The power utilities like generating plants, power transmission and distribution utilities, Industries etc. are the typical example of an operation technology (OT) landscape. Typically, in these OT industries, the field data are being handled on manual legacy methodology due to which there are numerous data being generated but are available in a silo and which doesn’t help the utilities and industries in better decision making in the absence of meaningful and actionable insights from these standalone data.
In a sentence, we can say that in spite of the technological advancements in Information Technologies (IT), the conventional operation technologies (OT) without taking the leverage of IT are missing out on the opportunities to increase their productivity, efficiency and profitability (PEP).
Role of Industry 4.0 to bridge the gap between IT and OT
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, better known as 4IR, or Industry 4.0, conceptualized rapid change to technology, industries, and societal patterns and also to the processes of the 21st century due to increasing smart automation and interconnectivity. The term has been used widely in scientific literature and in 2015 was popularized by Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman. Schwab asserts that the changes seen are not just restricted to the improvement in efficiency, but expresses this would bring in a significant shift in industrial capitalism.
The revolution happening due to industry 4.0 helps the typical OT industries in increasing automation, improving communication and self-monitoring, and the use of smart machines that can analyze and diagnose issues without the need for human intervention by use of the new age IT technologies such as large-scale machine-to-machine communication (M2M), and the internet of things (IoT), Machine learning (ML) algorithm, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Computing, Big Data, Data Management etc.
Importance of data with context
- OT industries and utilities are having numerous data being generated from their day to day operations, but these data are of no use if not having any context to it. It is simply valueless.
- By the use of information technologies these raw data shall be transformed into knowledge and understanding
- This can be envisaged by converting the raw data from field end to information to find out the root cause of the problem, then converting it to knowledge by taking some corrective action so that the reassurance of such problem doesn’t happen and finally with the collection all such past data and trends the knowledge can be transformed into understanding which will help the system to predict future such problems that may occur and predictive action can be taken to avoid such problems in future
- This will help the OT industries and utilities to add value to their raw data.
Contribution of SCOPE T&M as an industry expert to achieve IT and OT convergence
We as a company working in the OT industries and utilities for past 34+ years have the core understanding on the raw data being generated on day to day operation basis and the importance of better utilization of these raw data for the productivity, efficiency and profitability (PEP) of these typically loss making industries and utilities.
Few of the solutions related to IT and OT convergence are as highlighted below
[A] IOT solutions for smart energy monitoring and asset health monitoring
- These are achieved by deploying smart IOT sensors, SEED (for energy monitoring) and STEM (for asset health monitoring) near to the field devices, nodes, feeders and assets
- By use of new age communication methodologies such as RF, Wi-Fi, GPRS, MPLS etc. the field raw data/ computed data are being transmitted to a cloud-based server or on-premise physical server as per the end customer need
- At the software HMI end, by use of AI and ML algorithms run on the proposed software to give the operators or end users the actionable insights in terms of visual dashboards.
[B] Development of SCADA control centers
- We have the expertise in developing SCADA control center for real time remote control and monitoring of field equipment
- It will help distribute the work among different servers and applications such as FEP, ISR, Historian, Web Server, and Development Server to achieve the optimum efficiency of the installed SCADA system
- The solution helps users to maintain one umbrella system connecting all peripheral other IT solutions such as ERP, GIS, Legacy IT Systems etc. over standard open protocols like OPC or over REST-APIs
- Development of DMZ Lan, which does the sub networking between the public internet and private networks connecting external-facing services and resources, as well as servers for the Domain Name System (DNS), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), mail, SMS, proxy, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and web servers etc.
[C] SCADA/SAS Software as Gateway
- SCADA/ SAS Software with IEC 104 Server Protocol can act as a gateway device to send the substation data over IEC 104 protocol to multiple masters simultaneously, which is typically done by a hardware gateway device in a SAS system
Benefits of Software as Gateway:
- No need to maintain inventory and spare parts
- Cost and space optimization
- Better up time and remote troubleshooting
- Single point of contact
Summary
Conclusion
In this manner, SCOPE ensured the setting up IT for OT solutions in Power Sector. SCOPE has always been in forefront to acquire the futuristic technologies. To know more about this solution, please write to us at marketing@scopetnm.com
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