| Newsletter
April 2008
Local
Operator software
Connect a PC to your Swampfox
config port and Operations staff
can have onsite display and control
of the Water or Wastewater treatment
process. Aspex Local Operator
comes with "Aspex Advanced
Trending" storing any status
or measurement changes to its
EVT files, just as your Abbey
Systems SCADA Master does.
Aspex Local Operator can be used
with any system running Powerlink.
Even if a customer is using a
third party software package at
the SCADA Master Aspex Operator
can be installed at the RTU. It
works with all Abbey Systems RTUs
substation Powerlink & Powercat
RTUs, Topcat RTUs, Modulink, Microlink,
Minilink RTUs and the new Swampfox
Pump Station Controller.
SMS Mains Sentry
WEL Networks, Hamilton, has recently
commissioned an SMS Sentry system
in their network. This system
notifies WEL's Operations staff
of mains outages via Vodafoneís
SMS network.
Remote modem units have been installed at crucial points
on power poles around the district. Because the system reports
back into WELís SCADA system operators are able to
use the incoming updates, just as they would any regular
RTU message, to quickly target outages. Operators report
that the system is fast, sometimes reporting an outage before
their own field equipment does.
Pic inside the mains fail
enclosure
Eric Williams of Control Systems, Hamilton has designed
and built the enclosures from stainless steel with a pole
mount facility on the back. This contains the modem, antenna
(to suit), battery, PSU and mains detector.
Abbey Systems developed the modem
firmware and has supplied the
SCADA Master interface equipment
and configuration required to
connect to the WEL's SCADA Master.
May Courses
If you missed out on our fully
subscribed courses in November
2007, we now have course registrations
open for the next factory courses
in May 2008.
| General
Operations |
 |
Mon 5th, Tue
6th |
|
$935 |
| Programming |
|
Wed 7th |
|
$550 |
| Reporting |
|
Thur 8 |
|
$550 |
| Aspex
graphics |
|
Fri 9 |
|
$650 |
| Hardware
& Tech |
|
Tue 13, Wed
14 |
|
$1,100 |
To reserve a place on these
please contact
cathy@abbey.co.nz for a registration
pack.
Abbey Systems reserves the right
to postpone or cancel any course,
dependent on number of registrations.
Waimate DC
SCADA system upgrade
On one of our recent journeys around the country introducing
Aspex and Swampfox to consultants and customers, Lester
& I visited Waimate District Council and presented to
the Managers and Engineers there. Waimate DC has had an
Abbey
SCADA System for a number of years, but it had not been
upgraded significantly since its original installation.
After the presentation we were pleased to receive an order
for our NEW Aspex HMI and several Swampfox Pump Station
Controllers.
Our Integrators arranged and installed several new Swampfox
PSCs at selected sites.
A new PC was supplied with updated Powerlink Telemetry Server
software, Aspex HMI software and a number of operator screens
depicting the Waimate network.
Aspex is built on XML and has a new Advanced Trending package.
New graphical operations screens were created and trend
screens cover all the measurements that are collected at
the remote sites.
Brian Purcell, Waimate's Wastes Manager also looks after
the SCADA system. He reports heís very happy with
the result of the update and that the new system is very
user friendly. At a glance the status of the system can
be easily seen.
Examples of two screens from
Waimate DCís recent SCADA
system upgrade
USA Sales
As a result of Lester and Steve's recent 'US Trekking' (see
last newsletter) we received several orders for Aspex from
existing customers upgrading and one for a new system comprising
Aspex and Swampfox Pump Station Controllers. We're delighted
with the level of interest shown and are planning a return
trip in the near future.
One of our more recent US SCADA
System sales was made to a client
in Oregon. The spec was very simple.
We had to prove that our Swampfox
Pump Station Controller could communicate
from the worst remote site the client
had, which was miles up a hidden
valley. Other systems that had been
trialled were unsuccessful at this
site, so it was with some interest
that Barry Watson (US office President)
installed a trial SCADA Master at
the office and and a Swampfox PSC
at the remote site. The trial was
hugely successful thanks to the
synchronous protocol we use and
subsequently a telemetry system
has been installed there.
*Last Orders* NCOMM
The NCOMM was the last Abbey Systems Modulink communicator,
developed in 1994. It fitted the Modulink RTU architecture
6U rack frame and used the same ST9 processor as the Powerlink
RTU. One benefit of the NCOMM was that it had sufficient
memory to support datalogging, something the earlier versions
didnít. If you'd like to upgrade any old Modulink
sites with datalogging, without replacing the whole RTU,
then this is the product to order.
It is now 14 years old and we are collecting orders for
one last run of the NCOMM before ìManufacture is
Discontinuedî. If you are using Modulink RTUs and
want spare Communicators, please donít wait, contact
us. We will be finalising quantities in the next 4-6 weeks.
Abbey Systems will continue to
service and repair NCOMMs for the
foreseeable future and expect to
be able to do so for at least the
next 10 years.This is dependant
on continued parts availability.
Disaster Masters
More Councils are becoming interested in ensuring they have
an alternative to their SCADA Master in the event of a Disaster.
Abbey Systems allows its customers to store a copy of their
software on a backup PC in preparation for just such an
event and to run it as a Backup should the Master be unavailable.
The location of the Backup is important as it must be able
to "see" all the radio communications channels
that are used to communicate with the RTUs. Normally this
means one or more radio repeaters, but it may mean individual
remote sites depending on the RFS licences the Council owns.
The setup will require a duplicate
set of SCADA Master central site
equipment, radios, antennas and
any paging or SMS Alarm modems.
More importantly the backup SCADA
Master files must be up to date
so that it can take over when
really needed.
Staff changes
Abbey Systems farewells Nan Lin who left us last week. Nan
joined us straight from University 6 years ago as an Applications
Software Engineer and part of the Applications team.
He has decided it's time for
a change and we wish him all the
best for the future.
Updating our records
In order to offer customers prompt service when you call
or email with a support query, we will be contacting clients
to update our records and gather copies of your UA.CFG,
RSP, TM or APX files on our Server. While we are primarily
collecting the information for support purposes, keeping
a copy off site is "best practice" for disaster
recovery purposes too. Unless we are backing up your files
on a regular basis as a part of a larger Support Contract
service, the version we have on our server can be significantly
out of date.
After collecting your files it's
our intention to review these
with a view to advising of any
potential problems that are apparent
to us.
Tips by Graeme Clover
Use of the CLR (Clear) instruction in programs
The CLR instruction is a powerful tool when used in a program.
Normally a program will only execute once when all conditions
become TRUE. A CLR instruction resets the program active
flag and causes the program to scan through and execute
again. It shouldn't be used in every program as it can cause
havoc when used with Douts or Aouts over a communications
channel.
As a general rule CLR should be used with an appropriate
FOR time. We also recommend that it is the first DO instruction
in a program.
There are two particular program applications where the
CLR instruction is very useful.
1) You want a program to repeat on a regular basis, such
as every 10 seconds:
IF TRUE
FOR 00:00:10.0 (hh:mm:ss.s)
DO CLR
DO ....
2) When using two or more OR
condition tests with one of them
remaining TRUE for some time.
After the first condition becomes
TRUE you would use the CLR instruction
to cause the program to clear
and detect the second condition
coming true.
Please contact Steve Dorrington
with any questions arising from
this issue
04 3856611 or steve@abbey.co.nz
If you would like someone added
to or removed from the mailing
list, please contact cathy@abbey.co.nz
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