The new ArchestrA automation infrastructure from Invensys

Progressing in today™s competitive environment requires sustainable and rapid plant performance improvement.

Since every customer situation is different, APV provides a scalable set of automation solutions and services, ranging from electrical installation of instrumentation equipment, control systems and HMI/SCADA solutions to full integration with production planning and business systems.

Understanding process technology is critical to every successful automation solution - from the receipt of raw materials through all the process stages and finally to packaging and distribution. Whilst APV™s core expertise lies within the process, the integration of filling lines and packaging equipment is a key component of APV™s end-to-end horizontal integration offering from the supervisory perspective.

Market needs for future automation architectures are evolving, with additional requirements for operational excellence as follows:

• Agility - automation solutions suitable for a wide range of end products, with new functionality easily added at minimum risk
• Collaboration – seamless production and engineering team collaboration for improved efficiency
• Real-time information - a unified control/application and production model that interconnects all the functions within a business to deliver structured, real-time data for better business decision making capability

In response to these needs, Invensys has developed the new ArchestrA® architecture, a comprehensive plant automation and information architecture based on latest software technologies.Built upon the ArchestrA® architecture is the Industrial Application Server from Wonderware®, which provides a whole new layer of real-time data acquisition, event management, data manipulation services and collaborative engineering capabilities. This forms the basis for APV™s solutions within the Manufacturing Information System (MIS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) space.

What is ArchestrA®?

In the same way as the internet, ArchestrA® could be described as an infrastructure. For example, the internet infrastructure (TCP-IP protocols, IP / TCP / UDP / HTTP / etc.) allows a number of applications, such as e-mail, web-services and chat-rooms to work together.

Similarly, ArchestrA® is an open, extensible and powerful infrastructure, which provides a set of common services. It enables users to build application functionality into stand-alone objects at different core competence centres, and then seamlessly integrate them into different projects.

What is an Application Server?

Application Servers were created as a product category for several practical reasons, but mainly because applications were becoming bigger and more complex to write and maintain. At the same time, there was a growing need for applications to share more data and functionality across the enterprise in a consistent fashion. While application servers have been successfully installed in the transaction-based business environment, the industrial world has lagged behind by several years.

However, the Industrial Application Server from Wonderware introduces a new era in productivity and scalability for industrial automation applications. It provides a robust infrastructure for simplifying the development, deployment, life-cycle maintenance and administration of distributed automation applications.

Adding a neutral information layer for Standardisation & Re-usability

APV is using the Industrial Application Server as a neutral layer between the control systems and the HMI/SCADA, MES and business systems. This provides object oriented common services, which were previously performed less effectively in the PLC and HMI/SCADA systems. These services include, for example, advanced scripting, recipe handling, scaling, sequencing and PLC and HMI/SCADA connectivity.

The base building components of an ArchestrA® based application are application objects. In conjunction with the tremendous array of services of the Industrial Application Server, they introduce a revolutionary method of building industrial applications.

Application objects are made up of multiple facets packaged as a single entity.Those facets are I/O connections, alarms, security and history gathering requirements.

Functionality, for example, from HMI/SCADA and the different control systems is assembled as a set of re-usable objects in the Industrial Application Server. This provides a neutral layer of services and simplifies control (PLC) and HMI/SCADA design.

Re-usable Objects

APV has built a set of re-usable standardised objects, which represent physical plant items, such as valves, motors, pumps and agitators. In a hierarchic structure these basic objects can be re-used to build typical process equipment, including tanks, pasteurisers or even complete process cells.

These re-useable objects form a library, which can be used in the design of scalable, pre-tested solutions ranging from process units to complete plant and enterprise integration.

Summary

The ArchestrA® infrastructure represents a critical element in the development of automation solutions that can increase business agility, efficiency and productivity. APV™s customers investing in ArchestrA® are benefiting from the ability to extend the life of legacy systems by leveraging the latest software technologies. Offerings built upon this architecture empower decision-makers to achieve their business goals without abandoning prior investments in automation systems, production processes or intellectual property.

Products based on the ArchestrA® software architecture provide a strong foundation for the efficient deployment of solutions and best practices anywhere in the world. Architecture by ArchestrA® is ideal for discrete manufacturing, process plants, remote SCADA operations, utilities and/or hybrid combinations of these operations.