Netherlands Company Vanderlande Industries selected a Schneider Electric Ethernet based automation system to reduce airport baggage delays.  The Ethernet network used Quantum PLC to control Altivar 312 drives, and Magelis XBTGT touch screen HMIs to control, monitor, and deliver baggage around the terminal.

Vanderlande has been designing, building innovative baggage handling systems for airports of all sizes since the year 2000.  It was selected to the new Terminal B consisting of a three-story central passenger terminal and a separate 19-gate concourse with an elevated people mover to move passengers between the terminal and concourse areas.

Meeting future growth requirements and high speed data handling has become a key challenge as secure tracking of passenger assets grows. To meet this demand, Vanderlande Industries offered a decentralised, Ethernet-based architecture that would be faster than traditional proprietary systems, reduce overall maintenance costs and variable costs such as start-up and commissioning time, while still maintaining performance and reliability.

Tracking ‘bag-tag’ detail in real-time

A baggage handling solution needs to read and store large amounts of ‘bag-tag’ data in real time, such as who you are, where you’re going, when you checked-in your bag, when your plane is leaving and arriving.  The information needs to be read and saved so that a passenger’s bag can get screened, placed on the correct plane, correctly transferred between planes, and end up at the right baggage terminal.

In addition to speed, Vanderlande Industries believed that an Ethernet-based architecture would be easier to maintain because commercial, off-the-shelf components are readily available everywhere, and because it’s easier to find technicians who are familiar with an open protocol as opposed to a proprietary one.

The company also wanted to facilitate start-up and commissioning by creating a decentralised control architecture that pushes communication out to the individual components instead of a centralised network. Another advantage is that a decentralised architecture makes all of the components plug and play, and as soon as they’re connected, the system finds them and brings them together. With communication at each device, a decentralized architecture also helps to isolate faults and makes maintenance and troubleshooting easier.

The end result consisted of the Quantum™ programmable logic controller (PLC) with hot standby, Connexium Ethernet switches, Altivar 312 drives, TeSys U Line starters, and Magelis XBTGT human machine interface (HMI) touch screens.  The project also used a Citect SCADA industrial control system to monitor the maintenance diagnostic system and baggage execution software

Sacramento International Airport (SMF) was opened to passengers ahead of schedule and on budget.

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