Cloud Based Implementation of a Gas Turbine Remote Monitoring System

Vericor Power Systems is introducing remote performance monitoring capabilities for their aero-derivative commercial marine and industrial gas turbine product lines. Historically, Vericor has been focused primarily as an OEM of military marine engines and is now looking to expand their footprint into non-military markets. The expectation from industrial customers is that remote performance monitoring is not only a desired feature, but a necessary minimum capability. Vericor has provided custom remote monitoring solutions on an as needed basis in the past. However, in order to stay competitive, the need was identified to provide a standardized remote performance monitoring offering. A development program was initiated with the intent to rapidly bring to market a robust, quick to deploy solution. During the conceptual design phase, existing technologies were evaluated for suitability as a platform for data storage and analytics. Traditional solutions relied on the incorporation of a network server housed within Vericor’s corporate IT infrastructure for field data collection. A data historian software package would be used for analytics and reporting functions. Recent trends in the internet technology space have made cloud computing more prevalent than ever. Cloud based platforms were evaluated during the conceptual design phase and were found to have several advantages over corporate based servers. Ultimately Vericor elected to proceed with the development of a cloud based platform for their remote performance monitoring system. This paper dives into the selection process, reviewing the relative strengths and weaknesses of each platform type in the areas of availability, maintainability, analytic capability and cyber security