Ctek Industrial Controller Provides Assured Connectivity for SCADA Systems

Quick Facts

Company

Ctek
ctekproducts.com

Customer Profile

Ctek, Inc. specializes in developing solutions that enable any industrial or agricultural asset to participate fully in the Internet of Industrial Things. The company utilizes the latest 4G technology to implement an edge intelligence approach that allows customers to remotely monitor and control installations at the edge of their networks without additional servers, systems or software.

Objectives

Ctek needed to design a new 4G Industrial LTE Controller for emerging markets while offering seamless migration for customers using Ctek’s current 4G and 3G products.

Results

Reliable 4G LTE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity offers reliable and flexible options for controlling and monitoring remote equipment
Pre-certified modules and engineering support compressed development schedule, shortening time to market
Common form factor will simplify product evolution

Solution Partner

GetWireless

Sierra Wireless Products & Services

MC Series Module

Challenge

Ctek has been providing standalone cellular automation, control and alarm products to the industrial market for over 14 years. The company’s products help customers control a variety of industrial applications such as wastewater management, tank level monitoring, solar energy, pumping stations, sign and lighting management and irrigation systems.

According to Research and Markets¹, the global SCADA market was $18.6B US in 2018 and is projected to grow to $26B by 2024 – a CAGR of 5.7%. The increased popularity of these systems is being driven by organization’s need to monitor and control remote equipment and the improved cost effectiveness of these solutions.

Ctek’s portfolio ranges from cellular routers to complete “SCADA-in-a-box” solutions. These systems connect to both Modbus and discrete data acquisition and control devices, convert the data to actionable intelligence, transport the information over secure managed networks and present the results visually using Ctek’s integrated phone APPS and Ctek’s SkyCloud visual access and management system. All of these functions are performed at the edge of the network, without additional servers, SCADA systems or custom software. The company’s products can be deployed without software development. Operations simply defines the data they want to monitor and control and, via pull down menus, they can set up a complete network, including custom dashboards.

With thousands of 2G and 3G devices deployed, Ctek wanted to develop a new LTE controller/internal router that could provide 4G LTE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

Sierra Wireless Solution

Ctek worked with Sierra Wireless and its distributor GetWireless on early generations of its products. When faced with selecting a vendor for the new product, Ctek once again selected Sierra Wireless, because they knew they could count on both Sierra Wireless and GetWireless for engineering support. They also expected to be able to cut development time because of the common form factor and precertification that Sierra Wireless provides for its modules.

Sierra Wireless provides us with solid, dependable products and great engineering support, and GetWireless provides additional support, including logistics, to ensure we can meet our customer’s requirements.

Robert Way
Manager of Business Development and Sales, Ctek

Solution

Results

Ctek’s new 4G Industrial Controller connects to sensors, meters, motors, generators, valves, PLCs and VFDs. The controller is compact and requires no complex programming, enabling customers that want a complete SCADA solution to implement via a simple web interface and menus. Once configured, customers can choose to use a local management dashboard, Ctek Android/IPhone Apps, or the company’s cloud management system, which collects logs and presents users with performance reports, alerts and dashboards. The controller offers 4G LTE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth options for wireless connectivity.

“Sierra Wireless provides us with solid, dependable products and great engineering support, and GetWireless provides additional support, including logistics, to ensure we can meet our customer’s requirements,” said Robert Way, Manager of Business Development & Sales at Ctek. “With Sierra Wireless pre-certified modules and common form factor, we saved time and money and reduced our time-to-market,” explained Mr. Way.

“Our customers rely on our equipment to control and monitor mission-critical equipment often located in remote areas. As cellular connectivity becomes more economical, we’re seeing more of our customers moving away from private networks. Providing them with solutions offering reliable cellular connectivity is paramount, and with Sierra Wireless, our customers get that reliability,” said Angelo Lopez, Project Manager for Z4550 Product Development at Ctek.