Emerson Enhances Ovation SCADA with Bristrol

Emerson Process Management announced that its Bristol ControlWave remote terminal unit (RTU) technology has been fully integrated into its Ovation SCADA platform. Emerson claims these benefits include better management of distributed systems and remote sites, improved water/wastewater process control reliability, and reduced operations and maintenance (O&M) costs.

Traditionally, SCADA systems poll RTUs for information either at specified time intervals or on demand. With the Bristol ControlWave RTU, the Ovation SCADA platform now features a configurable polling mechanism. This allows operators the option of having the RTUs send data directly to the SCADA server or central Ovation control system only when values change.

If configured for periodic polling, the Ovation SCADA solution with ControlWave RTU technology has the capability to buffer and time stamp data – including alarms – then send it directly to the Ovation historian so that no data is "lost" in the event of a communication failure. The integrated Ovation SCADA solution also offers enhanced reliability features which Emerson is unique. These include fault-tolerant data transmission through redundant communication schemes as well as an additional security mechanism that ensures the RTU is communicating only with the SCADA server or central Ovation control system and not being intercepted by an outside source.

"We understand the operational, regulatory and financial issues facing the water and wastewater industries and know that efficiently and expertly managing water and wastewater treatment processes and systems plays an important role in enabling municipalities and investor-owned utilities to effectively address these challenges," said Bob Yeager, president of the Power & Water Solutions division of Emerson. "The availability of our enhanced SCADA capabilities is indicative of Emerson's ongoing commitment to embracing and integrating the latest technologies so that organizations are able to best serve their communities not only today, but well into the future."