-Reducing communication costs for upstream oil &
gas applications while ensuring highly reliable monitoring and control-
STARDOM
Tokyo, Japan, June 2, 2015--Yokogawa Electric Corporation
announces that it will release an enhanced version of the STARDOM™
network-based control system on June 3. The new STARDOM version features
enhancements that reduce communication costs and ensure highly reliable
monitoring and control. These enhancements meet a variety of needs in
upstream oil and gas development and production, which Yokogawa is
targeting based on its Transformation 2017 mid-term business plan.
Development Background
STARDOM network-based control systems consist of FCN/FCJ
autonomous controllers and either a VDS or FAST/TOOLS SCADA server. FCN/FCJ
controllers are ideal for the monitoring of oil and gas field
installations, pipelines, and other widely distributed facilities that
rely on satellites and other types of communications platforms for the
transmission of data. In addition to eliminating communications delays and
achieving high quality communications, the companies that operate such
facilities are seeking to reduce communications costs by limiting the
volume of data that needs to be transmitted.
Product Features
Unsolicited response support
Personnel in central monitoring rooms rely on process data
to monitor and control production facilities in the field. As all of the
process data are sent to the SCADA server at regular intervals,
communications costs are high. To address this and other needs, the FCN/FCJ
controllers now support the DNP3*1 unsolicited response function and thus
are able to immediately transmit only the most essential data to the SCADA
server in the central monitoring room. Without impacting the reliability
of monitoring and control, this reduces the amount of data that needs to
be transmitted and helps to hold down communication costs.
Expanded support of standards for gas well applications
Differential pressure meters are widely used to measure
gas flow rates. Depending on the mechanism that is employed to create the
pressure difference, a variety of formulas developed by organizations such
as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), American Gas
Association (AGA), and the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JISC)
are used to calculate the gas flow rate. With this new STARDOM version,
the FCN/FCJ controllers now support certain gas flow rate calculations
based on the globally popular ISO5167 standard. The FCN/FCJ controllers
already conform to the standards developed by the American Gas Association
(AGA) that have been widely adopted in the
Strengthened security measures
As the use of standard port numbers with a communication
protocol leaves SCADA systems more vulnerable to unauthorized access, it
is becoming a common security practice to restrict which port numbers can
be used. Accordingly, Yokogawa has strengthened the communications
function of its FCN/FCJ controllers to enable the selection of network
port numbers based on the Modbus/TCP*2 communication protocol, which is
widely used in industrial networks. This functional enhancement makes it
possible for users to configure their systems in accordance with their
security policies.
*1 An open communications protocol ideal for use with
facilities that are distributed over a wide geographic area
*2 A communication protocol developed by Modicon for use
with industrial electronics equipment
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Source: http://www.yokogawa.com/pr/news/2015/pr-news-2015-0602-en.htm