|
ARCOM HELPS ROLL OUT GPRS BASED TELEMETRY SYSTEM FOR CENTRAL NETWORKS
02 August 2004 - Arcom
| Arcom, the leading UK supplier of embedded industrial computing platforms, systems and network gateways is pleased to announce a contract with Central Networks to supply gateways which enable the use of conventional DNP3 equipment over a GPRS cellular wireless network. |
The solution is based on Arcom's Director series platform and will be used at remote nodes on the electricity distribution network. It will facilitate the transmission of data via GPRS from existing units originally designed to operate over serial communication links. It provides the necessary protocol translation and manages the remote connection and transfer of data to the SCADA host via the wide area IP network provided by the GPRS transport. This dramatically reduces both the capital and operating costs of the system when compared with other communication options available to these remote locations. Providing independent channels at each remote site for both DNP3 data and remote reconfiguration serial streams to the remote telemetry unit, the Directors will initially be deployed at over 500 remote locations. To assist in remote fault detection, the units also give diagnostics information concerning message flows and RF signal strength via a standard telnet session. This is the first time that Arcom's protocol gateways have been deployed on a UK GPRS network, although previously they have been used to provide similar functionality over IP networks using transports such as satellite, low power private radio and PSTN as well as over more conventional wired networks. ADSL connections are also planned for future sites on the clients system, where the units are viewed as an important tool to assist them in their corporate goal of migrating all communications to TCP/IP over the next few years. "By using Arcom's DS3 we have been able to extend the reach of this project beyond DNP3 RTUs to include those using older, legacy protocols; the DS3 solution has proved to be extremely flexible and straight forward to implement and manage." said Roger Hey, Project Manager for Central Networks. Arcom has extensive experience in the supply of industrial network gateways providing protocol conversion for over 100 legacy SCADA interfaces for major clients in the oil, gas and utility sectors. The Director can also serve as a direct interface between a data acquisition system and IBM WebSphere based enterprise level applications (using the IBM Websphere Integration Broker). Furthermore, the Director can be used as an RTU/PLC in its own right by fitting Arcoms industrial I/O boards and programmed using industry standard IEC61131-3 development tools.
http://www.arcom.com
About: Arcom
Founded in Cambridge in 1982, Arcom has grown to become one of the leading suppliers of embedded computer and communications processors.
Arcom's embedded software development and support capabilities are second-to-none in the industry. Our engineering and support teams in Kansas City (US) and Cambridge (UK) have an enormous depth of experience and knowledge in the field of embedded operating systems, communications protocols, and system design. We pride ourselves on being able to provide comprehensive development tools and excellent support to our OEM customers as they bring their products to the market.
Development Kits - we lead the embedded market with our strategy for new product introduction based on the 'blue-box' development kits. By combining new hardware solutions with the leading embedded operating systems we offer our customers a complete and rapid application development environment.Embedded Boards - our range of embedded processor boards (x86 and XScale), PC/104 I/O modules, ISAbus and PCI add-on cards are all designed and manufactured by Arcom. This gives our customers fast and easy access to the highest level of technical support. All products are supported by a clearly defined life cycle and a commitment for long term availability. PCs & Enclosures - we also recognize that customers need products to ease the integration of our embedded boards. Arcom's design team includes mechanical engineers who have developed a number of off the shelf enclosure solutions for stand alone and rack mounted systems. Industrial Networking - since 1992, we have been actively involved in the integration and deployment of data acquisitions systems for the process control markets. Working with our key technology partners we now offer products and expertise to provide guaranteed data delivery from your field devices straight into your enterprise level applications. Design & Build - we understand the drive to cost reduce products for high volume applications and to combine this with a 'complete technical solution'. We accept contracts to produce custom solutions which focus on the design of dedicated hardware, developing optimized operating system configurations or complete packaged system solutions. Through a focused approach to innovative design backed by comprehensive development platforms, global marketing and low cost manufacturing, Arcom pursues an aggressive expansion of its customer base in North America, UK and France. Arcom is a subsidiary of Spectris plc, the precision instrumentation and controls company. Our business processes are accredited to the international QA standard ISO 9001 and our products hold all relevant certification. |
More News:
• For August 2004
• From Arcom
• For Telecommunications Networks
|
