GO Farther GO Extreme with Active Cellular Controller

Moxa provides Rugged and Compact 3-in-1 Cellular Remote I/O

Taipei, Taiwan, Jan. 9, 2014— ioPAC 5540 remote I/O are hardy, compact, metal-encased all-in-one RTU controllers that combine a GPRS/HSPA cellular modem, an I/O controller, and a data logger in a single device.

The ioPAC 5540 supports standalone data logging in a storage space expandable up to 32 GB, and comes with the innovative, patented Active OPC Server software, based on push technology. Users can expect many significant value-added benefits that include reductions in data transmissions, lower hardware costs, and lower deployment and maintenance costs. In addition, with high sampling rates, a prerecorded event buffer, millisecond scale timestamps, and either C/C++ or IEC 61131-3 programming platforms, Moxa ioPAC 5500 RTUs deliver both extreme accuracy and powerful programming tools, giving engineers a strong, efficient platform to support monitoring and analytical processes like identifying anomalous intrusions, or device failures. Designed to work reliably in harsh industrial environments, ioPAC 5500 standalone controllers feature railway-grade ESD and surge protection, wide tolerance for temperatures from -40 to 75°C (-30 to 75°C for HSPA models), and are UL/cUL Class 1 Division 2 and ATEX Zone 2 certified. For network redundancy and communications security, ioPAC 5500 devices come with two 10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports that may be trunked into a single uplink, as well as two software-selectable 3-in-1 serial ports. With its targeted hardware and software optimizations, the ioPAC 5500 series provides a comprehensive solution for data acquisition and control applications in harsh environments.

These sleek RTUs provide benefits beyond mere RTU performance, and are ideal solutions for any number of industrial applications, such as:

Ÿ Pipeline monitoring for water, oil, and gas

Ÿ Pump- and lift-station monitoring

Ÿ Environmental monitoring

Ÿ Security and surveillance

Fine data precision for rapid, efficient accuracy

Moxa’s ioPAC 5500 RTUs feature a 250 Hz sampling rate on analog input, giving engineers high sampling precision to guarantee effective event analysis. Further, the prerecord buffer on the analog input gives the ioPAC 5500 RTU controllers a continuously recording window of input data and log conditions; whenever a configured emergency triggers the data logger, all data leading up to the event and continuing afterwards is recorded, eliminating gaps that might occur because of network latency, while providing a thorough dataset for much more effective after-event analysis.

Automatic Data Updates from SD Cards Following Network Failures

When Moxa’s ioPAC 5540 remote I/O controllers are combined with Active OPC Server™ and DA-Center™ are used together, any data that is collected while the device is off the network may be automatically supplemented back to the control center immediately upon network reconnection. Following any network failure, as soon as the network connection is reestablished a DA-Center database gateway at the network core will compare historical data stored on the ioPAC 5540’s localMicroSD card with what it has already received, and then automatically supplement any missing data by requesting re-transmission from the RTU.

Dynamic IP Assignments

For most cellular solutions, each remote modem as well as the central SCADA server is assigned a static, public IP when establishing bi-directional communication. Yet cellular network carriers charge higher monthly fees for static IPs than they do for dynamic addresses that are hidden behind an NAT. In a traditional polling communications architecture, there is no way for a central control server to acquire the dynamic addresses of remote devices; however, with Moxa’s patented Active OPC Server, edge devices may be configured to actively report any changes to their dynamic IPs back to the central server. This means that the ioPAC 5540 can automatically establish communications with any Active OPC Server configured with a fixed IP, allowing remote ioPAC 5540s to utilize the much cheaper dynamic addressing when configured for cellular communications.

Faster, More Accurate Serial Data Collection than Traditional “Pull Technology”

ioPAC 5540 RTU controllers are equipped with two 3-in-1 RS-232/422/485 serial ports, making the connection of serial field devices convenient and cheap. ioPAC 5540 remote I/O controllers can also create user-defined Modbus serial tags to translate serial data from remote serial meters and flow sensors into OPC tags, and can also actively update that tag data to an Active OPC Server. The combination of these features delivers faster I/O response times and more accurate data collection than in polled systems. Except for its active serial tag functions, the ioPAC 5540 line of cellular RTUs provides transparent serial tunnels and Modbus RTU communications for direct connectivity between field devices and central control systems.

Visit ioPAC 5540 Series to learn more about Moxa’s industrial Automation Data Acquisition Device.