SUPCON has unveiled the world’s first Universal Control System (UCS) at its highly anticipated global product launch conference, marking a groundbreaking innovation in the automation sector. This revolutionises the concept of industrial control systems, pioneering a new era in automatic control technology. Nearly 300 industry experts, including representatives from leading industry enterprises, multinational organisations and academic associations, from nearly 20 countries and regions, gathered to witness this historical moment.
Return to the essence of control
SUPCON has revolutionised the 50-year-old traditional DCS technology architecture by overcoming the limitations of traditional, purpose-built hardware-based control systems with rigid, hierarchical layers and fixed computing power, introducing the next-generation Universal Control System (UCS) architecture, a software-defined, total digitalised and cloud-based control system. By breaking free from traditional physical controllers, I/O modules and cabinets, UCS presents a minimalist new form that integrates a control data centre, optical fibre network, and intelligent field. This innovative approach eliminates the need for numerous cabinets, ushering in a revolutionary transformation in control systems.
The world’s first universal control system
Centered around a control data centre, the Nyx system leverages NyxOS, a cloud-based real-time operating system tailored for industrial control. This results in a robust operating environment for control tasks that is real time, highly reliable and secure. The Nyx system is capable of executing cloud-based real-time applications, autonomously adjusting resource scale and capacity to match demand, and enabling elasticity and scalability. Its redundant and distributed architecture ensures the control system’s high availability and fault tolerance.
Nyx utilises an optic fibre network to transmit intelligent field data directly to the control data centre at 10 Gbp/s speed, with parallel redundancy. This innovative approach leads to a minimalist network architecture, significantly reducing copper cables and footprint.
Harnessing APL-based field connection technology, Nyx supports Zone 2 intrinsically safe explosion-proof field junction boxes and APL modules. It provides each instrument with an IP address, improves the communication performance by at least 100 times, and fully digitalises field transmission and execution, achieving data connectivity in smart plants.
SUPCON, steadfast in its commitment to co-construction, sharing and mutual benefit, is actively building an Ethernet-APL ecosystem. It offers a comprehensive range of APL products, including power switches, field switches, and intelligent instruments. Nyx’s minimalist architecture achieves remarkable cost savings, including a 90% reduction in footprint, 80% in copper cable, and 50% in project time.
Unleash infinite potential in industrial applications
The industrial application of Nyx promises immense value for the process industry. SUPCON’s pilot applications have revealed Nyx’s ability to integrate AI deeply, and leverage the GPU-powered control engine, offering functions like automated configuration generation and AI-PID. This enables data prediction and adaptive control, enhancing operational efficiency and ushering in a new AI era in the control field, thereby unleashing productivity.
In recent years, SUPCON has been actively exploring the integration and application of AI and other advanced technologies in the process industry. The introduction of Nyx not only signifies a significant leap for SUPCON in intelligent control, but also forges a ‘sword’ to catalyst industrial transformation. Amid rapid technological and industrial updates, SUPCON invites more ecosystem partners to join in this groundbreaking revolution. Together, they can lead the industry towards a smarter, more efficient and greener future.
An introductory video can be viewed at https://we.tl/t-mSbMyqWZ3K
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version