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New
 TOPKAPI Vision 5
This new version
will finally be available early 2009, as we wished to
propose many innovations in a finalized and operational
version, which somewhat delayed our schedule. Our
developers have worked hard to produce a result which
will hopefully meet or exceed your expectations.
The
interface with DBMS in ADO.net is a turning point in
technologies used in supervision ; extensive work was
performed to replace the former OBDC technology and
extend the functional coverage dramatically.
The other main evolutions concern:
Extensions of the graph module (bargraphs,
calculation, and summary functions).
Active-Directory/LDAP interface for managing operators
and access control
Connectivity with geographical information systems
Web server optimization
DBMS
The ADO.net based SQL interface allows connecting TOPKAPI
with all major DBMS products in the market: ORACLE, SQL
Server, MySQL, Postgre SQL, etc.
Data logged in TOPKAPI can then be used directly by
other production tools of the company MES, ERP, etc.
(and tools such as CAMM, for which exchanges with
TOPKAPI are facilitated).
Similarly, TOPKAPI can display views and graphs data
issued from third party applications in its history:
events or alarms, measurements reprocessed by a data
validation application, etc.
Graphs
Multiple variable calculation functions have been
included: this allows direct display of ‘calculated’
graphs based on basic variables recorded, e.g. a sum of
flow rates, maximum and average of different magnitudes
recorded independently.
Summary functions have been integrated, allowing to
display a summary calculation directly in the form of
graphs, without creating a specific report.
Representation modes have been extended, i.e. by
managing bargraphs and possible management of future
objective graphs.
Finally, using scripts allows customizing interface
control.
These evolutions have particularly allowed to simplify
and reduce costs of energy control applications (see EMC
Pack below).
GIS interface
For all applications including geographical or town maps
(geolocalization, distribution networks…), dynamic
display of the map and information supplied by a
geographical information system (GIS) or a service such
as Google Maps is interesting. To achieve this result,
TOPKAPI now integrates access to standard
WMS (Web Map
Services) ; hence correct information is available
without requiring regular updates of static imagery in
supervision. We have also particularly improved browsing
in maps, zoom functions, and selection of elements to be
displayed or not according to circumstances.
A detailed sheet
summarizing all evolutions in version 5 will be
available soon on our web site.
EMC
pack: Energy control
Although the price of oil is the key factor in energy
control trends, one thing remains sure: our planet will
be able to breathe tomorrow only if we limit our energy
consumption and emissions of greenhouse gas.
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To work in a concrete way in this direction, AREAL has
decided to develop and provide you with a set of
components preprogrammed for TOPKAPI, named EMC PACK
(Energy Monitoring & Control), designed to support
control over your energy consumption.
These components include:
Database objects for processing and recording
information, such as calculation of the UDD(1) for
building heating.
Graphic objects showing consumption budgets.
This process is interesting because, based only on the
records from consumption meters and for example,
temperature, we obtain directly the energy budgets
without any programming.
As the number of basic variables is very limited, cheap
and lighter versions of TOPKAPI can be used.
The solutions remain customizable to meet particular
cases or needs to refine the analyses.
For more information:
www.areal.fr/PackEMC-E.htm
(1) Unified Degree per Day : in building
heating and A/C, this unit allows to ‘measure’ climatic
conditions and correct consumption observed accordingly
to have results which are comparable in different places.
Protocols
Sharing modems / Mutualizing phone lines
Although rarely mentioned, TOPKAPI version 4 currently
allows to share a modem and phone line between several
protocols, hence use it to communicate with remote
management stations from different makes and protocols.
When a modem is used for several incoming call
protocols, the caller ID presentation function must be
available.
With the single modem option, a station must be linked
with a particular modem, although this modem can support
different protocols.
With the multimodem option, a station can connect to
several modems (using trunk lines or several call
numbers), hence reducing the number of phone lines while
improving availability.
The provisions are not applicable in the following
cases:
For remote management stations not supporting the
standard 8-bit no-parity format (more particularly older
WIT equipment in TRSII protocol).
For data transmissions by SMS: currently (evolutions
are planned) a GSM modem dedicated to SMS management is
required (no data communication). However, we remind
that this modem can be used for all equipment supported
by TOPKAPI in SMS, regardless of their make and for SMS
stand-by service.
For very large applications, it is also possible to have
one or several computers dedicated to communication,
acting as front-ends, and distributing data to several
TOPKAPI servers with stand-alone or redundant
applications.
For more information, please call us.
SNMP
An SNMP protocol pilot has recently become available for
TOPKAPI, implementing the SNMP manager function,
allowing it to monitor computer equipment and any SNMP
agent connected to the network: hubs, routers, switches,
PC/Servers, UPS, printers, etc.
This monitoring concerns alarms, such as the failure of
a network switch, server temperature, low ink for a
printer, UPS failure, etc. It also allows to display and
analyze information on network traffic, which may be
particularly useful for diagnostic in case of
communication problems.
The SOFTLINK wizard considerably facilitates
configuration, by allowing to browse the list of
variables available in the MIB(2) of equipment, or
browsing the list of elements of the SNMP agents
connected. TOPKAPI supports versions V1, V2C and V3
of SNMP, the latter being necessary to guarantee a
proper level of safety.
(2) Management Information Base. It can be generic (the
most common standard MIBs are supplied with TOPKAPI) or
customized, linked with specific equipment.
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