Non-Invasive Control Solution inside Higher-Level OPC UA based Wrapper for Optimizing Groups of Wastewater Systems

Abstract

Interoperability is a key attribute of systems nowadays in the industry. It enables local devices towards integration into higher-level supervisory/management structures and assures communication among same level systems. In the wastewater industry, local automation and SCADA structures are functioning independently in most situations and sometimes implemented using proprietary protocols causing higher-level integration and scalability/extensibility problems. With interdependences at the process level but without correlation in a higher-level supervisory algorithm, some real scenarios are causing undesired behaviors (e.g. wastewater overflows, untreated wastewater directed through bypasses into outlet). The current paper proposes a higher-level control solution (HLCS) that is modularly implemented inside a OPC UA based wrapper. The solution is designed for wastewater pumping stations and wastewater treatment plant to optimize their behavior as a group. Besides achieving interoperability of structures, the noninvasive character of the solution eliminates specific and frequent problems of interference in local functioning systems.