Video Technology Developed In The Water Industry Can Monitor Pipeline Facilities

In the pipeline industry, real-time monitoring is becoming a big business. Systems monitor pipeline integrity, temperature, vibration, leaks, personnel and equipment, as well as watch for intruders. These systems use a variety of communication methods, including fiber optic cable strung along the pipeline, cellular, satellite, wireless and Ethernet.

Advances in video monitoring in the water and wastewater industries can be applied to pipeline applications. Water plants in the U.S. have installed video monitoring equipment to watch over their fences, entry points, remote facilities, lagoons and properties, Figure 1. In many cases, they connected the security video to their HMI/SCADA systems using industrial networks, wireless and cellular network connections. The main reason for connecting to existing networks was that it was far less expensive than to install dedicated CCTV or broadband cable.

Figure 1: Water treatment plants pioneered the use of video in HMI/SCADA systems. Here, a water plant in the U.S. displays video clips transmitted over the plant’s industrial network on a Wonderware HMI system.

The same technology applies to pipeline monitoring, making it possible to install video cameras anywhere along a pipeline, from offshore platforms and wellheads to compressor stations, LNG plants, and distribution points. By using existing communications capabilities and bringing video directly to HMI/SCADA screens, operators can see what is happening at remote facilities, diagnose problems, and minimize the need for personnel site visits. The challenge in any of these systems includes the following:

• Making sure that the video transmissions do not interfere with monitoring and control signals and
• Integrating video into the SCADA/HMI system so the operator can easily relate process alarms and video information.

Adding video monitoring to existing networks and HMI/SCADA systems is a well-developed technology. Longwatch pioneered the use of industrial networks for connecting video to Wonderware, Rockwell, GE Fanuc iFix and other HMI/SCADA systems. Consequently, it has dozens of installations across the U.S. in water plants. Emerson and Invensys also offer video security monitoring systems connected to HMI/SCADA. Simply dropping a video window onto an HMI/SCADA screen is now a common practice.

Video For HMI/SCADA Systems

Traditional video monitoring in a gas processing plant involves remote analog cameras connected via CCTV coaxial cables to a bank of monitors in a guard shack. Not only is this an expensive solution, it requires eternal vigilance by security personnel to make sure they don’t miss anything. If conventional video monitors are installed in a control room, they take up valuable panel space, and also require constant observation.

A modern digital camera system improves on this installation in four ways: First, it allows multiple cameras to be connected to a single cable or wireless connection; second, it uses an existing industrial network to transmit the images, thus eliminating the need to run additional cable; third, it puts the video images directly onto an HMI/SCADA screen, so operators can monitor what is happening in a process unit; and fourth, modern digital cameras and video processing software can identify intruders and anomalies in the image, and alert the operator by integrating video alarms into their existing SCADA/HMI system. Figure 2 illustrates how such a system works.