Integrating existing field equipment with modern communication, control and information systems

Instrumentation, communications and information systems engineers in todays utility industry environment face ever increasing demands to extract data efficiently from the process and deliver this in a variety of forms to an ever increasing number of consumers. At the same time, they are restricted by huge capital investment tied up in existing field services which, due to the age of their technology base, do not lend themselves to current ´best of breed´ architectures. This paper examines techniques and technology available to bridge the gap between legacy system architectures and modern data delivery requirements.