Using a cutting-edge Condition Monitoring Platform with Siemens Industrial Controllers has brought forth a robust system monitoring application. In this collaboration, the Propheto platform played a pivotal role in developing a comprehensive condition monitoring solution for mining equipment. This integration ensured seamless transmission capabilities and established a secure and reliable interaction with the monitoring platform's array of services: data acquisition, storage, visualization, event handling, and alarm notifications.
Customer
TEKA Telecom, a valued partner of Siemens in Latvia and an official supplier of Siemens products and solutions, initiated the quest for a proficient software development vendor. Specializing in tailored industrial solutions, TEKA Telecom aspired to undertake a series of integration projects focused on the condition monitoring of mining equipment.
Challenge
The discerning choice of the Propheto platform, smart maintenance solution developed by Applied Systems, emerged as the linchpin for constructing a sophisticated condition monitoring system. With Propheto fulfilling essential project requisites and serving as an efficient repository for data visualization and analysis, TEKA Telecom sought a technological conduit to bridge Siemens controllers - primarily SIMATIC S7-1200 and S7-1500 - to the Propheto platform. This link needed to support the transmission of over 30,000 measurements per second, accommodate audio message decoding, and seamlessly incorporate the controller's error handling system with the corresponding Propheto platform services.
Solution
Applied Systems embraced an integrated approach to meet the project's multifaceted objectives.
Controller-side Execution: Propheto Bridge Functions
• Streamlining the flow of measured data for seamless transmission
• Enabling audio message capture
• Collating data on logical errors
• Efficiently transferring compiled data to the host system
Platform-side Implementation: S7 Data Gateway Module Functions
• Uploading controller data to the Propheto platform's Data Hub via WinSock API
• Decoding and preserving audio messages through a hardware codec linked to the server via a USB-UART bridge
• Capturing errors within internal PLC programs, as well as controller and communication errors
• Transferring captured error data to the Alarm Handler and Event Handler modules of the Propheto platform
A noteworthy aspect of this endeavor was the incorporation of automated regression testing. This strategic quality assurance measure was expedited through the creation of controller simulators. These simulators mirrored hardware behavior under both optimal and erroneous conditions, expediting development and implementation.
Results
Applied Systems effectively delivered the integrated solution within a 2.5-month timeframe. The outcome of this collaboration facilitates seamless interaction between Siemens controllers and the Propheto platform's Data Hub, Alarm System, and Event System services. Boasting an impressive transmission capacity exceeding 100,000 measurements per second, TEKA Telecom now wields the power of the Propheto platform in their integration projects geared towards the condition monitoring of mining equipment.
