Timber Line Electric and Control Corp.

Cherokee Metro District Keeps Growing - and They Learned...
CAREFUL SELECTION OF SCADA SYSTEM CAN
YIELD 20+ YEARS OF RELIABLE SERVICE

In the early 1980's Cherokee Metropolitan District selected a Motorola first generation Intrac SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system to help monitor and control their supply wells and holding tank.  As the water district expanded, it added new, more sophisticated Intrac RTU's while still being able to fully utilize their original equipment.  In 1996-97, Cherokee updated their system once again with Motorola's "intelligent" Remote Terminal Unit's (RTU's) called MOSCAD.  The new SCADA technology allows for complete forward migration of the older units, so Cherokee's investment in 1982 is still working today!

When Motorola first sold Cherokee an Intrac SCADA system the water district was a quiet rural superb on a simple water system consisting of 4 wells, a chlorinator and a 3 million gallon tank.  The Intrac system consisted of a relay logic based RTU packaged with a revolutionary Motorola radio protocol which transmitted at a 600 baud with a 32 bit digital signal.  These Intrac units related their information to a first generation Computer Interface Unit which translated the radio communication protocol and then sent the information along to a display computer. The days display was very simple!

In the mid 1980's, as Cherokee began to grow into a busy commuter community, the district added another tank, a pump station and a few more wells to keep up with the increased demand.  The new Intrac units that were installed at these sites were slightly more sophisticated than their 5 year old counterparts, but they were still 100% communication compatible.

In 1996, Cherokee's system was once again expanding.  Their well field collection system was growing, as was their distribution system.  Since the well field is located 25 miles from the District boundaries, with 12 wells, 4 holding tanks and 3 pump stations to operate, Cherokee recognized their need to migrate to a state-of-the-art RTU and a computer based graphical interface system.  Most importantly, the new system had to be easy to use by both operators and management.  The district's staff had heard of many older SCADA systems that could not handle the jump from relate to microprocessor technology or from DOS based computer programming to the new Windows environments.  Luckily for Cherokee, they had invested in quality technology  Motorola had a planned migration path to their new MOSCAD intelligent RTU that operates under a windows or Window NT environment.

Timber Line Electric and Control, a Motorola system integrator, was contracted to install a new Motorola MOSCAD Field Interface Unit (FIU) that could not only offer sophisticated control of other new remote MOSCAD RTU's, it could also continue to communicate and gather data from the 15 year old Intrac RTU's!  The protocol as well as its own new MDLC packet-style communications protocol.  This is achieved using the seven layer Open System Interconnection (OSI) protocol which is state-of-the-art in that it allows for a system-wide report by exception procedure, channel monitoring, and prioritizing site communication.

Timber Line also installed a Pentium based computer loaded with Intellutions' FIX control software.  The updated database consists of approximately 20 sites with a total of 550 tags.  One overview screen conveys information on the status of all pumps, tank levels, well flow rates, and other information critical to maintaining the 2.4 MGD average flow, (Summer high is 5 MGD).  With this screen an operator can tell at a glance if an alarm has occurred, and take action to correct it immediately.  Additional screens convey information pertinent to pump control, communications and diagnostics.

Dian Hardekopf, Billing and Computer Administrator at Cherokee states "We have been using the system since May of 1996, and are very please with it.  I find it very easy to use!".

When Timber Line installed the new FIX software, they also added Specter Instrument's WIN-911tm and Symantec's pcAnywhere.  The Win-911tm software allows the computer to call operators at home if there is an after-hours alarm.  This system actually reports which site and tag is alarming.  The pcAnywhere program allows an operator to use a laptop to communicate via modem with the main computer and institute control commands to handle and alarm situation.  The operators think it is great to be able to handle 2:00 am emergencies in their skivvies.

And 1997 is bringing even more expansion to Cherokee's SCADA system.  Timber Line is in the process of supplying the district with three new MOSCAD RTU's.  These will monitor a new well, a metering station, and waste water flows at a lift station.

Cherokee's wise investment in reliable, name brand technology has paid for itself many times.  The have watched other districts completely scrap obsolete systems and start over, but Cherokee's system just keeps on growing and communicating!

Timber Line Electric & Control Corp.
17591 Hwy. 8, P.O. Box 793, Morrison, CO 80465-0793
Voice (303) 697-0440 Fax (303) 697-0450
E-Mail