DISTRIBUTED LONWORKS CONTROL AND MONITORING SYSTEM FOR ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY

Abstract

An integrated monitoring and control system was needed to monitor and control over 100 items of research,security, and safety equipment in 17 buildings at the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory. A LonWorks-based systemwas chosen to provide maximum interconnectability between three existing systems, to provide a variety of wired orwireless connection options, and unlimited expansion capabilities. The resulting network has 36 nodes includingcontrollers, network access cards and routers connected by a twisted pair of wires, and it monitors equipment such asincubators, hatching cabinets, freezer and walk-in cooler temperatures, controlled environment rooms, static pressures,fire alarm, door access, and sewage tank cooking parameters in 17 buildings. It also controls two sewage cooking tanksand access for three doors and two gates. Local and remote access to the system is possible through any one of threedesktop computers; two of which are accessed using PCanywhere (Symantec Corp., Cupertino, Calif.), a remote controlprogram for PCs, and one of which is accessed by telephone using Win911 (Specter Instruments, Austin, Tex.), a programfor remote telephone access of the system and alphanumeric alarm paging. Alarms are annunciated locally and throughdigital and alphanumeric pagers. The system has been in use for approximately 24 months and overall it has performedvery reliably. Most failures have been caused by insufficient suppression devices to protect against high voltage transientsduring thunderstorms, but new suppressors have corrected this problem. The generic nature of the system and easyexpansion lends itself to many applications.