Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati
1600 Gest St. Cincinnati, Ohio 45204
Estimated Project Cost: $10MM
The SCADA Installs and Upgrades Project for the East Section Treatment Plants included three (3) plants: Little Miami, Polk Run, and Sycamore WWTPs. The project services included upgrading the plant-wide PLC and SCADA networks and replacing all obsolete PLCs and local HMIs. Robert J. Smith II, P.E., was responsible for the overall design of the PLC and SCADA system network. The new Control System Network was designed to have full redundancy throughout (including redundant PLC and SCADA System Networks, iFIX servers, Terminal Servers, Control System Network Switches, etc.). The innovative design will allow the network to continue operating even in the event of a system failure. The design provides redundancy down to the switch level, so that if any switch fails, the network will continue to operate with no loss of communication. The network design uses VLANs to minimize the number of switches required for full redundancy. Robert provided the base design for the new control network and then conducted proof-of-concept testing to demonstrate the overall reliability and redundancy of the proposed design. The test showed that even with multiple levels of network failure, the systems continued to operate without loss of communication. Both Rockwell Automation and General Electric also reviewed the design and provided their seal of approval. This initial design was then used as the basis for implementation across the entire district, including the East, West, and Central Section wastewater treatment plants. He also provided construction administration services and configuration of the new redundant networks, PLCs, and SCADA Systems.