Above-Net accepted the challenge of modernizing the remote monitoring of the water treatment and distribution stations of a large state-owned sanitation company in Brazil, which searched for solutions that could simplify the industrial park's old communication system.
With an outdated system, where communication between equipment and PLCs (Programmable Logic Controller) was done through cables connected to the main stations, there were many problems such as, for example, a drop in data transmission and great complexity in maintenance and expansion. of this network.
Above-Net presented the Bridgemeter solution, made up of a parameterizable telemetry system and modern industrial IoT (internet of Things) devices capable of connecting with sensors, equipment or controllers, allowing the monitoring, collection and programming of intelligent rules for predicting problems and data analysis from remote locations.
With Bridgemeter , all communication between equipment previously carried out via cables is now carried out via the 3G/4G network, in real time. With the solution, managers can create alarms that trigger notifications on dashboards, email or via the APP. In some situations it is possible to program the remote activation to open or close valves.
The solution monitors the flow rate and water level in the collection sites, lack of phase and electrical current in the pumps, pump status and controls the closing and opening of valves.
Bridgemeter intelligently and automatically interprets non-standard operating conditions, notifying responsible groups according to the preset. This allows important maintenance to be brought forward without stopping operations. Bridgemeter 's operational advantages allow it to achieve more than 95% SLA (Service Level Agreement, or “Service Level Agreement – ANS”).
In the sanitation industries, where there is an operation supervisory system such as SCADA, Bridgemeter also connects to the system transparently to remote points, managing the remote connection to legacy systems and actively generating alarms for the field team, transmitting information from equipment and sensors in real time to the platform, enabling the expansion of measurements without the need to purchase new PLCs.
Data convergence
With the privatization of this public sanitation company, the distribution of drinking water was divided between three private companies, maintaining water collection and sewage treatment operations with the public operator.
However, all operations data from the 4 companies had to be transmitted to the same control center. The challenge was to ensure that different technologies could read the data and share it with each company's SCADA.
Above-Net developed and made available an architecture that turns Bridgemeter into a reading bus, overcoming the PLC limitation that only allows the connection of a single supervisor for data access.
“Instead of taking two systems to read at the end of the PLC, a layer was created where Above-Net reads the data once and through Bridgemeter , multiple readings are allowed by supervisory systems at each of the concessionaires. This eliminates the limitation of the PLC that only allows one reading”, commented Rafael Pougy, project manager at Above-Net .
The Bridgemeter solution can be contracted using the SaaS model (monthly payment), thus reducing capital expenses, or CAPEX.
