JP7584355B2 - Remote monitoring and control system, server device, and communication failure prediction method - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a remote monitoring and control system that monitors the status of equipment and controls its operation from a remote location, a server device, and a method for predicting communication failures.

A remote monitoring and control system monitors the status of local equipment, which is equipment installed in each of one or more controlled stations, and controls the operation of the local equipment according to the monitoring results. The controlled stations are, for example, substations. Remote monitoring and control devices are installed in the control station and the controlled stations. A parent station, which is a remote monitoring and control device installed in the control station, is connected via a transmission line to each of the child stations, which are remote monitoring and control devices installed in the controlled stations, and transmits and receives data between each child station (see Patent Document 1).

Patent document 1 describes a distributed control system that improves reliability by duplicating the transmission path between a management station, which corresponds to the parent station, and a normal station, which corresponds to the child station.

JP 2000-132201 A

The system described in Patent Document 1 improves the reliability of communication between the parent station and the child stations by duplicating the transmission path, but another method of improving reliability would be to predict the occurrence of communication failures and implement countermeasures in advance.

In particular, in systems that use metal transmission lines, communication failures can occur on the transmission line due to deterioration of the transmission line or the generation of noise associated with changes in the external environment. This makes it even more important to predict the occurrence of communication failures with high accuracy. When a communication failure occurs, it becomes impossible to monitor and control the on-site equipment, and personnel must be dispatched to the site to check the situation, which has a significant impact on operations. Here, communication failures can be predicted based on the state of the transmission line, and in order to improve prediction accuracy, it is necessary to collect data on the state of the transmission line frequently.

However, when a large amount of data is collected frequently, the communication bandwidth is strained, which may affect the transmission and reception of data required for monitoring and control of local equipment, resulting in a decrease in reliability. Specifically, in a system that uses a metal transmission line with a relatively small transmission capacity, when a large amount of data is collected frequently using the metal transmission line, there is a concern that the data required for monitoring and control of local equipment may not be transmitted or received, and data transmission delays may increase. This problem can be solved by replacing the metal transmission line with an optical transmission line with a large transmission capacity, but replacing the metal transmission line with another transmission line requires large-scale construction work, which is time-consuming and costly. In addition, when replacing the transmission line used for remote monitoring and control of local equipment with a different type of transmission line, it is necessary to thoroughly verify whether the high reliability required for remote monitoring and control can be met and whether any malfunctions will occur, and this verification work takes time. For these reasons, it is desirable to realize a system that can predict communication failures with high accuracy without replacing a transmission line that has a proven track record of use in remote monitoring and control.

The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above, and aims to make it possible to predict the occurrence of communication failures while minimizing the impact on communications using the metal transmission line in a remote monitoring and control system configured to perform remote monitoring and control using a metal transmission line.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the objectives, the remote monitoring and control system disclosed herein comprises a plurality of remote monitoring and control devices installed in a plurality of controlled stations and connected to a wide area network via a wireless communication network, a plurality of modems connected to the remote monitoring and control devices and connected to each other by metal transmission lines, a server device connected to the wide area network and predicting communication failures between the remote monitoring and control devices based on information regarding the state of the metal transmission lines obtained from the modems, and a display device that displays information regarding the communication failures predicted by the server device.

The present disclosure has the effect of making it possible to predict the occurrence of communication failures while minimizing the impact on communications using the metal transmission line in a remote monitoring and control system configured to perform remote monitoring and control using a metal transmission line.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a remote monitoring and control system according to a first embodiment; FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a server device included in a remote monitoring and control system according to a first embodiment; A flowchart showing an example of an operation of the server device according to the first embodiment to predict a communication failure. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a remote monitoring and control system according to a second embodiment; FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a remote monitoring and control system according to a third embodiment.

The remote monitoring and control system, server device, and communication failure prediction method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Note that in each of the embodiments described below, the remote monitoring and control device may be omitted and referred to as the remote control device.

Embodiment 1.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a remote monitoring and control system 100 according to a first embodiment. The remote monitoring and control system 100 includes a modem 11 installed in each of a plurality of controlled stations 10, a remote control device 12 which is a child station of the remote monitoring and control device, a modem 21 installed in a control station 20, a remote control device 22 which is a parent station of the remote monitoring and control device, a host device 23, a server device 3, and a monitoring console 4. The monitoring console 4 includes a display device 41. In FIG. 1, the modem 11 and the remote control device 12 installed in the controlled station 10 are separate devices, but the modem 11 may be included in the remote control device 12. Similarly, the modem 21 of the control station 20 may be included in the remote control device 22.

The modem 11 and the modem 21 are connected to the metal transmission line 51, and transmit and receive data for remote monitoring and control between the modem 11 and the modem 21 via the metal transmission line 51. The modem 11 and the modem 21 also have a function of monitoring the state of the connected metal transmission line 51. The modem 11 and the modem 21 measure, for example, the S/N ratio (signal-to-noise ratio) of the received signal from the metal transmission line 51, the strength of the received signal, and the like, and use the measured values as the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51. The monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 may be either the S/N ratio or the strength of the received signal, or both. The modem 11 and the modem 21 monitor the metal transmission line 51, for example, every second. The modem 11 and the modem 21 periodically transmit and receive monitoring data to monitor the metal transmission line 51. The modem 11 outputs the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 to the remote control device 12 connected to itself. The monitoring result output by modem 11 may include information indicating whether or not a communication failure is occurring. The monitoring result output by modem 11 may also include the number of times reception of the above-mentioned monitoring data per unit time has failed. If modem 11 has a function for resending the monitoring data when reception has failed, the monitoring result output by modem 11 may also include the number of times the data has been resent. Modem 21 outputs the monitoring result of metal transmission line 51 to remote control device 22 connected to it. The monitoring result of metal transmission line 51 is information regarding the state of metal transmission line 51.

Each of the remote control devices 12 has a function of connecting to the wide area network 53 via the wireless communication network 52, which is a 5G or 4G wireless communication network. The server device 3 and the monitoring console 4 are also connected to the wide area network 53. Note that the wireless communication network 52 may be a type other than a 5G or 4G wireless communication network as long as it satisfies the transmission capacity required for data transmission and reception between the remote control devices 12 and the wide area network 53.

When each remote control device 12 receives the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 from the modem 21, it transmits the received monitoring results to the server device 3 via the wireless communication network 52 and the wide area network 53.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, each remote control device 12 is connected to various devices installed in the controlled center 10. The remote control device 12 monitors the operating status of the devices connected to it, and transmits the monitoring results to the remote control device 22 in the control center 20 via the modem 11 and metal transmission line 51. When the remote control device 12 receives control data for the devices from the remote control device 22 in the control center 20, it controls the devices to be controlled based on the received control data.

The server device 3 holds the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 received from the remote control device 12, and predicts communication failures in the failure prediction target system 110, specifically, communication failures between modems 11 and between modems 11 and modem 21, based on the held monitoring results. The failure prediction target system 110 is, for example, a power management system that monitors and controls devices installed in a substation from a central command center. The server device 3 may be provided on the cloud.

The monitoring console 4 has a function of connecting to the server device 3 via the wide area network 53, and acquires information on the predicted results of communication failure from the server device 3 and displays it on the display device 41. The monitoring console 4 may further have a function of editing various data held by the server device 3, such as the predicted results of communication failure and the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51. There is no limitation on the location where the monitoring console 4 is installed, and for example, the monitoring console 4 may be installed inside the control center 20.

The higher-level device 23 of the control center 20, for example, obtains and manages the monitoring and control results of the equipment installed in the controlled center 10 from the remote control device 22.

In the remote monitoring and control system 100 according to this embodiment, the server device 3 acquires and holds the results of the modem 11 in the controlled station 10 monitoring the metal transmission line 51. This is because the state of the metal transmission line 51 connecting the modem 11 in the controlled station 10 and the modem 21 in the control station 20 can be predicted from the results of the modem 11 in the controlled station 10 monitoring the metal transmission line 51. However, this configuration is not essential. The server device 3 may also acquire the results of the modem 21 in the control station 20 monitoring the metal transmission line 51 and use them to predict communication failures.

Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the server device 3 provided in the remote monitoring and control system 100 according to the first embodiment.

The server device 3 includes a data collection unit 31 that collects the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 by the modem 11, a database unit 32 in which the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 collected by the data collection unit 31 are registered, a data analysis unit 33 that analyzes the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 registered in the database unit 32 and predicts the occurrence of communication failures, and a communication unit 34 that communicates with other devices via the wide area network 53.

Next, the operation of the server device 3 to predict an abnormality in the metal transmission path 51, i.e., the operation to predict a communication failure between modems 11 and between modems 11 and 21, will be described with reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the server device 3 according to the first embodiment to predict a communication failure. The server device 3 periodically repeats the operation shown in FIG. 3, and constantly monitors for signs of a communication failure in the metal transmission path 51, i.e., whether or not the probability of a communication failure occurring has increased. The period in which the server device 3 repeats the operation shown in FIG. 3 is, for example, one second.

In the operation of monitoring for signs of communication failure in the metal transmission line 51, first, the data collection unit 31 of the server device 3 collects the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 from the modem 11 of each controlled station 10 and registers them in the database unit 32 (step S11).

Next, the data analysis unit 33 of the server device 3 analyzes the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 registered in the database unit 32 to predict the occurrence of a communication failure (step S12). For example, if the monitoring result is the S/N ratio of the received signal, the data analysis unit 33 determines that there is a sign of a communication failure when the S/N ratio is below a threshold value. The data analysis unit 33 may determine that there is a sign of a communication failure when the S/N ratio is below the threshold value for a set number of consecutive times, or may determine that there is a sign of a communication failure when the average value of the S/N ratio for a certain period of time in the past is below a threshold value. If the monitoring result is the strength of the received signal, the data analysis unit 33 may determine that there is a sign of a communication failure when the reception strength of the signal is below a threshold value. The data analysis unit 33 may determine that there is a sign of a communication failure when the difference between the transmission strength and reception strength of the signal, i.e., the difference between the strength of the signal transmitted by the transmitting modem 11 and the strength when this signal is received by the receiving modem 11, is above a threshold value. As with the prediction operation using the S/N ratio described above, the data analysis unit 33 may determine that there is a sign of a communication failure if the result of the threshold judgment is the same a predetermined number of times in succession, or may determine that there is a sign of a communication failure if the average value is equal to or less than the threshold.

When the data analysis unit 33 of the server device 3 executes step S12 and there is no sign of a communication failure (step S13: No), the server device 3 ends its operation. On the other hand, when there is a sign of a communication failure (step S13: Yes), the data analysis unit 33 notifies the monitoring console 4 of the detection of the sign of a communication failure (step S14). At this time, the data analysis unit 33 also notifies information on the metal transmission line 51 in which the sign of a communication failure was detected, among the multiple metal transmission lines 51 present in the failure prediction target system 110. When the data analysis unit 33 is able to estimate the cause of the communication failure in the analysis of the monitoring result in step S12, it may notify the estimation result in step S14. For example, when the amount of decrease per time of the S/N ratio of the received signal is large, the data analysis unit 33 estimates that a noise source exists near the metal transmission line 51 with the decreased S/N ratio.

When the monitoring console 4 receives a notification from the server device 3 that a sign of a communication failure has been detected, it notifies the user by displaying the fact on the display device 41. This makes it possible to prevent a communication failure from occurring by inspecting the metal transmission line 51 and investigating noise sources around the metal transmission line 51 before a communication failure actually occurs.

As described above, in the remote monitoring and control system 100 according to the first embodiment, the server device 3 collects the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 by the modem 11 via the wireless communication network 52, and the server device 3 predicts a communication failure between the remote control devices 12 communicating via the metal transmission line 51 and between the remote control device 12 and the remote control device 22 based on the collected monitoring results. In addition, when the server device 3 predicts the occurrence of a communication failure, the monitoring console 4 displays on the display device 41 that the occurrence of a communication failure is predicted. According to the first embodiment, in the remote monitoring and control system 100 configured to perform remote monitoring and control using the metal transmission line 51, the occurrence of a communication failure can be predicted with high accuracy without affecting the operation of the remote monitoring and control. In addition, since the transmission line for transmitting the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 to the server device 3 is configured by the wireless communication network 52, construction work for replacing the metal transmission line 51 used for remote monitoring and control and the relay device connected to the metal transmission line 51 with a new transmission line and relay device is not required, and the time and cost required for construction work can be reduced.

In this embodiment, the detection of a warning sign of a communication failure is displayed on the display device 41 of the monitoring desk 4, but in a configuration in which the server device 3 is equipped with a display device, the detection of a warning sign of a communication failure may be displayed on the display device of the server device 3. It may also be displayed on both the display device 41 of the monitoring desk 4 and the display device of the server device 3.

Embodiment 2.
4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a remote monitoring and control system 100a according to the second embodiment. The remote monitoring and control system 100a is configured such that the monitoring console 4 of the remote monitoring and control system 100 according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is realized by a tablet terminal 6. The remote monitoring and control system 100a is the same as the remote monitoring and control system 100 except that the monitoring console 4 is realized by a tablet terminal 6. In addition, the monitoring console 4 realized by the tablet terminal 6 has the same functions as the monitoring console 4 of the remote monitoring and control system 100 according to the first embodiment.

The remote monitoring and control system 100a according to the second embodiment has the effect of being able to check the prediction results by the server device 3 in real time at the controlled station 10, etc., in addition to the effect of the remote monitoring and control system 100 according to the first embodiment.

Embodiment 3.
5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a remote monitoring and control system 100b according to the third embodiment. The remote monitoring and control system 100b includes failure prediction target systems 110-1 to 110-n corresponding to the failure prediction target system 110 described in the first embodiment. That is, in the remote monitoring and control system 100b, the server device 3 collects monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 from the modems 11 constituting each of the multiple failure prediction target systems 110-1 to 110-n, and predicts a communication failure between the remote monitoring and control devices 12 that communicate for remote monitoring and control, more specifically, a communication failure that occurs on the metal transmission line 51.

The server device 3 of the remote monitoring and control system 100b collects more monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 than the server device 3 of the remote monitoring and control system 100 according to the first embodiment. In other words, it is possible to collect information on the state of the metal transmission line 51 at various times in various cases that may lead to communication failure. Therefore, the data analysis unit 33 of the server device 3 according to the third embodiment is expected to improve the accuracy of predicting communication failures.

For example, when the monitoring result of the metal transmission line 51 includes a fault occurrence status, which is information indicating whether or not a communication fault is occurring, the data analysis unit 33 adjusts the threshold value used in the threshold judgment of the S/N ratio based on the relationship between the fault occurrence status and the S/N ratio of the received signal, thereby improving the prediction accuracy of the communication fault. The data analysis unit 33 sets the threshold value to, for example, the intermediate value between the minimum value of the S/N ratio when no communication fault occurs and the maximum value of the S/N ratio when a communication fault occurs. Note that it is desirable to adjust the threshold value when the number of monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 when no communication fault occurs and the number of monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51 when a communication fault occurs, which are registered in the database unit 32, reach a certain number. The certain number here is a number that allows the threshold value to be adjusted to an appropriate value, and this number is set in advance in the data analysis unit 33. The adjustment of the threshold value is not limited to this embodiment, and may be performed in the first and second embodiments as well.

The data analysis unit 33 may also predict a communication failure using machine learning. That is, the data analysis unit 33 may generate a learned model by learning the correspondence between the state of the metal transmission line 51 and the failure occurrence situation, and may predict a communication failure using the learned model each time the data collection unit 31 collects the monitoring results of the metal transmission line 51.

As described above, in the remote monitoring and control system 100b according to this embodiment, a single server device 3 aggregates the monitoring results of the state of the metal transmission lines 51 included in each of the multiple failure prediction target systems 110-1 to 110-n, and predicts communication failures in the metal transmission lines 51. This makes it possible to improve the accuracy of predicting communication failures compared to the first and second embodiments.

The configurations shown in the above embodiments are merely examples, and may be combined with other known technologies, or the embodiments may be combined with each other. In addition, parts of the configurations may be omitted or modified without departing from the spirit of the invention.

3 Server device, 4 Monitoring console, 6 Tablet terminal, 10 Controlled station, 11, 21 Modem, 12, 22 Remote monitoring and control device, 20 Control station, 23 Upper device, 31 Data collection section, 32 Database section, 33 Data analysis section, 34 Communication section, 41 Display device, 51 Metal transmission line, 52 Wireless communication network, 53 Wide area network, 100, 100a, 100b Remote monitoring and control system, 110, 110-1, 110-n Fault prediction target system.

Claims (8)

A plurality of remote monitoring and control devices each installed in a plurality of controlled stations and connected to a wide area network via a wireless communication network;
a plurality of modems connected to the remote monitoring and control device and mutually connected by metal transmission lines;
a server device connected to the wide area network and configured to predict a communication failure between the remote monitoring and control devices based on information regarding the state of the metal transmission line acquired from the modem;
a display device that displays information about the predicted communication failure in the server device;
A remote monitoring and control system comprising: the signal-to-noise ratio of the signal received by the modem through the metal transmission line and/or the strength of the signal are used as information regarding the state of the metal transmission line;
2. The remote monitoring and control system according to claim 1. The display device is a display device provided in a tablet terminal.
3. The remote monitoring and control system according to claim 1 or 2. A plurality of remote monitoring and control devices connected to a single wide area network via a wireless communication network constitute a single failure prediction target system,
the server device collects and stores information on the state of a metal transmission line included in each of the plurality of failure prediction target systems, and predicts the communication failure based on the stored information.
4. The remote monitoring and control system according to claim 1, wherein the remote monitoring and control system is a remote control system. the server device predicts a communication failure between the remote monitoring and control devices based on a comparison result between information on the state of the metal transmission line and a predetermined threshold value;
5. The remote monitoring and control system according to claim 1, the server device predicts a communication failure between the remote monitoring and control devices using a learned model generated by learning a relationship between the occurrence or non-occurrence of a communication failure between the remote monitoring and control devices and information regarding a state of the metal transmission line;
5. The remote monitoring and control system according to claim 1, A remote monitoring and control system is configured by a plurality of remote monitoring and control devices that are installed in a plurality of controlled stations and connected to a wide area network via a wireless communication network, and a server device that is connected to the remote monitoring and control devices and that configures a remote monitoring and control system together with a plurality of modems that are connected to each other by metal transmission lines,
a data collection unit that collects information about the state of the metal transmission line from the modem and registers the information in a database unit;
a data analysis unit that predicts a communication failure between the remote monitoring and control devices based on information about the state of the metal transmission line registered in the database unit;
a communication unit that outputs a result of the prediction of a communication failure by the data analysis unit to a display device;
A server device comprising: A communication failure prediction method executed by a plurality of remote monitoring and control devices that are installed in a plurality of controlled stations and connected to a wide area network via a wireless communication network, and a server device that is connected to the remote monitoring and control devices and that constitutes a remote monitoring and control system together with a plurality of modems that are connected to each other by metal transmission lines, comprising:
a collecting step of collecting information on the state of the metal transmission line from the modem;
a prediction step of predicting a communication failure between the remote monitoring and control devices based on information about the state of the metal transmission line collected in the collection step;
an output step of outputting a result of the prediction of the communication failure in the prediction step to a display device;
A communication failure prediction method comprising:

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