Data Acquisition & Telemetry


Remote plant monitoring

July 2008 Data Acquisition & Telemetry

Omniflex has developed the Silent Sentry SMS alarm monitor for GSM cellular networks to support short message service (SMS) transmission of data from remote unmanned outstations that require monitoring and notification to the mobile phones of service responsible personnel in the event of an alarm condition. The suitability of GSM networks has become a reality due to their coverage, reliability and low cost of ownership. There is no infrastructure cost such as with in house radio-based systems and monitoring is countrywide – in fact it is possible to use the technology outside the countries' borders too.

The system comprises:

* Silent Sentry with up to 12 universal inputs (analog or digital) and single serial port for third party device interfacing.

* A SIM card contract for data communication.

The system is ideal for those remote unmanned applications where a timely alarm direct to the mobile phone of personnel responsible for the plant gives them the opportunity to take corrective action before it is too late. Sub stations, pump stations, reservoirs, waste water treatment and effluent plants tend to be isolated and un-manned. If something goes faulty it is often too late by the time the problem is detected by plant personnel resulting in losses to the organisation. Silent Sentry provides direct SMS to service personnel mobile phones with required acknowledgements and escalation to another phone if no response is received ensuring that alarms are attended to.

Reporting by exception (change of state) or an analog input exceeding an alarm limit triggers the SMS message. The outstations are capable of interfacing to digital and analog input signals or intelligent devices like PLCs.

Additional features include:

* Integrated Modbus port (master or slave modes).

* 9–30 V d.c. power.

* Transmission of up to 64 unique messages.

* Transmission to up to 10 recipients.

* Daily status message.

* Integral realtime clock.

* Compact DIN-rail mounting.

Configuration is easily done from a computer using a serial port. Free configuration software (OmniSet) is supplied with the Silent Sentry. The Windows-based menu-driven configuration with on-line help provides the user with a simple configuration tool. This can be done post installation using a laptop computer if required.

For more information contact Ian Loudon, Omniflex, +27 (0)31 207 7466, [email protected], www.omniflex.com



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