A VTScada Application Profile
The Royal Irrigation Department of Thailand
The responsibilities of the Royal Irrigation Department of Thailand (RID) include developing the nation’s irrigation systems and managing its flood control infrastructure. In 2018, the RID contracted global water technology company Xylem Water Solutions to develop and deploy a new HMI/SCADA system for their BangKhanak Flood Control Station. This site uses a MultiSmart Pump Controller to manage two Flygt Pumps.
Selecting SCADA Software
Jing Ren Yong, then a Monitoring and Control Product Manager at Xylem, oversaw the design and execution of the project. “The client was looking for a SCADA system that would be able to remotely control, monitor and effectively manage their facility.” Yong selected VTScada software from Trihedral. “[VTScada is a] robust, easy to set up system that is intuitive and user-friendly,” says Yong. “[It provides] the service provider with a platform to easily maintain and update the system to ensure continuous operation.”
Built-in Site Import Utility
Another important factor in choosing VTScada was its integrated MultiSmart Site Import Utility. The MultiSmart supports over 400 I/O tags per site, providing unparalleled data for monitoring and control applications. To minimize the time required to configure that many tags, Trihedral and Xylem worked together to create a Site Import Utility that users can launch each time they add a new MultiSmart device to their SCADA system.
VTScada uses DNP3 to remotely download the device’s XML configuration file. Since many utilities employ radios with limited bandwidth, this file is compressed and decoded on the fly by both the MultiSmart unit and VTScada. The resulting small transmission size does not interfere with site polling. Alternatively, VTScada can also use a local configuration file in the case of Modbus protocol. After prompting the user to make a few simple configuration choices, the utility automatically generates all the necessary tags and a selection of key application pages. (Users can easily create more specialized pages using VTScada’s drag-and-drop toolset.)
Yong first encountered VTScada at a joint Xylem/VTScada training course in Shanghai earlier this year. Based on his experience he concluded that, “VTScada is the best fit for the MultiSmart,”
The Completed System
The final SCADA application is comprised of two synchronized VTScada servers running in separate RID offices. Since VTScada is a fully integrated platform, each server contains an up-to-the-minute backup of all historical and configuration data. A server list automatically determines which server will poll the MultiSmart devices via the RID telemetry network.
Thanks to VTScada’s intuitive development tools and Site Import Utility, the application was completed in just a few hours and was fully deployed by June 13, 2018. “I think we’re in good hands now that Xylem SCADA is being used in RID,” concludes Yong. “The client is planning to add one more site later this year or early next.”
More About Xylem – www.xylem.com
More About VTScada – www.trihedral.com