responses have been edited due to space and comprehension considerations.
* A ‘No’ or ‘N/A’ response to a question in the project-specific responses does not necessarily mean that the scada system lacks that feature; only that the feature was not implemented in or not applicable to the subject project.
* Where a respondent has not answered a question or has answered off topic that response has been omitted.
* A blank copy of the full questionnaire with unabbreviated questions can be found at http://instrumentation.co.za/+C18951
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