Management and remote maintenance of innovative water and wastewater systems

A patchwork of existing plants

Municipal utilities, cross-municipal associations and industrial companies maintain widely dispersed and complex wastewater systems, while treating process water and operating heating plants. This involves a wide range of different parameters such as capacity utilisation, efficiency, pollutants and filling levels. System functions are monitored 24/7 to ensure continuous operation and to alert the standby service in the event of malfunctions. In the existing installations there are often highly diverse control and remote control systems in operation. In addition, technology discontinuations such as the shutdown of the 2G radio network in Switzerland mean that there is a need for action in order to continue to keep an eye on installations in the central control technology.

Uniform communication systems for control technology integration

The control and monitoring of pipeline networks for drinking water or wastewater require communication technology that can be used independently of the specific application.

In STEBATEC’s process control systems ARAbella and REbella, the facilities involved are linked by the products of INSYS icom. The software developed by STEBATEC, which runs locally on the routers, provides the functionality for the individual application. Regardless of whether it is for weir control or dynamic sewer network management, the solution is based on uniform communication technology.

In addition, the STEBalarm product enables the local evaluation of sensor data in order to alert the service team when threshold values are exceeded or errors are detected. STEBATEC develops and manages standby services as an all-round service across entire network hierarchies. In this way a service alarm triggered in accordance with scheduled criteria and plannable escalation levels can be transmitted by email, for example.

Optimised service models thanks to innovation in remote control technology

STEBATEC creates the local function of its products for process control technology and standby planning on the basis of uniform communication technology. The modularity of the MRX routers used enables adaptation to the transmission technology available at the installation site, and provides interfaces for actuators and sensors. In addition, future viability is guaranteed. For example, switching to 5G mobile communication only requires the exchange of an interface card.