Yogita Sukhla
Sr. Practice Manager – Research
GIS Development
[email protected]
It did not take time for businesses to recognise that ‘convergence of disciplines lets the enterprise act as one’. With challenges to excel, maintain growth rate, meet increasing demand and ensure consumer satisfaction, enterprises across the globe are turning to technologies that have distinct functionalities and that can cooperate with other technologies. In other words, multiple products come together to form one application, utilising the advantages of each constituent component.
“Technology feeds on itself. Technology makes more technology possible”, is becoming the adage of modern world. The working together of two distinct technological domains to reach a common understanding not only increases their efficiency but also their significance. Combination of GIS and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) is one such join up that opened new frontiers for utilities sector. While GIS brings with it the geographical relationships and the capability to integrate information from different sources, SCADA provides real-time distribution network inputs. The ‘master’ repository for static network model, including data connectivity attributes from GIS, and the realtime status of the dynamic network elements and other peripheral systems maintained by SCADA make up a single real-time ‘operational’ distribution network. Such a network is vital to the functioning of utilities as they help in supply design and modelling, distribution design and modelling, asset management, deriving ‘what-if scenarios’, improvement in revenue management and much more.
Utilities have to maintain different network models for effective management of work processes to provide better services. These systems continue to work independently but also have the capability to interact and communicate with each other, thus providing an edge over their current functioning as independent systems. Integration of GIS with SCADA enhances the computing capabilities of the present system and provides purposeful information to a wide range of users. At the same time, it also tends to meet the increasing demand for real-time information by the utility. Also, the integrated information from these operational systems provides added value to decision making.
SCADA AND UTILITIES
SCADA is used to monitor and control network from a master location. It gathers real time information like status of switching devices, information of faults and leakages in distribution system. The information is then transferred from home station to control station and vice-versa, necessary control and analysis is carried out and the same is displayed on computer monitors. In electrical utilities, SCADA system continuously provides real time readings of electrical parameters like voltage, angle, power factor, active power, reactive power at monitored points in the feeder. It also get sthe status of switching devices like circuit breakers, switches and isolators and values of transformer parameters like tap positions. The above information put together gives SCADA the capability to act like a ‘watch dog’. In water supply utilities, SCADA systems are more often used to monitor raw water supply information such as aquifer or reservoir levels. Further stormwater discharges of utilities can also be monitored through SCADA technology. SCADA also supports the appli- A new dimension in utilities management cations of water demand forecasting as well as automatic triggering of preventive maintenance work orders based on run times.
GIS AND UTILITIES
With tools like GIS quickly becoming essential part of the utility industry’s day-to-day business, they are now able to closely model their networks and integrate other types of data to improve their functioning. GIS is more than just mapping as it uses geography to provide a framework to all the major activities of utilities. Spatial characteristics and display information in GIS allows the users to visualise and analyse specific properties or services that may be impacted by service stoppages, main breaks and power outages. GIS helps utilities in efficient operations and maintenance tasks. It helps in reducing the amount of time required by repair crews by providing routing programmes and accurate street level details. It provides turn-by-turn directions to a specific location and even dynamic information on traffic jams and construction zones to optimise the time needed for a service call. GIS can also help predict where potential growth and development may occur and where an expansion of utility services may be warranted.
TOWARDS A SINGLE OPERATIONAL MODEL
The convergence of GIS with SCADA has opened up new dimensions in utilities management. Various methodologies have been proposed for integrating such systems, each one aimed at providing an overall strategy towards attaining a single operational network model. While some experts advocate GIS to serve as the base system for integration, some others prefer SCADA.
However, both of the above approaches have their benefits and limitations. While SCADA systems are designed with a deliberately-sized database, very high speed data event processing, high reliability and simple graphical display functionality. GIS systems on the other hand have high data volume and spatial data display requirements that are considerably different compared to single line diagrams of SCADA. Further, GIS systems have not been originally designed to handle real-time operational tools. This puts a limitation.
Efforts are on to integrate SCADA and GIS data on a platform that can support both spatial and real-time data while providing the necessary performance.
FITTING A BIG WORLD ON A SMALL CAMERA
The UltraCamL. Because the data you deliver is only as good as the technology behind it. Flexibility is the key to this integration. Such a platform also aims to provide the basis to integrate other data and related functionalities like fault call, customer information, customer relationship management (CRM) and works management.
An independent distribution management system (DMS) has been suggested as a platform. With open interfaces to external systems and a modular internal software structure, a DMS can cater to current demands and accommodate future needs. The ‘open’ DMS platform is capable of supporting new modules and interfaces with the existing platforms. A utility is thus no longer bound to a particular GIS or SCADA vendor and can be integrated with other systems that may contribute data to operational network model. Alternatively, both these systems can communicate through an interface architecture which simplifies the exchange of information between automated components of SCADA and GIS applications. Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control (OPC) interface is one such global standard application interface in industrial automation software and enterprise systems that support the industry.
ADVANTAGES
Integration of SCADA and GIS provides several benefits to utilities especially in power and water supply. In power utilities, the benefits appear as increase in operational and nonoperational efficiencies. While SCADA is used to support outage reporting, GIS integration helps optimise the switching order plan and provide more efficient route to designated locations. Whenever there is a fault in the circuit, SCADA/DMS informs cause, range of interruption and expected time of restoration. This information, associated with critical geographical information regarding the fault will help the customer care manager to better answer customer queries. At the same time, this would help in automation increasing efficiency.
For water utilities, the ability to combine graphical and geographical representation of treated water pipelines, hydraulic modelling software and realtime operations data in an integrated system provides a powerful design/ modelling tool. Further, combining the information from SCADA on raw water supply with hydraulic models and geographic information on water supply networks helps in determining the best wire-to-water efficiencies of water reservoirs. Again, the combination of real-time data, historic data, and geographic presentation of distribution system and hydraulic modelling software often provide assistance in predicting water consumption during different times of day, types of weather and different seasons. Integration of SCADA and GIS also provides important applications for wastewater collection and modelling. Business improvements are also possible using real time data along with critical spatial data maintained by GIS. Many departments, such as planning, design, and network analysis work in their respective domains and seek specific information from other systems when needed. With an integrated system, the overall maintenance and support cost would be considerably reduced. It will also lead to improved communication among departments. Further, such integration could help in sharing the ownership of data and, maintaining the accuracy and integrity of information between the systems. At the same time, the increase in accessibility to data in an enterprise database helps key decision makers and users to quickly access accurate and near real-time data.
However, the integration of SCADA and GIS, even after addressing major concerns of interoperability is not a straight forward process. There are issues that need to be addressed. The first and foremost is designing the data models in both SCADA and GIS. These will differ with different organisations. Further, both the systems need to understand different identities of the same objects and develop proper mapping strategy. The other important aspects include data maintenance, expansion and equipment upgradation. Any modification in one system will require synchronisation with the other. Thus, while opportunities of converging SCADA and GIS appear to be worthwhile, one need to set realistic expectations and have patience.
