AGM Creates Revolutionary New SCADA Communication Tool with CalAmp Solutions

Today, interoperability is a challenge. Communicating between programmable logic controllers (PLCs) from different vendors and with other peripheral devices on the same system presents difficulties. 

Industrial IoT companies rely on remote devices to control, monitor and maintain the health of their systems. The RTU, or remote terminal unit, transmits telemetry data to the PLC via the DCS or SCADA system and uses messages from them to control connected objects. For example, oil and gas companies need to know the status of pressure and volume on their pipeline. They may need to open or close valves depending on the conditions, which operators would do by communicating with the RTUs.

When updates to the hardware were required, these companies were faced with limited options. They could either buy more devices from the same vendor, which was restrictive. Or, they could purchase from another manufacturer and then invest more time and money to have their SCADA integrator reprogrammed.

AGM saw the opportunity to develop a solution that would provide seamless SCADA communication regardless of the PLC manufacturer or spectrum used. 

In search of a partner to help them, AGM turned to CalAmp, which designs and manufactures a range of industrial routers equipped with CalAmp’s Open Developer Platform™ (ODP). AGM was specifically interested in ODP’s ability to provide its firmware developers with an environment to build intelligent processing and custom applications to facilitate distributed intelligence and local decision making at the edge of the network.

AGM was also interested in CalAmp’s Vanguard 5530 broadband LTE cellular router which comes enabled with ODP and provides reliable connectivity for PLCs, RTUs and any other Ethernet or serial device. With the Vanguard 5530 enabled with ODP, the computing environment and intelligence can be pushed out to the router and extended to the network edge. With these tools now available to them, the AGM developer team set out to build an embedded application that would eliminate the need for costly reprogramming when new PLCs or devices are added to an existing DCS.

• [Efficiency Improvement - Communication]
  Now AGM can provide more efficient and reliable telemetry data communications without the hassle of costly reprogramming.
• [Product Improvement - Scalability]
  Operators of distributed networks have the ability to scale their SCADA communications seamlessly. 

• Freedom to select the right solution instead of a current vendor or communication spectrum and flexibility to mix and match system components. 

• Eliminate reprogramming time and expense to the existing PLC software. 

• Create additional redundancies through parallel connections for improved system integrity.