April 28, 2017 —GE Energy Connections' Automation & Controls business announced its Control Server and Control System Health App at Hannover Messe in Hannover, Germany. These innovations are a part of GE’s Industrial Internet Control System (IICS). IICS is an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution that connects thousands of machines to the power of the cloud and brings computing to the edge. A link to the network that connects all Programmable Automation Controllers (PAC) in a factory or plant, the Control Server collects, stores and analyzes all data that is received using Predix software. It is a scalable platform that enables power plants to extract industrial data and is protected from cyber-attacks and other forms of hacking.
Utilizing GE’s Field Agent platform, Control Server also enables optimizing apps like Model-based Optimizing Control (MBOC) to inject performance improvements. As part of the industrial app economy, GE also launched the Control System Health App which allows customers to monitor the status of their control hardware from any location with internet access. The app collects real-time data in a time-series database and uses the power of analytics to recommend corrective actions based on faults. Powered by Field Agent and Predix technology, the app provides a view of current and historical faults for both I/O and controllers, CPU firmware revision, temperature indication and controller status.
By leveraging real-time data and analytics, the app allows for situational awareness of controller assets anywhere in the world. OEMs can utilize this app and turn it into a service that they can provide to their customers to generate a new revenue stream. The app can be accessed on PACSystems RX3i - CPE305, CPE310, CPE330, and CPE400.
