The first half of 2013 has seen a number of new technology releases on the mobile HMI front. Most of these developments have focused on bringing the industrial HMI format to smartphones and tablet PCs. Now, leveraging a combination of patented intelligence applications, analytics and collaborative technologies, GE Intelligent Platforms has released Proficy Mobile, an HMI app designed to deliver real-time access to operational information via mobile iOS and Android devices.
Available as a free download from the Apple iTunes or Google Play online stores, Proficy Mobile can be deployed on top of existing systems such as SCADA, HMI, MES, ERP and historians, regardless of whether the existing systems come from GE or another industry supplier.
According to GE, Proficy Mobile accesses structured information through equipment models that can be configured to specific operations. Once data is mapped into the model, users can add intelligence to outline relationships and connections to multiple systems transforming the data into usable information for operators, engineers, managers and executives.
See a video about Proficy Mobile at bottom of this article.
A key aspect of Proficy Mobile’s user interaction is its use of GEO-intelligence. “This patented technology uses location, role and alarm state information in a context-aware environment to determine what industrial information needs to be displayed for the user,” says Mark Bernardo, general manager of automation software at GE Intelligent Platforms. “In social intelligence products like Facebook, situational awareness is manually determined by user inputs. Proficy Mobile's GEO-intelligence brings the situation and the action to the user, automatically accelerating an operation's actions and resolution times.”
Bernardo explains that the actionable information accessed in Proficy Mobile is delivered through alarm indicators and notifications, advanced analytics results (both rules- and logic-based), health index indicators (such as OEE) and historical trending.
For mobile HMIs to deliver context awareness about operational processes and assets, Bernardo says its essential for the software to define the key relationships between assets and users. “For example, in all operational environments a production process is made up of different equipment that works together to form a process,” he says. “Simply put, a water tower is not just the tower; it is made up of pumps and valves. Forming the key relationships between these assets will drive a complete picture with actionable information to the operator and facility manager.”
Bernardo notes that the release of Proficy Mobile lays the groundwork for future integration to advance alarming and predictive analytics, both of which are upcoming components GE is planning to release in 2013.
“We are about to introduce Proficy Notes, which is a context-aware collaboration application; and coming by mid-year is Proficy Advance Alarming and Reasoners, as well as an extension to Proficy Tasks, our best-in-class work instruction products,” Bernardo says.
To read more Automation World coverage about the progression of consumer technologies into the industrial space, see the following articles:
• Consumer Technology Drives Automation
• New RTU Embraces Web-Enabled Mobility
• Bridging the HMI Terminal/Mobile Gap
The video below from GE describes the Proficy Mobile concept.
