The Standard, the first of its kind in the water industry, will deliver major changes and significant benefits to the water industry, providing greater flexibility in product selection leading to reduced costs when replacing telemetry assets. Master system and field device manufacturers will also have much greater scope to develop exciting new solutions to meet our future industry needs.
The WITS initiative was established in 2003 by water professionals to address the lack of inter-company cooperation and standardisation in the telemetry sector, particularly focusing on monitoring operational assets by telemetry systems. Recognising the need to investigate common protocols a project team was set up consisting of a number of Water Management Organisations (WMOs) in conjunction with consultants from Grontmij and Parsons Brinckerhoff, who immediately commenced work on, what was to become the “WITS DNP3 protocol” project.
Until now, having purchased a telemetry system, it has been difficult and costly to connect third party field devices to the existing system. The provision of a universal protocol will enable much greater choice in selection of external devices, much the same as your computer USB port permits any compliant device to be connected to your computer.
The WITS management committee has worked with a core group of vendors to achieve this goal and standardise the way remote telemetry outstations communicate with the main system.
Malcolm Tyler, technical manager with Grontmij and chairman of the WITS management committee, said: “It has been a long road to get where we are today. Over the past seven years we have successfully established a strong, industry wide, community to share ideas, concepts and learning. Working in partnership with our six leading manufacturers, this has not only allowed us to develop the Standard but also create the first set of universal products ready for the market.
This is a significant and bold step for the water industry and we are indebted to the core team of users and vendors that have made this possible.”
The WITS Protocol Standards Association (PSA) will now take over from the project to provide a small community of users and vendors to manage the standard going forward. By joining the association you will be given full access to the standard and supporting documentation. Also January will see the launch of a new website (http://www.ukwits.org ) detailing all you need to know about the new WITS-DNP3 Telemetry Protocol Standard and how to become a member of the association.
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For further information please contact:
James Hickman
Hatch Communications
Tel: 01943 855 624
Email: jameshickman@hatchpr.co.uk
Notes to Editors
In 2008, Roger Preston & Partners and Whitelaw Turkington were acquired by Grontmij as part of a series of strategic acquisitions.
Grontmij is a leading sustainable design and management consultancy active in the growth markets of water, energy, transportation and sustainable planning and design. At the core of our business is the principle of sustainability by design which is a leading value proposition for our customers. Grontmij is the fourth largest design and management consultancy in Europe with over 350 offices across Europe and a further 50 offices globally. We employ over 11,000 professionals across the world.
Our value chain of services stretches from major renewable water and energy infrastructure through designing efficient and environmentally-sensitive mobility and transportation networks to shaping our urban and green living spaces.
Whilst we are approaching our 100th anniversary, and benefit from the experience nearly a century provides, we prefer to look to the future to enhance the world we live in. By applying sustainability considerations to all our design, consultancy and management services right across the value chain, our highly-skilled, expert people are able to create lasting solutions that plan for, connect and respect the future.