SEMERAP: mapping and standardisation for water and sanitation networks

This project, in a business sector where Topkapi is regularly encountered, offers a few particularities which we describe here, to highlight Topkapi's characteristics ensuring it is a solution perfectly suited to remote management applications of all sizes.

Architecture of the new supervision system

The system uses 2 hot backup Topkapi servers in direct PSTN-modem link with Sofrel controllers (over 350 planned), redundant text-to-speech stand-by service and Summary module, 3 thick clients, 20 Open Client connections (« floating » clients) per server and Web clients (Webserv 4 connections per server) ; i.e. a potential total 51 stations operating simultaneously.

Open Clients are perfectly suited to the needs of the SEMERAP operating agents, logging into Topkapi LAN or remote servers, as they offer very high display performance even over low rate communication media.

Web clients are made available to authorities client of SEMERAP, who can log into supervision from any computer station using a web browser, hence view the state of their installations and analyze operating data.

GIS - Geographical Information System and supervision by Topkapi

Several methods can be used by Topkapi to interface with a GIS:

• Via a WMS server (Web Map Services)
• By importing files in the Autocad format (DXF)
• By importing maps in the MapInfo format (MID/MIF) frequently used in the geographical field
   

For ergonomic and efficiency purposes, the latter method was chosen by the SCATE Automation integrator to create global browsing views. « The MapInfo format provides very high quality and customizable maps » comments Patrice PORTE, project manager for SCATE Automation. « In addition to a hydrographic representation associated with relief models, the maps were customized to meet precisely SEMERAP's needs, by representing the water and sanitation networks and geolocalizing the different structures (steps, pumping stations, …). »

In Topkapi, when importing maps in the MID/MIF format, symbol objects defined in the import files also allow to instantiate pre-animated Topkapi library objects, which are then positioned in their actual locations on the maps in the synoptic diagrams.

Standardisation - Object programming with Topkapi

Considering the size of the application (over 350 devices planned, i.e. more than 50,000 variables), object programming was used, as it was available in standard in Topkapi, ensuring maximum automation when integrating new sites to the application. After a thorough joint analysis of the types of sites by the SEMERAP operator and SCATE Automation integrator, 3 database object structures (drinking water, sanitation station, pumping station) were defined, from 40 to 120 variables.

The object models, called structured types in Topkapi, use a single declaration (instantiation) to generate all generic variables associated with a remote management station, to: 

• Manage communication: the structured type supplied in standard by AREAL (profiles 6000 to 6003) was customized and « embedded » into the new structured types created by SCATE Automation
• Create the station's ID card
• Generate operating reports via the Summary module
• Retrieve generic information (yield, rejection concentrations, flow rates, …) for the steps
   

The instantiation is implemented by filling in a few fields, and allows automatic generation of a mimic diagram page associated with the controller and a few mimic diagram objects.

For data which could not be included to the standardisation, Topkapi's Softlink tool is used to ensure autoconfiguration of the application, by importing files issued from the Softools manufacturer software used to configure the remote management stations.
 

*SEMERAP, Société d’Economie Mixte pour l’Exploitation des Réseaux d’eau et Assainissement et la Protection de l’environnement, manages drinking water and sanitation networks over a perimeter of 170 villages in the Puy-de-Dôme region.