Perspective, Edge, and MQTT Bring Significant Cost Savings

Project Scope

• Tags: 90,000 on Main Gateway and more than 2,500 on each Edge Gateway
• Screens: 73 Perspective views
• Clients: More than 90 unique users and average of 15 simultaneous users
• Alarms: Approx. 20 alarms per hour
• Devices: More than 60 Allen Bradley CompactLogix, AutoPilot Pro, Allen Bradley MicroLogix, Rosemount EC3 Flow Computers
• Architectures: Hub & Spoke (Scale Out, IIoT, Enterprise, Edge Panel, Redundancy, and Cloud-Based Architecture)
• Databases: 4 Azure Managed SQL Databases (Ignition Metadata DB, Ignition History DB, Regulatory DB, AUTOSOL Config Database) and 3 Replicated Azure Managed SQL Databases for business use (Ignition metadata DB, Ignition history DB, Regulatory DB)
• Historical data logged: 125,000 historical tags and 600,000 records per month

Project Overview

WaterBridge, a midstream water management company, was not receiving the level of reliability and support that it needed with its existing control and SCADA system. TIGA performed a phase-one engineering assessment to determine the level of effort required to replace WaterBridge’s control and SCADA systems to an updated IIoT platform. Through the assessment, TIGA was able to define a migration path to allow WaterBridge to gain flexibility, consistent visibility into its operations, ownership of its control and SCADA systems, and significant cost savings over the life of the systems. Ignition Edge with MQTT was implemented at 65 saltwater disposal facilities, and Ignition Perspective was used for mobile devices.

By leveraging Ignition, TIGA was able to deliver a system that WaterBridge needed in order to easily control operations. Allowing WaterBridge ownership of its control and SCADA systems has removed the need for the closed proprietary system. Operational processes are more efficient due to increased visibility for key stakeholders who can now make decisions in real time. Centralizing the data has helped not only operations but has also enabled a digital transformation. The collection of data is stored in one location and serves over 30 WaterBridge customers with the ability to monitor all aspects of the midstream allocation.

WaterBridge had proprietary control and SCADA systems that were outdated and unable to meet the demands associated with the growth of WaterBridge’s operations. WaterBridge required a system that would allow it to better leverage emerging technologies in addition to gaining deeper insights into the operational data through an industry-accepted enterprise SCADA system and control system. 

Within the last few years, WaterBridge has experienced rapid growth. During that time, unreliability and stability issues within its control and SCADA systems became increasingly apparent. The system was unable to handle systematic changes that WaterBridge needed to run its operations at maximum efficiency. The cost of WaterBridge’s legacy solution was scaling dramatically, since it did not have direct ownership of the control and SCADA systems.

TIGA and WaterBridge worked together to architect a new design using the latest industry-standard PLCs and SCADA technologies. WaterBridge engaged TIGA to perform a functional assessment and design of a new SCADA and control system. This assessment and functional design included using Ignition in the enterprise, Ignition Edge at each facility, and Perspective as the user interface. 

The Ignition SCADA platform enabled the use of edge computing for the aggregation of data via Ignition’s Allen Bradley and Modbus OPC-UA drivers, the transport of high-frequency data with optimized bandwidth usage via Cirrus Link Solutions’ MQTT modules for Ignition, and the local visualization and control HMI with Ignition Edge Panel.

Following a successful pilot project, "Project Independence" was kicked off by WaterBridge's Charles Lame and TIGA to successfully replace the legacy proprietary field equipment and deploy Ignition with MQTT and Sparkplug B at each facility. TIGA’s implementation of the SCADA system focused on application architecture, ancillary and data integration subsystems, UI/UX design and development, external interfaces, and local HMI uplift. 

 TIGA worked with WaterBridge to deploy an enterprise Ignition SCADA system within Microsoft Azure cloud-hosted infrastructure using Ignition's Enterprise Administration Module. The system was architected by using MQTT and Sparkplug B with redundant Cirrus Link Chariot brokers. This enabled WaterBridge to realize a substantial increase in data resolution and data quality using the Sparkplug B report-by-exception and store-and-forward.  

At each of the 65 saltwater disposal facilities, Ignition Edge with Allen Bradley, Modbus, and MQTT Transmission Modules are being used for data collection. The system is collecting data from more than 2,000 tags per second, per facility, through this architecture.

WaterBridge and TIGA took a mobile-first approach to design and implement the visualization components of the Ignition Perspective system. This strategy allowed TIGA to workshop and sketch the Ignition Perspective UI and work toward the visualizations for all other user experiences from mobile phones to high-resolution monitors.

TIGA worked with WaterBridge to repurpose the existing OnLogic IPC at each facility and integrate Ignition Edge Panel for the local HMI. TIGA’s team developed a process to make the most current Texas RRC Lease and Drilling Permit data available for selection at the edge devices used for truck unloading. Local HMI screens were developed to find and correct missing information on truck tickets created at those edge devices. Using the corrected truck ticket information and metered piped volumes, TIGA developed a process to allocate skim oil sales and report them on the Texas RRC P18 form. Ignition Edge Panel solutions deployed at each facility are centrally managed from the enterprise Ignition system in Azure using the Enterprise Application Module.

This project allowed WaterBridge and TIGA to implement an IIoT-enabled Ignition SCADA system within a hosted Microsoft Azure infrastructure using the Ignition Enterprise Administration Module, Ignition Perspective for user interface, Ignition Edge Panel and Edge MQTT with Cirrus Link's Chariot broker while maintaining control and safety systems at each location. This system enables a higher resolution of data, better user experience through Perspective, and a manageable, open SCADA system. 

The solution is made successful with the use of the following modules:

• Enterprise Administration Module
• Perspective Module for SCADA screens
• Ignition Edge Panel + Edge MQTT + Edge Enterprise
• Cirrus Link Chariot broker
• MQTT Transmission, Engine, and Recorder modules 
• AUTOSOL Communications Manager