2012-05-22
Many small and mid-sized equipment rooms on the market today are configured in a disorganized way, with an unclear division of responsibilities: most of them must handle power performance, UPS systems, databases, racks, outlets and environmental parameters all at once. If something goes wrong, the losses to the business can be significant — which is why installing a suitable monitoring system for small and mid-sized equipment rooms is so worthwhile. An all-in-one monitoring unit for small equipment rooms answers the need for comprehensive, centralized monitoring.
What is an all-in-one monitoring unit for small equipment rooms?
An all-in-one unit usually combines the recorder and the monitor in a single device, saving space and simplifying deployment. The all-in-one monitoring unit for small equipment rooms is a compact air-conditioning control host with temperature and humidity collection plus infrared remote-control signal learning and transmission. It can learn more than 99% of the infrared remotes on the market, drive two channels of switch-value output and detect six channels of switch-value input. With telephone or SMS control and the equipment-room monitoring communication protocol, it provides phone alarms, SMS alarms and on-site audible-visual alarms; paired with an SD card, it stores temperature, humidity, channel status and alarm data in real time for more than three years.
The all-in-one unit performs real-time temperature and humidity collection, remote air-conditioning control and power on/off control — making intelligent management and monitoring of small equipment rooms a reliable and economical solution.
What is industrial-control equipment room monitoring?
Industrial control means automatic industrial control achieved through a combination of electronics, electrical engineering, mechanics and software. Industrial-control monitoring is designed specifically for industrial sites, offering controllability and visibility. Based on the networked cabling system, it uses centralized monitoring: a monitoring host and monitoring software are placed in the monitoring room, presenting all subsystems — power, environment, fire protection, security, network and more — on a single interface.
Because equipment room monitoring requires 24-hour real-time supervision, it places higher demands on hardware performance and reliability. Ordinary computer hardware does not adapt well to such strict requirements: it is hard to guarantee stability, reliability and functionality, and the probability of faults during long, uninterrupted operation is high — faults that recur. In a place as important as an equipment room this is intolerable, especially in critical zones where recurring faults are simply not allowed. Industrial-control monitoring meets these requirements and has become the favorite of the monitoring field; most monitoring users now choose industrial-grade solutions to support their systems.
What is embedded equipment room monitoring?
The IEEE defines an embedded system as a device used to control, monitor or assist the operation of machines and equipment. An embedded equipment-room monitoring system is a computer-network system built on networking, database, communication, automatic-control and modern sensing technologies. It delivers an automated, intelligent and highly efficient approach based on computer technology and complete management-and-monitoring methods. It monitors the equipment in the room — power and environmental devices such as power distribution, UPS, air conditioning, temperature and humidity, water leakage, smoke, video, access control, lightning protection and fire systems — integrating collection, conversion, processing and alarming, and it can run independently of the network and host software. In short, as long as the devices are powered, the whole system keeps running.
Embedded system structure: simple and clear, with three layers — front-end sensors, the embedded monitoring and alarm host, and the upper-computer software.
From collection to alarm, the embedded monitoring system uses hardware throughout, so stability is extremely high and dependence on network stability and monitoring-center performance is very low. All interfaces — switch-value inputs, analog inputs, 485 signal inputs and linkage interfaces — plus the alarm module are integrated into one unit, making implementation and later maintenance very convenient.
The main differences between traditional industrial PCs and embedded recorders: (1) industrial PCs use the X86 architecture, while embedded devices use RISC.
(2) Industrial PCs run Windows; embedded devices run Linux.
An industrial DVR (PC-based DVR) uses an industrial PC as its basic hardware and Windows as its basic software, with video and audio compression boards; it records and plays back audio and video signals through professional compression algorithms and PC hardware and software. Its core component is the audio/video compression card.
Embedded recorders can use ARM or DSP hardware with a dedicated embedded operating system (such as VxWorks, pSOS or Linux). Whatever the hardware path and operating system, the principle is the same: video acquisition plus data storage and processing — one uses a widely adopted program, the other a dedicated program of its own design.
Traditional industrial control vs. embedded monitoring technology:
1. Networking
Embedded monitoring: devices follow the TCP/IP protocol and suit network monitoring — no dedicated equipment is needed to secure the room. Traditional industrial-control monitoring: device protocols vary widely, some vendor-proprietary and some public, and dedicated equipment is required for network monitoring.
2. Security
Embedded monitoring: multi-level user authentication, SSL encryption, an underlying embedded operating system, anti-virus, anti-Trojan and anti-hacker measures, and built-in watchdog technology keep the system running 365×24. Traditional industrial-control monitoring: single user authentication, no operating system at the lower layer — everything depends on the upper network-management system. Windows crashes easily, is easily infected, and over time unreleased memory leads to missed or false alarms.
3. Openness
Embedded monitoring: provides standard XML parsing for easy secondary development. Traditional industrial-control monitoring: vendor-proprietary interfaces are unsuitable for secondary development — difficult and costly.
4. Stability
Embedded monitoring: embedded design, stable and reliable for continuous monitoring. Traditional industrial-control monitoring: complex system architecture with poor stability.
5. Reliability
Embedded monitoring: the front-end device has an embedded operating system and a web-based HMI and can operate independently; even if the central server goes down or the network is unreachable, local monitoring continues.
Traditional industrial-control monitoring: front-end devices have no operating system or web HMI and must stay connected to the central server to work; they cannot monitor alarms independently. When the server or network is down, the front-end devices become blind spots.
6. Intelligent linkage
Embedded monitoring: the host itself provides switch-value and analog linkage, automatically controlling devices as required and prompting or shutting down a device on schedule. Traditional industrial-control monitoring: must work with the central network-management server, depends too heavily on the network, and the host itself has no linkage capability.
7. Scalability
Embedded monitoring: adding monitored content requires no additional main equipment and no software changes — just commission and use; it integrates seamlessly with the upper network-management system. Adding monitoring sites only requires adding standard devices.
Traditional industrial-control monitoring: adding monitored content requires software changes, debugging and professional equipment; upward expansion is complex and costly, and adding monitoring sites means reconfiguring and re-debugging the upper software.
8. Software architecture
Embedded monitoring: B/S web architecture with a browser-based HMI, 3D modeling display and a friendly interface — monitoring is as easy as surfing the web. Traditional industrial-control monitoring: a single, cluttered interface that requires professional training before use.
9. Remote management and maintenance
Embedded monitoring: fully IP-based — devices can be upgraded, optimized and maintained remotely over the network without site visits. Traditional industrial-control monitoring: localized devices require on-site debugging and maintenance, making long-distance maintenance difficult.
10. Power consumption
Embedded monitoring: under 15W — green and energy-efficient, drawing little power on mains. Traditional industrial-control monitoring: at least 250W, drawing far more power and putting greater strain on batteries.
11. Auto-restart on power recovery
Embedded smart rack power (smart rack PDU): when power returns after an outage at an unattended site, the smart rack PDU quickly self-checks and resumes operation without manual intervention. Traditional industrial-control monitoring: requires dedicated startup and auxiliary software — otherwise someone must go on site and restart manually.
12. Client access
Embedded monitoring: no client installation needed — any standard web browser (such as IE or Firefox) can access it. Traditional industrial-control monitoring: requires a client installation, which is inconvenient for duty staff; a web client can be added, but functional changes require new development.
