TELKOMNIKA, Vol.10, No.8, December 2012, pp. 2159~2168 e-ISSN: 2087-278X accredited by DGHE (DIKTI), Decree No: 51/Dikti/Kep/2010
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Application of GPRS and GIS in Boiler Remote Monitoring System Yifeng Wu*, Hongchao Wang College of Mechanical Engineering & Automatization, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China *corresponding author, e-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract Application of GPRS and GIS in boiler remote monitoring system was designed in this paper by combining the advantage of GPRS and GIS in remote data transmission with configuration monitoring technology. The detail information of the operating conditions of the industrial boiler can be viewed by marking the location of boiler on the electronic map dynamically which can realize the unified management for industrial boiler of a region or city conveniently. Experimental application show that the system has convenience to use, high reliability, which play an active role to improve the operating efficiency, to prevent the boiler accident, and to decrease the energy consumption. Keywords: industrial boiler, remote monitoring, data acquisition, GPRS, GIS Copyright © 2012 Universitas Ahmad Dahlan. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Along with the rapid development of Chinese economy, the needs for energy are growing. The industrial boiler as an important energy conversion equipment is widely used in chemicals, electric power and other industries, which play an important role in the development of the national economy, and the operating condition of the industrial boiler decides the safety of boiler production, the energy utilization and the level of environmental pollution directly [1].Therefore, make full use of the modern advanced network, communication, computer, geographic information technology and powerful application software to construct a monitoring platform of the boiler running status and the information of the energy conservation, which not only can monitor the real-time running conditions of the industrial boiler efficiently, have great significance to ensure the boiler run safely and reliably, to reduce and prevent the boiler accident, but also provide a scientific quantitative basis to improve the boiler running efficiency and decrease the energy consumption and contamination emission. GPRS(General Packet Radio Service) is a new type of data services, which developing based on GSM which provide point to point, wide-area wireless IP connection, have the advantages of wide coverage, permanent online and so on, provide an efficient, low-cost wireless packet data services for remote data transmission[2]. GIS (Geographic Information System)is created combine with the images, computer graphics and database technology in the past few years[3], which can create different layer based on different themes and bind the data with the layer to realize the data visualization. The system transmit remote data by GPRS, bind boiler operation data with GIS electronic map to realize unified monitoring and management of the boiler of a region or city, and the location of user can be marked on the electronic map dynamically, the manager can view the detailed information of the boiler at any time, which makes the remote monitoring much more visual and intelligent, can improve the working efficiency of the manager and operator, can realize boiler remote monitoring in different locations more convenience.
2. Overview of system functions The system mainly consists of data acquisition and transmission block, GPRS, monitoring PC and database. Operation data of the boiler are real-time collected by the data acquisitor and uploaded to the data acquisition terminal by wired or wireless way. The GPRS wireless communication system is used to implement i-direction wireless transmission between the monitor center and the field data acquisition terminal. The boiler operation data are stored in Received October 10, 2012; Revised November 10, 2012; Accepted November 17, 2012
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the database of the monitor center [4,5]. The data are presented to manager on the monitor PC in the form of GIS, animation, charts, curves, etc. The operating conditions of boiler can be realtime monitored at the monitor center. The system block diagram is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Block diagram of the system
3. Design of data acquisition and transmission system The block diagram of data acquisition and transmission system is shown in Figure 2.In order not to affect the operation of the original boiler equipment, the operating parameters such as furnace temperature, furnace pressure, drum water level and steam pressure are leaded by one-to-two isolators, then connected to the RS-485 data acquisitor and transmitted to the data acquisition terminal by the 485 bus. As for inconvenient to wire, some data are transmitted to the RS-485 data acquisitor by RF wireless way and transmitted to the data acquisition terminal by the 485 bus. Each RS-485 data acquisitor can be used as RF wireless receiver, the RF wireless transmitter are connected with the nearest RS-485 data acquisitor by the way of learning-paired.
Figure 2. Block diagram of field data acquisition and transmission system
3.1. Wireless data acquisitor 1. Circuit design The block diagram of wireless data acquisitor is shown in Figure 3, which consists of STC12LE5410AD MCU, data acquisition module, keys, LED and nRF24L01 RF wireless communication module. TELKOMNIKA Vol. 10, No. 8, December 2012 : 2159 – 2168
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Figure 3. Block diagram of RF wireless data acquisitor 2. Program design The program of Wireless data acquisitor running as follow: Firstly, the initialization of STC12LE5410AD MCU, A/D module and nRF24L01 wireless module and configure the wireless which receive mode, read the ID number of the MCU. Then determine while the learning-paired button is pressed, learning-paired subprogram is called when pressed, or turned into a normal communication state ,calling the frequency hopping receive subprogram to wait for the acquisition command. If the data are received, first compare the node address. If matched, launch a respond and collect data comply with the command and then call the RF transmitter subprogram to send the data to the nearest RS-485 data acquisitor by the regular agreement. So the operation of sending command and returning data for the wireless data acquisitor is completed. 3. Realization of Learning-paired An intelligent learning-paired manner of wireless data acquisitor is researched in this system which makes the use of the wireless data acquisitor more flexible and convenience. The normal communication is built after the learning-paired successfully between wireless transmitter and receiver and realize the data is send to the nearest RS-485 collector by the way of wireless. Learning-paired method is as follow: first a learning-paired key is set at the transmitter and receiver, and the nRF24L01 wireless communication module is configured for bi-direction mode. The wireless module will be in receiving mode when learning-paired key is pressed. The learning code of the transmitter is sent to the receiver in regular agreement when the learning-paired key of transmitter is pressed .The learning code is stored in EEPROM of MCU of the receiver ,then allocate a new node address according to the different code and return to the transmitter. the new node address is stored in the EEPROM of MCU of transmitter and displayed on the LED. When the learning-paired is completed, the letter "o" is displayed on the LED in the receiver if the learning-paired is successful, then the wireless data collector receiving or sending data by the new node address. 4. Design and realization of the frequency agility agreement The nRF24L01 wireless module working frequency is 2.4GHz that is named ISM can be used all over the world without applying any license, so many wireless facilities such as Bluetooth, WiFi are works at this frequency. In order to make wireless module work normally and improve the reliability of communication, it is necessary to take some measures to protect wireless modules against the disturbance. Combine with the characteristic of nRF24L01 which have 125 working channel [6],FHSS (Frequency-hopping spread spectrum) technology is used to realize the above purpose that escape the disturbance from the other wireless devices which use the same frequency automatically. The exactly realization process is as follow: a. Firstly it needs to design the frequency-agility table between transmitter and receiver. the bandwidth that W-LAN works is 22MHz,so it should make any two channel space is above 22MHz,and any three channel distribute in high, middle, low part of 2.4GHz when design the
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table [7],which will help nRF24L01 find one channel without disturbance when it has clash with W-LAN device quickly. The frequency-agility table of the system is showed in table 1. Table 1. nRF24L01 frequency-agility No. 0 2 4 6 8
Channel 3 62 35 16 80
Frequency/KHz 2403 2462 2435 2416 2480
No. 1 3 5 7
Channel 31 8 68 45
Frequency/KHz 2431 2408 2468 2445
b. The process of channel researching before the data communication [8,9]. Firstly the transmitter and receiver will scan the believable channel according to the regular cycle, the transmitter change the channel at one cycle by 5ms, the channel serial number is changed continuously from 0 to 8 and the transmitter will try to send the data through every channel, then waiting for the answer (ACK) from receiver. If it can get the correct signal from receiver in 5 ms which indicate that the receiver is monitoring the data and there is no other wireless devices working in this channel. then both of transmitter and receiver will go on working in this channel. If the transmitter never gets the answer from receiver in 5 ms, it will resend the same data in this channel for some times. If it still failure, the following two possibilities: (1) the receiver is monitoring data in the other channel,(2) the receiver is monitoring the dates in this channel, but the channel is disturbed by the other wireless devices at this time ,the transmitter will switch to the next channel to resend data. The receiver switch the working channel from 0 to 8 in a cycle for every 45ms, and in every channel the duration is 45ms, which can guarantee the transmitter and receiver works at the same channel in 5ms.if the connection is successful in 45ms, both of the transmitter and receiver can go into the normal communication mode. Otherwise, the receiver will switch to the next channel and wait for the data until it success.
Figure 4. Frequency hopping flow chart of send
Figure 5. Frequency hopping flow chart of receive
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c. After the connection is successful, the program will be in normal communication process, and it will switch the working channel by the way same as connecting process when it encounters the disturbance from other radio devices. The flow chart of frequency-agility is showed in Figure 4 and Figure 5. 3.2. RS-485 data acquisitor 1. Circuit design The block diagram of RS-485 data acquisitor is shown in Figure 6 which consists of STC12C5A32S2 MCU, RS-485 interface, nRF24L01 module, data acquisition block, LED and keys block.RS-485 data acquisitor also can be wireless receiver in this system.
Figure 6.Block diagram of RS-485 data acquisitor 2. Program design The flow chart of RS-485 date collector is showed in Figure 7 which executed process is: firstly initialize the STC12C5A32S2 MCU and nRF24L01 wireless communication module, then analyze whether it has already got the node address from the data acquisition terminal.
Figure 7.Flow chart of RS-485 data acquisitor Application of GPRS and GIS in Boiler Remote Monitoring System (Yifeng Wu)
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If no, calling node address getting subprogram to get the new node address, if the learningpaired key is pressed, calling learning-paired subprogram to connect to the wireless data acquisitor, otherwise, the system will set the MCU RS-485 interface as receiving mode to monitor the 485 bus data, waiting for the command from terminal. When the bus is measured to have data, then the system will be compared with the node address, if matched, it will take some measures to process the data and accomplish the corresponding action according to the command. If the operation is for wireless data acquisitor, RS-485 collector will send the program to the wireless data acquisitor which has been matched by calling the frequency-hopping subprogram, and then wait for the data return, when the returning is received successfully, RS485 data acquisitor will package both of the receiving data and the data collected by itself then transmitted it to the data acquisition terminal by 485 bus. Thus it means it has finished a data collecting operation between RS-485 data collect and wireless data acquisitor. 3.3 Data acquisition terminal 1. Circuit design Data acquisition terminal plays a central pivotal role in the system which includes STC12C5A32S2 MCU, RS-232 interface, RS-485 interface, key block and LCD display block. The block diagram is shown in Figure 8.The serial port 1 of data acquisition terminal is designed to connect to the GPRS module, while port 2 is designed to connect to RS-485 data acquisitor by MAX-485 electrical level converter chip.
Figure 8. Block diagram of data acquisition terminal 2. Program design The flow chart of data acquisition terminal is shown in Figure 9, the implementation process is: Firstly, initialize the STC12C5A32S2 MCU, LCD, etc, and then check the GPRS module is connected to the monitoring center by sending AT commands through serial port 1.If the connection fails, calling GPRS module connecting subprogram. when connecting success, The data acquisition terminal will detect the serial port 1.if the command from the monitor center is received, the GPRS module will sent data to the MCU through the serial port 1 and the MCU will complete corresponding action after it receives the data according to the data command’s requirements, if the operation is for the other nodes, then the data acquisition terminal will sent the command information to the RS-485 collector by the 485 bus according to the regular agreement and waiting for the returning data, The data will be displayed in LCD after receiving the returning data, meanwhile ,all returning data will be packaged in setting time ,and then it will be sent to the monitor center by GPRS module. Thus it realizes the communication between data collecting system and monitor center. 3.4 GPRS module In this system, the GPRS module is connected to the boiler data acquisition system and the monitor center. It is primarily responsible for transparently converting RS-232 and PPP/TCP/IP protocol. The GPRS module packages data and sends it to the specified IP server and port of the monitor center after receives data from the data acquisition terminal. On the
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contrary, the data should through the decoding processing and be sent to the filed data acquisition terminal in turn according to the specified baud rate via the serial interface.
Figure 9. Flow chart of data acquisition terminal 1. Circuit Design The Huawei GTM900-C GPRS module is selected in this system. The module has the advantages of small size, low power consumption, simple operation and so on. It can be controlled by AT commands through the serial port. The user using common MCU through simple AT commands can control the dial-up connection to the monitor center and then pass serial data between the monitor center and data acquisition terminal ,because the module is embedded TCP/IP protocol. Application of GPRS and GIS in Boiler Remote Monitoring System (Yifeng Wu)
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2. Connection and communication of the GPRS module and monitor center For the module is embedded TCP/IP protocol, when creating the TCP/IP connection between the data acquisition terminal and the monitor center, the following AT commands should be sent by MCU[10]:①AT+CREG？This command is used to query the module is already registered to the GPRS network or not; ②AT+CGDCONT=1,“IP”,“CMNET”,this command is used to set the GPRS access to the gateway; ③AT%ETCPIP, this command is used to enable TCP/IP of the GPRS module;④ AT%IPOPEN=“TCP”,”***.***.***.***”,12345,4098, which is used to open a TCP connection."***.***.***.***"is the public IP address of monitor center,12345 is the monitor port number of monitor center and 4098 is used for bounding local port. When a connection successfully establishing, the monitor center can send command to the data acquisition terminal and the data can be sent to the monitoring center by the GPRS module. For the ASCII code is used to send and receive data of the communication between GTM900-C and monitor center, the data need to be converted to ASCII code before being sent. Similarly, the data from the monitor center should be restored into hexadecimal to complete the command decoding.
4. Design software of monitor center The designing of software of the monitor center includes the realization of GIS function, the designs of the monitoring interface and the database management system.MapX5.0 is selected to develop GIS software in this system. It is combined with KingView6.53 configuration software to develop the monitoring interface with GIS functionality. The Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is chose for the development of database management system. 4.1 Implementation of GIS function For the development of monitoring system with GIS function, MapX of Maolnfo corporation is selected to develop GIS software in this system. MapX is a standard control based windows operating system [11],and its properties, methods and events are conducted using standard data types and functions format. Because the data types supported by KingView are limited, some data types are not compatible with MapX, therefore the MapX control can't be applied to KingView directly. The MapX control has good compatibility with VB, VC and other visual programming tools, therefore, a new GIS component is developed through VB on the basis of the MapX control in this system, and it has a good compatibility with KingView. Taking into account the system's development cycle, this article only describes how to convert parts of MapX's function (the used function in the system).The conversion idea is: the new custom control built in VB to create a custom control's methods, properties and events by calling the MapX control's methods, properties and events function, The data type and function format are converted to match the KingView. Such as CurrentTool and other property values defined in the MapX are miZoomOutTool, and miZoomOutTool can't be recognized in KingView. So the property values should be packaged in VB before being called in KingView. The procedures are as followed: Public Sub Gis_ZoomOut () Map1.CurrentTool = miZoomOutTool End Sub
The zoom function can be achieved by calling the method in KingView. 4.2 Monitoring interface design KingView6.53 which developed by Beijing YaKong company is chose as a PC monitor interface development tool in the system.KingView6.53 not only has function such as rich graphics, animations, reports, but also provides users with many interfaces which can exchange data with an external program and many driver program communicated with the hardware. 1. GPRS communication of Kingview The Kingview is communicated with the GPRS module through a virtual serial port, and thus communicated with data acquisitor, A virtual serial port must correspond to a virtual device in Kingview. But each virtual device can be associated with more than one actual device when the device using the same protocol and the device address do not repeat[12]. The communication parameters must be set the same to data acquisition terminals’, such as 9600
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baud rate,8 data bits,1 stop bit and no parity format after the establishment of virtual serial port is completed. 2. Monitoring interface The monitoring interface is the human-machine interaction interface of the monitor center. The data which collected from boiler field acquisition and transmitted through the transmission system is displayed by animation, curves, charts, reports and other forms in monitoring interface. System registry, GIS and boiler operation interface are designed in the system.
Figure 10.GIS interface As the GIS interface shown in Figure 10, the GIS interface will be displayed when related users login into the system through the login screen. Through zooming, searching, positioning operations in GIS software, the manager can enter a boiler monitoring interface of a specified boiler monitoring point to view boiler's operating conditions and can dynamically mark the boiler location in the GIS interface, so the manager can bring up the monitoring interface easily by the mark. The basic information and the physical map of the selected boiler also can be viewed in GIS interface. 3. Database design of monitoring center Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is chose in the system which is a popular relational database. An external exchange data with the database through ODBC. The database use ER (Entity-Relationship) [13] mode to design. The database is called "boiler", and it's composed of the user information table, the boiler information table and the boiler operation parameter table. The user information table contains the user name, user permissions, etc. The boiler information table used to record the basic information of the entire area of industrial boilers, such as the name of boilers. The boiler operating parameters table storage boiler run-time parameters, such as furnace temperature. Each table is associated through the boiler ID.
5. Conclusion The GPRS network is used to communicate data between monitor center and data acquisition system of boiler field. The distributed monitoring points are set to the electronic map by GIS technology, So it can remote monitor industrial boilers of a region and city. The experiments show that the system has advantages such as easy to use, friendly interface, high reliability, and scalability and so on, and it is great significance to improve the operating efficiency of the industrial boilers, reduce energy consumption, reduce emissions of pollutants and the prevention of boiler accidents.
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Acknowledgment The science and technology major projects: 2008-88 of Fujian Province, China. References [1] Chuanzhao Xu,Yan Zhao.The current situation of industrial boilers in China,Gap and Outlook.Applied energy technology.2002;1(73):42-43. [2] Brahim Ghribi,Luigi Logrippo.Understanding GPRS:the GSM packet radio service.Computer Networks.2000;34(11):763-779. [3] Zhenyao Fang.Geographic information query system based on MapX.MSE Thesis.Shandong university:Postgraduate;2009. [4] Chung-Hsing Chao.A Remote Power Management Strategy for the solar Energy Powered Bicycle.TELKOMNIKA.2011;9(3):483-488. [5] Ahmad Ashari.Distributed Monitoring and Controlling Using Microcontroller and Virtual Internet Protocol. TELKOMNIKA.2010;8(3):285-292. [6] Nordic.nRF24L01 Single Chip 2.4Ghz Transceiver Product Specification.Nordic VLSI ASA Inc .2007. [7] Nordic.Nordic 2.4Ghz products working alongside Wireless LAN and Bluetooth.Nordic VLSI ASA Inc .2003. [8] Nordic.Simple frequency hopping with the nRF9E5 and nRF24E1.Nordic VLSI ASA Inc .2003. [9] Nordic.Frequency agility protocol for nRF24XX. Nordic VLSI ASA Inc.2003. [10] Huawei.GTM900-C AT command manual. Huawei Technology Limited company.2009. [11] Lianying Li.The GIS application development based on MapX.Wuhan University Press.2003. [12] Wellintech.Kingview 6.53 user manual.Wellintech Co.,Ltd.2007. [13] Jinyan Zhao.The development technology of database managerment and application.China WaterPower Press.2004.
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