Software System for Mobile Communication, Operating and Monitoring of Automated Systems

Extend 7000 was implemented at Munich airport in 2009 and is used by service engineers to support the high-speed baggage handling system.  In operation at Munich are three classes of conveyor lines capable of handling up to 800, 1200 or 2400 pieces of luggage each hour, which equates to a maximum rate of 40 pieces of luggage being sorted every minute.

The systems are controlled by a large number of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) connected via Ethernet, which exchange data with each other and the superior SCADA system (visualization). These PLCs generate almost 140.000 notifications (alarms, warnings, statistics, operating notifications) to the SCADA system.  Prior to using Extend 7000 control room personnel would manually forward notifications to service staff working in the field.

Extend 7000 has been fully integrated with the PLC systems, handling notifications in parallel to the SCADA system and instantly dispatching them to mobile devices used by the maintenance staff directly. Extend 7000 is also connected to the existing maintenance software MAIN-TOOL (Microsoft Dynamics) to allow maintenance engineers to access information about stocked spare parts as well as process service and maintenance orders on the mobile devices.

Using Extend 7000, all system notifications that are produced at different parts of the plant, are distributed to the BlackBerry handhelds with escalation schemes and clearly defined team workflows. The application also enables writing, data capture, monitoring and controlling. Any value (including analogue data such as temperature or RPM and binary data e.g. on/off) originating from the baggage handling system can be displayed on the BlackBerry devices and control tasks can executed.  For example using Extend 7000 is it possible to remotely turn off a conveyor line or close a valve directly from the BlackBerry device.

Results – up to 12 more planes handled each day

Munich airport experiences on average 200 baggage handling failures per day and Extend 7000 has been shown to reduce the downtime in each of these cases by 3 minutes each.

Over the course of a day this equates to a total of 600 minutes or 10 hours less downtime as each commercial aircraft can be estimated to carry 1000 pieces of luggage. Although conveyors at the airport can operate at 2400 pieces per hour capacity, assuming an average conveyor capacity rate of 1200 pieces per hour, using Extend 7000 has increased the overall capacity level by 12,000 pieces a day or 360,000 pieces per month.

Overall using Extend 7000 means Munich airport can handle an extra 12 aircraft every day.