User guide

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addVANTAGE Pro 6.2 User Guide CHAPTER 1
What is the Adcon System?
employing different wireless technologies, from private radio to GSM/GPRS
based devices.
An RTU has its own intelligence in the form of a built-in microcontroller, which
periodically performs several tasks, for example, interrogate the sensors, store
the measured data, check the radio channel, check the local battery status, and
so forth. It is part of a remote station, which consists of the RTU, its assembly
parts, and its sensors. The RTU is equipped with a radio module or a GSM
modem, which allows for real-time wireless communication with a base station.
Reverse communication is also possible with the Adcon system. The
addVANTAGE Pro software can issue a command that will be sent via the
wireless network to the RTUs to control devices such as switches, pumps,
motors, and relays.
The base station consists of a Telemetry Gateway (or receiver) and your
personal computer. The Gateway acts as a network controller—at regular
intervals (typically 15 minutes, but this can be changed) it requests data via
radio or modem from the RTUs in the network. The receiver stores the incoming
data in its memory, thus allowing the receiver to supervise a large number of
RTUs and keep their data for a period of time without the need to download the
data to the PC. The number of controlled RTUs depends on the receiver type,
and some receiver models can handle over 1000 units
Note: The period of time a receiver can store data is dependent on the number of
RTUs in the network and the type of receiver. The oldest data is overwritten.
The addVANTAGE Pro software regularly downloads the data from the receiver’s
memory to the PC. The receiver’s internal battery allows it to operate for 12 to
24 hours (depending on the number of RTUs to be requested and the respective
polling interval) in the event of a power outage. After that, the receiver stops
accumulating data, but it keeps the data already retained—even without
power—until you are able to provide power to it.
A Modular Approach
The addVANTAGE Pro software, which is based on a client/server architecture,
collects data from one or several Adcon Telemetry Gateways (receivers) and
makes it available for viewing or for specialized analysis.
The server is that part of the software where all the actual processing takes
place. It usually starts automatically when the computer is started and runs in
the background. The server is responsible for downloading data from the
Telemetry Gateway, storing data into the database, starting and stopping
extensions, and servicing clients as they connect.
The addVANTAGE Pro server is based on a modular concept, meaning its parts
contribute to the whole but are also independent of it. The server has a
framework that runs various services and each service is responsible for a
function. For example:
•The Security service authenticates the users and checks their privileges.
•The Directory service deals with all objects existing on the system.
•The Data Acquisition service retrieves the remote data.
•The Extension service creates the proper environment for the extensions to
run.
•The Database service assures the connection to the database for all other
services.
Extensions are a very important concept of addVANTAGE Pro. They are
standalone modules dealing with raw data and processing it according to certain
rules. Extensions provide events and alarms; in some cases, extensions may
provide output tags (which are also called virtual sensors, but more on this
later).
This modular approach provides a great degree of flexibility both to users and
programmers because it offers, among other things, an open interface for third
parties that want to program new extensions.
Starting with addVANTAGE Pro 5.0, the client software is based on a standard
web browser. Internet Explorer 8.0 and Mozilla Firefox 3.5 have been certified to
be fully compatible with addVANTAGE Pro 6.x and additional browsers could be
supported in future releases.