Gemini South of the Gemini Telescope on Mount Cerro Pachón in Chile is a typical example. Due to the mountain’s 2,700-meter height and harsh weather, the electrical team was looking for solutions to connect all the critical systems inside the firewall for remote connectivity and control. Considering platform comprehension and hardware compatibility, the electrical team discovered that VTScada by Trihedral, Delta’s subsidiary, could communicate with their diverse range of hardware using built-in, direct device drivers such as Modbus and SNMP. The SCADA architecture enables the observers and maintenance staff to safely access the telescope from their base camp facility or from anywhere else.

The Gemini South electrical team first downloaded the free industrial license and connected their Modbus PLCs and SNMP devices with the help of the VTScada team. Seeing the convenience and benefit brought by the VTScada, the electrical supervisor Collins ended up purchasing VTScada’s Dual Server Premium package, which includes two configuration/runtime licenses, redundant alarm notifications, and unlimited thin client connections. He and the team then created a sophisticated application to remotely monitor vital systems, such as UPS units, air compressors, fire alarms, and the telescope’s complex cooling infrastructure. With the custom screens, the telescope’s remote observers can see critical information about the dome, shutter positions, and alerts for rain, earthquakes, and loss of communications. Collins also used the credits included in the package to take a course at VTScada Fest in Orlando, Florida, and interact with other users to discover more application potential for the VTScada.

Not satisfied with remote monitoring and control, Collins turned his attention to ways of leveraging the SCADA application with an emerging technology that would provide an augmented view of their remote system. Integrating VTScada and AR (Augmented Reality) strengthens the visualization and optimizes onsite system management. Operators can walk through a plant room using a tablet to see real-time animated process values, trends, and alarms hovering over various pumps and motors. They can also look back over the last hour, day, week, or more and see any changes in the averages to generate maintenance records for stable operation and excellent observation performance for this telescope on top of the world.

For more details, please watch the video: Gemini Telescope Combines SCADA and Augmented Reality for Critical Remote Monitoring (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMhMaNzJz8w)

The Gemini South electrical supervisor Collins and his team used VTScada to create a sophisticated application to remotely monitor vital systems, such as UPS units, air compressors, fire alarms, and the telescope’s complex cooling infrastructure, which helps the telescope’s remote observers see critical information about the dome, shutter positions, and alerts for rain, earthquakes, and loss of communications.

With the integration of VTScada and AR, operators can walk through a plant room using a tablet to see real-time animated process values, trends, and alarms hovering over various pumps and motors.