WO2006061864A1

WO2006061864A1 - System for the supervisory control and data acquisition (scada) of boats and/or ships

Info

Publication number: WO2006061864A1
Application number: PCT/IT2005/000697
Authority: WO
Inventors: Claudio Sensidoni
Original assignee: T.S.I. Tecnologie E Servizi Innovativi S.R.L.
Priority date: 2004-12-09
Filing date: 2005-11-29
Publication date: 2006-06-15
Also published as: ITTR20040011A1

Abstract

A system for the supervision control and data acquisition (SCADA) of boats and/or ships which achieves total automation of all the possible functions on board including automatic driving intelligent automatic pilot with the possibility of handing over the command of the boat or ship to a remote control centre. The fundamental element of the system is the specific software for the automation of boat or ship giding and displacement manoeuvres. It is installed on the industrial P.C of the control station on board and by interacting with one or more remote control units (RTU) and by integrating them it provides the two fundamental functions of this patent : -Supervision, remote control and remote monitoring of the entire boat/ship. -Automatic commando of the boat/ship (auto-pilot).

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE INDUSTRIAL INVENTION CALLED SYSTEM FOR THE SUPERVISORY CONTROL AND

DATA ACQUISITION (SCADA) OF BOATS AND/OR SHIPS.

TECHNICAL FIELD

A system Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) of boats and/or ships which achieves total automation of all the possible functions on board including automatic driving - "intelligent automatic pilot" - with the possibility of handing over the command of the boat or ship to a remote control center

BACKGROUND ART

The aim of the invention comes from the idea of applying the principles of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition

(SCADA) to the governing, including the driving, of boats and ships Traditional systems of governing boats and ships do not include such functions as the actual driving of the boat, let alone are they able to assume command of the boat They only guarantee the taking of the helm in order to maintain a route by governing only the rudder The invention is different from these because through the integration and a complete elaboration of the data obtained from the systems and the governing apparatus present on board, preset for this purpose (mechanical, electronic and electric-mechanical) the captain is provided with (both immediately and in an understandable form) all the information on board

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The system intervenes automatically in dangerous situations such as the risk of flooding, a fire, a collision or running aground The system takes over the governing of the boat either in the case that the captain be unfit or following a specific order on the part of the captain

The system governs during manoeuvres and navigation, taking into account the distance from both fixed objects and objects in movement, the depth of the water, weather conditions, the amount of fuel available and the general conditions of the boat It instantly provides the data relative to navigation to one or more predetermined remote control centers that use identical technology and adequate configuration It is possible to hand over the command of the ship to one of these centers if requested explicitly and if the center has been previously qualified

Should an emergency arise and a SOS be launched the system provides the option of "maintaining position" in alternative to "maintaining course"

The system accepts the end of the governing of the boat on the part of the captain also in non-emergency circumstances and in this case it does not activate an SOS nor does it alert the remote control center The present invention therefore becomes an extremely powerful and safe instrument as well as being very advantageous for the captain the ship owner, and the service companies or for those who are responsible for assistance at sea The aim of the system is to make every voyage to sea safe and optimal and in the case of automatic assistance besides guaranteeing a quick recovery, it is also less expensive

By integrating the functions of the governing apparatus on board a boat with the functions SCADA amd radio comtrol of the same governing apparatus and together with all the other systems on board, the invention from only one station, provides the following main functions a) It acquires all information regarding the state of the apparatus and/or systems on board (motor, reversers transmission organs, rudder, flaps, bilge pumps, emergency bilge pumps, fuel tanks, water tanks, power supply 12/24 Volts, 220 Volts, radar, radio, satellite, gps, gprs, echo sounder, weather station, current and obstacle gauge through a TV camera used for manoeuvres, neural camera for recognizing obstacles, generator, longitude and lateral slope gauges, internal TV cameras, anchor, porthole, general switches, etc ), as well as, the state of the captain - his position and physical condition and an image of the passengers according to their position on board b) It transmits information to the captain (and to the remote contol center if activated), giving immediate updates or warnings of conditions both in normal or critical circumstances, of each system and apparatus that governs the boat and verifying that the captain has seen and accepted the information c) It carries out the commands and instructions given by the captain relative to all the apparatus necessary to the driving of the boat and the managing of emergency and critical conditions The modality for the carrying out of commands (governing) It's possible to govern the ship through six types of bridge

1) Traditional (which acts even as an emergency bridge)

2) Traditional served by RTU (Remote Terminal unit)

3) From a panel (touch screen)

4) Mobile that can be used on board and on land with a portable laptop personal computer (touch screen)

5) From a remote contol center

6) Automatic pilot d) It Automatically carries out decisions submitted to local automation from the peripheral automatic device (RTU) I 0 such as the stopping of the boat when near obstacles or when there is risk of collision or insufficient depth the emptying of the standard and emergency bilge pumps, activation of fire extinguisher, manoeuvre man overboard The Automatic pilot is activated in two ways

^* IN AN EMERGENCY In the event that the captain be unable or the ship in imminent danger of collision and/or running aground, the system takes over the command of the boat and launches a traditional EPIREB SOS and communicates the emergency situation to the remote service center where available The automatic pilot is able to perform two types of governing based upon how it was reset The first consists in the continuation of the navigation to target with principle destination and route, subordinate destinations and routes The captain at the beginning of the navigation/voyage when performing the necessary corrections in order to avoid the imminent dangers determines the velocity of the navigation The second consists in governing the boat in order to maintain 0 the position where the SOS was launched The system commands the actuators, it is able to govern the rudders

(the surface propellers, the stern groups, the hydro jets, etc ) the flaps, the motor accelerators, the reversers , and as it continuously acquires information from DGPS, from the blind directional compass, the radar the echo sounder, the weather station, the rolling and pitching gauge, the velocity gauge it guarantees arrival at the prefixed target in the best way possible making all the necessary adjustments and making all kinds of decisions in complete autonomy

IN NORMAL CONDITIONS following explicit orders from the captain in order to arrive at destination in the best way possible e) It communicates through satellite when it needs to launch an SOS EPIREB and with the remote service centers previously fitted out with compatible technology allowing for continual supervision of the navigation The system 0 also communicates with GPRS where coverage is present for those messages that are of secondary importance f) It hands over the governing of the boat to a qualified service center g) It guarantees the safety of the boat, of the captain and of the passengers on board h) It continuously records all gauge signals and commands on board including the manoeuvres set by the captain in this way functioning as a black box and transmitting to land either instantly or at a later time, the contents of the black box

1 THE CONFIGURATION OF THE SYSTEM

In order to accomplish its functions the system integrates electronic apparatus and measuring and regulating instruments with standard seafaring industrial equipment available on the market and/or specifically designed and built with which the system interfaces and interacts 0 1.1 LOCAL AND REMOTE CONTROL STATION

The control station installed on board is the same as the control station installed on land at one or more service centers It is made up of a computer like an industrial PC that functions as a CONCENTRATOR and is equipped with an operative Windows CE xp embedded system that is able to give form to the system and that has two video TOUCH SCREENS on which the specific software for remote control and automation act It is called COLOMBO The CONCENTRATOR is interfaced and governs a variable number of Peripheral devices such as PLC or RTU (RTU Proprietor), and it is connected through LAN, which is in charge of local automation The RTU is in turn connected to the instruments on board, to the sensors and the actuators The control station absolves the boat from the functions of radio control and remote control, leaving the autonomous supervision of some commands of extreme emergency to the RTU, which are however monitored by the concentrator The same functions of the concentrator and the peripheral devices may be remote controlled through satellite or GPRS connection from an identical center installed on land PERIPHERAL DEVICE TYPE RTU

The remote control unit (RTU) is a microprocessor apparatus that accomplishes the following primary functions

• It acquires information, such as ON - OFF, the conditions of the control unit (switches, dissectors, sensors, etc ), from connections free of tension/voltage, through its own digital input (D I )

• It acquires through specific transducers, analog signals in voltage or current, useful for the verification of the regular functioning of the system, through its own analog input (A I )

• It transmits to the supervision centers the information gathered on the condition of its own digital and analog input recorded from the system

• It issues to installation systems, either on request from the center or spontaneously, commands to be carried out such as ON-OFF (turning on or off motors, contact breakers, etc ) through its own digital output (D O )

The RTU, on top of the functions described above, provides the advanced functions that allow automation to become concrete The advanced functions are part of the basic program of RTU and they rotate around a managing block of events that is the matrix through which possible events enter and possible actions exit The- managing block limits itself to sorting out programs A series of internal operators depend on the event block Objects that also have their own entrances and exits that can be either logical or physical can represent them The internal operators are the first 32 physical D I the first 4 counters either physical or virtual, the logical D I , diagnostic information D I and condition of the RTU, D I copy of the condition of the network of the exit of the Digital output, D I flag that can be manipulated with proper digital output codes to generate a form of periodic wave, the 8 A I and the 8 timers each equipped with 4 planned limits

The possible actions are the transmission of data to control centers, the transmission of physical and virtual digital output to other RTU, the enacting of local physical or virtual digital output and the memorization of data on internal storage/memory

The communication and local and remote automation capacity of the apparatus is very flexible The connection between the RTU and the transmission support can be direct or through a modem or even through interface for LAN, optic fibres, radio, satellite, etc The BTG modem group is normally connected on line through its own transformers/conveyances, which even permit it a 2 or a 4-wιre connection A telegraphic filter (FTG) can be interposed between the above wires and the RXfTX part The CONTRRTU group can be interposed between the transmission line and the BTG group, which in the presence of internal feeds out of tolerance or in the case of poitante/cable in transmission constantly active executes the dissection of the TX line The connection to various transmission supports can be executed also with the interface ETHERNET The RTU also contains the necessary parts for the development of the actions of regulation, data acquisition command and transmission, both on the part of the installation and to and from the center The connection to the center can be carried out through numerous transmission vectors, data that interfaces with RS232, RS485 or ETHERNET The RTU is equipped with a serial asynchronous interface, which allows for bi-directional connection to any serial EIA RS232C gate It is usually used to program the input data configuration, through a portable pc equipped with proper program, the above input data is stored in a non-volatile memory such as EEPROM

When tuning the installation, with a portable PC and also with diagnostic tests it is possible to read conditions and measurements and also insert commands to regulate, turn on or off These functions can also be carried out from a remote contol center

The regular functioning of the hardware and firmware parts of the apparatus is insured by a circuit, which acts like a watchdog, which generates a RESET in the case of persistent problems The mechanical structure is made with a standard 19" cupboard in order to have better protection from the external environment, the connections are made both with a clamping screw or tub EIA connectors

The RTU is made up of two sub frames single Standard 19" Euro card in which the cards find their place with grafting connectors (Ref FIG 1/12) The BASE SUBFRAME is equipped with the logic and input/output cards (MAX= 1 1 ) and the interface sub frame is equipped with field interface cards (MAX = 16) The connection between the cards of the two sub frames comes about through flat type cables, positioned on the head of connectors placed on the front of the cards The connection between the base sub frame groups comes about through a printed circuit back panel which is organized like a bus which makes the position of the I/O groups in the subframe indifferent, it is, however, necessary that there be no empty space between the groups present in I 0 the base sub frame All the groups of I/O of the BASE SUBFRAME are specialized with a direction through the right dipswitch The groups contained in the INTERFACE SUBFRAME contain circuits which separate the installation from the apparatus, with protection from damage caused by lightening strikes and anti-disturbance filters The RTU is made up of a fixed part that established "the base apparatus RTU ¹ and by various types of groups equipped according to the nature of the signals being dealt with The base apparatus RTU is composed of

• Metal box which can be hung on wall (an alternative to assembling in cupboard)

• Interface sub frame

• Base sub frame/BUS-R and the following groups 0 • battery charge feed card AL-RS 220 Vca and 24 Vcc battery in buffer

• Converter DC-DC SWR-3

• Card CPU/IM with two serial lines EIA RS232C, line RS485, memory FLASH EPROM, RAM EEPROM SERIAL

• Party -line card RTU-PL

• Card for control/warnings CONTRRTU

The I/O optional groups available for placing in the BASE SUBFRAME are

• Card PIO-2R 32 gates/doors I/O

• Card SIO232 2 serial ways EIA RS232C

• Converter card A/D 8 bit 8 measurements + 4 regulatorsAD/IO 0 The optional groups available for lodging in INTERFACE SUBFRAME are

• Interface card 16 D I optoisolators SB016

• Interface card 16 D O CMR16

• Interface card 8A l + 4 A O INA . Card for MODEM BTG 1200

• External modem type HAYES, mobile phone GSM or for LAN ENTHERNET radio, satellite, etc Digital Input (D.I.)

The digital input is a simple data item provided by the installation, composed of a single bit, it singles out the position of a part in two stable states (open or closed)

It is normally set up in the state of open or closed by a switch, by a relay contact or a final run etc The 0 apparatus is able to manage 250 D I input with various groups one group PIO-2R, situated in the base sub frame, it has a 32 input capacity and can be connected to two groups SBO16 (optoisolator signals), they are positioned in the interface sub frame and connected directly to the installation

Every interface signal card SBO16 directs 16 inputs, the input accepts closed relay contacts toward the ' common signals" or open contacts, in correspondence to the closing, the level "0" binary is produced The card also accepts piloting by apparatus with output OPEN COLLECTOR of a transistor of a PNP kind The D I input are sampled for a period of 100 milliseconds and can be programmed as "continuous " type or "impulsive" type In the first case the state is acquired without any conditioning while with those of the ' impulsive" kind the state of ' alarm" (level 0) is stored/memorized until transmitted to the control station or remote contol center for n consecutive times Programmed in a different way the RTU can manage the digital input as "impulse counters" Analog input (A.I.)

The measurement is a data item which the installation provides on the state of any variable in a determined field no matter how large (for example voltage value, current, burden and pressure values, etc ), it is usually drawn from a converter or measurement transduce^ providing a continuous analogical value of voltage or current (analogical measurement) The measurements come from specific Analogical/Digital Converter groups and they (the measurements) are coded in binary values The RTU is able to manage 72 analog input at 8 bit, with full- scale of 250 levels, obtainable with 9 AD/10 groups and 9 INA groups The Analog Input at 8 bits allow foi voltages between Ov and +5v, currents 0/+5 0/+20 +4/+20 milli-ampere to be read by using a hardware piogramme The analog input are a one directional type with a common ground The RTU can also manage 58 analog input 12 bit with a full-scale of 4000 levels, the analogical converter is unique it is released galvanically by the installation and directs the conversion, closing with a relay multiplexer of the INA 8R group with one analog input at a time

The measurements are bi-directional with a variable full-scale, as in the preceding case betweenO/+5 0/+20 +4/+20 mill ampere through a hardware programme, the voltage input is adjustable between 0 and +/- 0 4 +4 Vdc The AD/I0 input has a ground set head, each entrance has a low pass filter having attenuation > 36dB to 50 Hz and a time constant of 200 milliseconds Digital output (D. O. )

A digital output is a simple data item provided by the operator and sent to the center generally obtained by the closing of a contact by a switch or similar command part

For the carrying out of any operation (for example, turning on switches, turning pump motors on or off opening/closing tanks, etc ) The digital output (radio control-remote control) are defined as being of a ' continuous type, an Impulsive mono-stable type or an "impulsive bi-stable" type and they single out the position of a part in two stable states (open or closed) or mono-stable (closed for a programmed amount of time)

Some codes may be dedicated to carry out the field digital output of the "conference" type (contemporarily put into action by more than one RTU) The apparatus is able to manage 250 outputs D O with various groups, a group

PIO-2R situated in the base sub frame has a capacity of 32 outputs and can be connected to a CMR16 (16 relay) they are situated in the interface sub frame and connected directly to the installation

Analog output (A.O.)

The analog output is a data item provided by the operator of the center or by an output of the system in order to activate the proportional commands It is information of an analogical nature that is presented to the output of the apparatus in the form of current between 0 -20 mA or in the form of continuous voltage from Ov to +10v from - 10v to Ov, from -5v to +5v The RTU is able to manage 36 analog outputs at 8 bit with a full-scale of 250 levels, obtainable with 9 groups AD/I0 and 9 groups INA, such groups are the same as the ones with which the A I aie obtained and the functioning can be contemporary (A I and A O present in the same RTU) The analog outputs are a maximum of 36 and allow for diverse output according to the hardware programme GENERAL TECHNICAL CHARATERISTICS Power Supply (AL-RS) 220 Vca (+/-10%, from 47 to 63Hz 24 Vcc

-from ester Battery (CO BA ) 24 Vcc (-15% +20%) 48 Vcc (-15%, +20%)

-processor 284C15 CMOS

-Program memory/storage 1024 Kbit Flash EPROM

-Data memory 1024 Kbit Ram statica CMOS

-Parametric memory 512 Kbit EEPROM

Internal modem/radio 1200 baud Capacity

- N max of digital input 250 D I

- N max of digital output 250 D O - N max of analog input 8 bit 64 A I

- N max of tele-regulations 32 TR (250 levels) TECHNOLOGICAL CHARATERISTICS

The reliability of the RTU apparatus is insured by protection of the messages, input filters for A I and D I extensive use of integrated circuits CMOS, absence of "hot" parts thanks to low consumption, project criteria production control and testing, protection from extra voltage of the circuits connected to the outside with vanstors or zener electronic components

The circuits are made with integral components such as NMOS, CMOS, HCMOS, TTL-LS Moreover, components were used belonging to the following families Silicon NPN and PNP transistors, silicon diodes, layer resistors, resisted nets, ceramic condensers, polyester, electrolytes, carbon composition resistor (protection from extra voltage), printed circuit plates The printed circuit plates are made with the support of fiberglass and epoxi resin The printed circuits are made on both surfaces of the plates and have metal coated joining holes and they are protected by solder resist The mechanical parts are made out of a worked sheet and in anodized aluminum All the parts of the frame, which face externally, are painted after having been first washed and anti-corrosive paint applied or anodic treatment As the internal mechanical parts support the electronic cards, they undergo a passivation process Information Exchange

The information dealt with by the RTU and managed in diverse messages can be divided into two categories depending on the direction in which they flow

• Centripetal information sent to the center (D I and A I ) They are generated to start from digital input and analogical input , and they are transmitted to the center after being tested

• Centrifuges information sent from the center (D O and A O ) they are commanded by the center and by the RTU and they give rise to digital output or analogical output

Connection to the center is possible through lines 1 and 2 of CPU or with other added serial lines Line 1 is normally connected to the PCU card and to the BTG 1200(MODEM FSK) card for communication with the center Line 2 is connected to the CPU card with EIA RS232 / RS 485 for communication with the 9 poles connector of the portable P C or Hayes external modem, GSM or Ethernet, etc All the parameters for the functioning of the

RTU reside in EEPROM and may be read and modified through the portable P C , either locally or by remote from the line 2 center The system works with cyclic testing from the Center, the peripheral devices never transmit messages spontaneously but only answer messages coming from the Center The transmission is of asynchronous type, serial and half-duplex A bit of transversal parity is transmitted for each character another parity character of a longitudinal kind is transmitted for the informative characters of the message The center tests continuously in a cyclic fashion the various RTU that answer by sending the characters relative to the condition of all the analogical and digital I/O, controlled directly or indirectly For every message received an answer is sent and in the absence of an answer, suitable reiteration of the message is sent, should there still be no answer the center considers the RTU "absent due to no answer" Upon receipt of the first answer the station is then re-admitted to normal cycle of polling The fundamental structure or basic telegram is formed by 10 bit the form of the various words (characters) which make up the message is the type ASCII asynchronous serial, with the following input data 1 bit start, 7 bit information, 1 bit parity with equal programmed parity, 1 bit stop The protocol of communication used conforms to the international standard according to IEC 870 5 1 and CEI 57 1 1 class FT 1 2 (protocol for remote control systems) Firmware

The firmware of the RTU is subdivided into modules with each module performing determined functions The peripheral station RTU is made with a real time multi-tasking system, which allows for simultaneous control of more than one service at a time, in fact while the RTU acquires digital input and analog input from the field and returns digital output and analog output it can contemporarily manage one or more interviews with serial communication lines The interview can occur on more than one serial RS232C line contemporarily, allowing for the control of the same peripheral device from different apparatus (remote control center, concentrator program P C , other peripheral devices) The management of the execution of the modules is made for some in HW way and for others in FW way The HW managing is reserved for the modules directly associated to determined events and is carried out in a daisy-chain structure The FW management is reserved for module with less priority compared to the previous and is carried out through a scheduling process The principle functions are the following message exchange, D I acquisition, Impulse Counter acquisition A I acquisition, Putting in action of digital output, putting in action of analog output, managing of diagnostic peisonal computer, diagnosis, EEPROM input data, automation functions Message Exchange

Provides interface between the apparatus and the main position, provides all the necessary functions for the receiving and the transmission of the messages, Synchronization of the message, control checksum message interpretation of the messages received If the message is relative to the request for information, it prepares the answer and transmits it If the message is a digital output, the digital output is carried out Acquisition of Digital Input

The signal is a simple data item provided by the installation on the condition of on/off of any device normally made up of the state of a relay contact (for example end of run relay, alarm relay, etc ) or of a switch The digital inputs are defined as being of a "continuous" type or of an "impulsive ' type, the sampling of the input is earned out with a timing/period of 100 milliseconds -Impulsive type of input The state of "alarm" (level 0) is memorized until transmitted towards the center for n consecutive times

- Continuous type of input

The state acquired is memorized without any kind of conditioning The type of digital input is specified through EEPROM programming, every digital input is associated with a byte in which the following codes are utilized 00=ιmpulsιve digital input, FF==contιnuous digital input

The byte with the lowest address (ADD=9F00H) is associated to the digital input 0, the number of digital input managed is 256 The input data n, which specifies the number of the transmissions of alarm, is also programmable with EEPROM, at the address "ectxts" and may assume the value of 0O=FFH

Acquisition of impulse counters

16 impulse counters are managed with modern message codes from the RTU

Every counter works with 6 decimal figures and therefore occupies 3 byte of the information content of the message As every counter is associated to a digital input, in the presence of counters the respective signal must be configured,

The value OFFH stands for no D I and no Cl Acquisition of Analog Input at 8 bit

They are generated by voltage or current (analogical measurements) translators They are treated by groups of analogical/digital converters and coded in binary values on 250 levels The analog input at 8 bit with the highest number that can co-figurate being 64, allow for the reading of different values on full- scale according to the hardware.program Putting Digital Output into effect

The command is a simple data item with which the operator is provided, generally obtained by the turning off of a switch contact or a similar command part, for the execution of any operation (for example on - off switches, stait - stop motor pumps, open - close tanks, etc ) The digital output are defined by ' continuous" type, 'mono-stable impulsive type or "bi-stable impulsive" type -Output of a mono-stable impulsive type There can be up to 256 with a length of timing, which can be programmed

-Output of a bi-stable impulsive type

There can be up to 256 with 0O=ON and OFFH=OFF action

-Output of a continuous type

The procedure for the carrying out of continuous digital output provides for the following phases a) reception of the message of "continuous tc qualification" b) reception of the radio control/digital output codes

There are 48 "codes" for the carrying out of the digital output and their value must lie between 4OH for D O 0 and 6FH for the D O 47 The codes, which he between 7OH and 7FH, are used as ' null" characters, the reception of a null or wrong character determines the de-activation of the D O output A response echo corresponds to every digital output sent which can be invalidated for each of the three communication lines Putting Analog Output into effect

Analog output is a data item provided by the operator or from output from the system itself, for the carrying out of ^' proportional commands (for example opening / closing motorized valves, etc) there are a maximum of 36 analog output and they allow for different full-.scales according to the hardware program A response echo corresponds to every digital output sent which can be invalidated for each of the three communication lines Diagnostics

It carries out a series of checks on specific parts of HW and FW of the RTU in order to verify the correct functioning both at the start (off-line) and during functioning (on-line) Such checks concern • The program storage/memory (using checksum)

• The groups of input/output

• The principle LSI components such as PIO2R, SIO232, CTC, EPROM, etc ,

• The regular execution of the activation of timed modules

The discovery of a problem sets off the release of the WATCH DOG circuit that resets the RTU If the alarm is transitory and is due to disturbance, the RTU regains regular functioning while the following persistence for four times with a negative outcome generates a HW ALARM, It will be memorized for transmission to the center of the first interview

Input data in EEPROM

The principle input data of the RTU are loaded in EEPROM serial put on the group CPU/1M The programs of EEPROM are carried out through a portable P C with a special program The RTU is characterized by an address, which can be programmed in EEPROM that defines the number of the group in the four most significant bit and the peripheral progress in the other four forming in this way a single identification byte (PERIF = 00-FFH) The type of digital input is specified through programming in EEPROM, every digital input is associated to a byte of which the following codes are used 00 = impulsive digital input, FF = continuous digital input The byte with the lowest address (ADD = 9F00H) is associated to the digital input 0 The input data n, which specifies the number of the transmission of the state of alarm, can also be programmed on EEPROM at the address (ADD = 9EFFH) and can take on the value of 00-FFH It is possible to invalidate the messages of echo D O and A O for each of the three lines of communication by programming the value 00 on EEPROM at the address of ' ABMSGE" these six byte have the following order D O A O line CENTER, D O A O line TERMINAL 2. HOW THE SYSTEM FUNCTIONS

The RTU acquires measurements and signals, which come from all of the instruments and the sensors present at the origin or especially installed inside the boat/ship It automatically carries out tests and receives information instantly on the condition of all the systems and apparatus connected on board and provides local automation The data acquired is transmitted automatically to the CONCENTRATOR and is displayed, processed, graphed (REF FIG 2/12) and if requested, printed At any problem the RTU comes across or at any variation in the preset threshold, the RTU instantly sends the situation of normality, critical and/or alert to the CONCENTRATOR Alarms are signaled with luminous, acoustic and vocal warning signals and are displayed on the monitor of the touch screen type which shows the graphic planimetry/layout of the boat on the screen (REF FIG N 3/12) localizing the type of alarm and where it is coming from (REF FIG N 4/12) The captain in this way always has the situation under control and thanks to the information acquired is able to make the best decision at any time, by accepting or ignoring the SW COLOMBO application proposals, described further on and in order to reach the goal of keeping the members of the crew and the passengers aboard safe, the system supervises and records the captains decisions and maneuvers In fact, based on the variation of the condition of the governing parts that the system communicates the captain can adjust and/or modify the initial navigation plan laid out, optimizing the resources available even in terms of time and consumption and can manage any difficult situations or alarms should they arise that could compromise life on board or the safety of the people Due to the specific qualities of

I O the Software of automation, remote control and digital output, the system COLOMBO, in the absence of the captain or in the case of an impediment to command on the captain's part, or in the case of imminent danger, or following a direct order on the part of the captain, activates the autopilot The system manages any type of critical or dangerous situation autonomously by sending digital output to the peripheral device PLC or RTU for the functioning of the apparatus or systems on board where automation is not managed automatically by the same 3. SUPERVISORY CONTROL AND DATAT ACQUISITION - SCADA

The fundamental element of the system is the specific application called "COLOMBO ' (REF FIG 5/12) softwaie for the automation of the boat/ship gliding and displacement maneuvers The software has been developed in two versions one operates in Windows CE environment and the other in Windows XP/Embedded, both make use of the most modern technology in computer aided design/software planning that guarantees the reliability, the 0 service and the portability of the product

COLOMBO is installed on the industrial P C of the control station on board and through one or more remote control apparatus such as PLC or RTU and integrating them with the two fundamental functions of the system that are the object of this patent, it provides

- supervision, remote control and remote command of the whole ship,

- automatic command of the boat/ship (auto-pilot) The COLOMBO application integrates with the SCADA (REF FIG 6/12) that constitutes the specific interface with the control peripheral devices through a specified communication protocol for the exchange of information (polling, spontaneous acquisition, alarm management, Data logging), 0 - with the NAVIGATOR (REF FIG 7/12) for the management of information, the sending of commands and tele-regulations and the updating of the graph pages representing the parts of the ship which aie remote controlled and for the automatic command of the ship (auto-pilot) The Navigator function block is also the interface for the other remote control centers

With NAVCOM (REF FIG 6/12) that constitutes the communication block with all the instrumentation nautical and not, cited in the present description

The interaction with COLOMBO comes about through a touch screen panel of notable dimensions, with which on only one screen, the essential information for checking the condition and the governing of the boat appears in a graphic and easily understood form The measurements of the level of the tanks, the revolutions of the motor, the position of the reverse gears, the inclination of the flaps, the orientation of the rudder and so 0 forth are also monitored The D I (touch screen) is an immediate and intuitive form through which it is possible to govern the boat in the same way as if one were using traditional commands, achieving in this way an additional bridge COLOMBO carries out in a simple and effective way even the passage from manual to automatic and vice versa, suspending, for example, the auto-pilot as soon as the commands are taken over manually, it implements the passage to manual with ordinary auto-pilot modality in the case that essential data is lacking for automatic governing such as data coming from DGPS Finally a noteworthy characteristic of COLOMBO is the ability to foresee the remote governing of the ship COLOMBO, through a satellite connection is able to work from a remote computer in the same way as when it operates from the computer on board In this situation, which would mean that an emergency situation has arisen or is configured the remote computer acts as Master and substitutes the computer on board which is considered Slave until ordinary/normal conditions are restored 3.1 SUPERVISION FUNCTION, REMOTE CONTROL AND REMOTE MONITORING

This system regards the whole ship and acts on the following apparatus and systems on board MOTORS WHICH:

MEASURE the degree of acceleration of the motor, the level, the pressure and the temperature of the cooling liquid and of the oil, the temperature of the air in the engine room, the temperature and the pressure of the cooling circuit sea/motor, how charged the batteries and the motor starters are/the level of battery and motor I 0 starter charge, allocation of the alternators, the temperature of the discharged gas,

COMMAND the proposed actuators for acceleration and deceleration, the turning on of the motors, the turning off of the motors (REF FIG N 8/12) TRANSMISSION PARTS WHICH:

MEASURE the level, the pressure and the temperature of the cooling liquid (where foreseen) and of the oil of the reverse gears, the temperature of the air in the engine room, the temperature and the pressure of the cooling circuit sea/motor (where foreseen), the position of the reverse gears relative to the position of neutral forward gear reverse gear, first and second gear inserted for the reversers that have two forward gears the state of loading/charging and the service batteries (volts, charging on/off),

COMMAND the reversers relative to the position of neutral, forward gear, reverse gear (select the forward 0 gear to be inserted for the reversers that have two forward gears) (REF FIG N 9/12)

COMMAND AND MANUEVRE PARTS WHICH:

MEASURE the speed of the ship, the level of fuel in the tanks, the amount of fuel being consumed instantaneous-average and for a period with calculation of autonomy Balancing of the propeller axles

READ the degree of longitudinal and lateral inclination of the ship, the position of the flaps, the position of the rudder or stern groups₁ or superficial transmission

COMMAND the accelerators, the rudders, the flaps, the reversers, (forward, neutral, reverse) (REF

FIG 9/12) GENERATOR WHICH:

READS the state of on/off 0 - MEASURES the level, the pressure and the temperature of the cooling liquid and of the oil, the temperatuie of the air in the engine room, the temperature and the pressure of the cooling circuit sea/motor (where foreseen), the power network 220 on/off,

COMMANDS the turning on of the generator in the case of insufficient battery, motor or service energy and/or request for the use of 220 volts, the turning on of generator, the turning off of the generator (REF

FIG N 9/12) BILGE PUMPS WHICH:

MEASURE the level of water in the bilge pump,

COMMAND the bilge pump dx and sx (right and left) if necessary and the emergency bilge pump regulating the valves which are motorized by the sea chest and bypass the sea chest Motor/bilge pump dx and sx (right 0 and left) (REF FIG N 10/12)

NAVIGATION AND OPERATING/MANOEUVRING INSTRUMENTS WHICH:

ACQUIRE data and MEASURE the efficiency

- of the radar, the directional compass, the radio signal, the satellite signal DGPS, the satellite communication signal, the GPRS, the echo-sounder, the weather station, the neural cameras (management automated by the visualization of the images), of the operating cameras, the ultra-sound distance measurer of obstacles behind, in front of and to the side of the ship, of the way lights, the anchor the gangway and the ropes

I O MEASURE the vibrations and the propeller axles

COMMAND the activation of the available communications automatically, (REF FIG N 11/12) SERVICES ON BOARD

All the electric devices typical of the living quarters (internal/inside cameras, lighting, temperature, condition of the electric appliances and the autoclave, general switches, 220V and 12/24 V, earth plate, generator plug/socket 220V) are remote controlled and remote monitored by a central radio transmitter interfaced to a industrial P C through LAN that sees to analyzing the condition of the micro peripheral device and therefore of the living quarter devices connected to them and to command the turning on/off via radio The micro-peripheral device has a switch that can also be activated manually Each micro-peripheral device is made up of receiving radio an I 0 actuator and a relay of power capacity adequate for the device, which needs to be turned on or off (REF FIG

N 1 1/12 AND N 12/12)

Whatever the system takes in or acts on is sent back to the touch screen of the control station At any stage while using the program should a critical or alarming situation arise it appears automatically and immediately on the screen (overprint) Showing

• kind of critical or emergency situation

• where the situation is

• the date and time of the critical or emergency manifestation

• the condition of critical or emergency situation

• state of automatic intervention 0 The system automatically deals with critical and emergency situations and on the basis of the kind of alarm and takes care of sending digital output to the RTU if they are different to the ones they would normally carry out in local automation and/or to transmit request for help from the outside 3.2 AUTOMATIC COMMAND FUNCTION (AUTO-PILOT)

COLOMBO interacting with the remote control apparatus (such as PLC or RTU) CARRIES OUT the function of automatic command of the boat through

1 ) Acquisition of the data coming from the sensors necessary to the different types of maneuvers for example the condition of the rudder, the gears, the number of motor revolutions, the rolling and pitching gauges the speed gauge,

2) Acquisition of all the data made available by DGPS on the NMEA protocol among which the position and 0 direction of the ship, the stretch being followed and the whole route to be followed

3) Acquisition of the weather conditions relative to the direction and velocity of the wind, the sea currents and the wave movements provided by the weather station

4) Radar reading of obstacles,

5) Obstacle reading by neural cameras,

6) Sensor reading of obstacles of a distance of maximum 50 meters while maneuvering or navigating

7) Sea bottom reading from the echo sounder,

8) Continuous reading of images which are also made available to the remote control center

9) Sending of adequate commands for the carrying out of maneuvers and navigation for the displaced ships and maneuverings boats, gliding and navigation for gliding ships 0 ACTING directly on the actuators of the maneuvering apparatus and specifically

-On the accelerators of the right and left motors -On the right and left reverse gears (inverters)

-On the rudders or (stern group or transmission with surface propellers) -On the flaps It reaches the pre-established target 4. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEM

The characteristics that distinguish the system are the following

Total Reliability: the possibility of the system malfunctioning is practically equal to 0, because the abundance of elements and their intrinsic quality represent a formidable barrier to error Furthermore the system is in duplicate (fallback/standby/backup) as far as the industrial P C is concerned, the PLC/RTU and the video, all the electronic instruments necessary to navigation can be managed in duplicate, both in the case of the captain governing assisted by PLC/RTU, or in the case of automatic pilot (auto-pilot) In the first case, if one or more of the cited components should break it is automatically substituted by the other, in the case of further or repeated malfunction it passes on to traditional pilot bridge, in the second case if the

1 0 resources available permit it, the system sends a SOS and if possible maintains position, should not even this last condition be guaranteed, the system interrupts the flow of fuel to the ship

Precision: Colombo is characterized by an extra-ordinary degree of precision in operations/maneuvers and in navigation, a precision that is impossible to achieve with the manual governing of the boat It continuously carries out corrections where necessary thereby guaranteeing a precision within centimeters of maneuveis and navigation

Efficient' the communication between the RTU and the Concentrator guarantees a continuous monitoring of the whole system, allowing for the pointing out of possible problems and the stopping of individual systems and it manages the installations for the length of the navigation in the best way possible Any problem is singled out immediately, the system transmits the message to the captain who in this way is able to intervene

20 immediately and in the case of an emergency assume command and make decisions

Diagnostic Intelligence: The system is intelligent and is able to train itself

Autonomy: The system gets its power from 12/24 volts batteries continuously monitored and recharged through correct use of the generator, if necessary

Clear: The system signals in a clear and differentiated way both internally and externally (remote control service center) all that happens on board immediately The response time of the system is in the order of a hundredth of a second (1/100)

Total Automation: The whole system can function completely automatically In fact the decisional faculty is innate in the system The control station is the interface man-machine Expandability: practically unlimited with respect to the application field, the quality of the software the

^"U) hardware modularity combined with the quality of the service allows for the management of a very high number of signals, measurements and commands much more than those anticipated and probable on board

5 APPLICATION OF SYSTEM ON LAND

The system, as described in the preceding pages, may be used for the supervision, remote control and remote monitoring of any kind of motor vehicle, industrial or for agricultural use, for the transportation of people or things and their actuators/drivers The application provides a high level of safety for man and the passengers aboard the vehicle, it optimizes the travelling and allows for the governing of the vehicle even without the presence of man As in the sea version, the system COLOMBO LAND provides two fundamental functions

Supervision, remote control and remote monitoring of the entire motor vehicle, 40 - Automatic command of the motor vehicle (auto-pilot)

The system furnishes the driver immediately and in an understandable form all the information on board intervening automatically in situations of extreme danger relative to the risk of flooding during the crossing of courses of water or marshes, fire, collision, obstacles or turning over

Should the driver be unable to drive or due to the driver's specific command, the system takes over the governing of the vehicle ordering the actuators of the maneuvering and gear apparatus and more specifically the accelerator of the motors, the changes in velocity (neutral, forward gear 1 ,2, reduction gear, Reverse gear), the steering wheel The option to stop at the point where the SOS occurs is provided in alternative to the maintaining of the route The system accepts the driver's decision to not govern the vehicle even in conditions, which are not an emergency, and in this case does not activate an SOS nor does it alert the remote control center The system presents the same configuration of the System for the Supervision, the remote control and the remote monitoring of pleasure boats and/or ships

Claims

1 ) System for the Supervisory Control and data Acquisition (SCADA) of boats and/or ships, the whole said system is claimed for its applied innovation,

2) System for the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) of boats and/or ships, as claimed in claim 1 and for the applied software service COLOMBO-SCADA-NAVIGATOR-NAVCOM, that through integration, provides the two fundamental functions of the system

Supervision, remote control and remote monitoring of the entire/whole boat/ship, Automatic command of the boat/ship (auto-pilot);

3) System for the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) of boats and/or ships as claimed in anyone of I 0 the above claims and for the peripheral control unit RTU (RTU), compatible with PLC that besides supporting the firmware and the software applied to COLOMBO it is also planned and produced to operate in a navy environment

4) System for the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) of boats and/or ships as claimed in anyone of the above claims and for the function of remote command which makes it possible to give up in automatic the command of the boat to one of the authorized Remote Control Service Centers, which uses identical technology and adequate configuration if explicitly asked for by the same

5) System for the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) of boats and/or ships characterized just like all that is claimed in the present attached claim and in the figures with the drawings the diagrams and the system pages 0 6) System for the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) of vehicles of any kind, industrial or for agricultural use, for the transportation of people and things and of the actuators, agreed upon as LAND APPLICATION of the system that is the object of this patent