Longwatch Video Software Supports Wonderware ActiveFactory

The Video Historian application is part of the Longwatch Version 5.0 system. Longwatch Video Engine software collects video from multiple cameras throughout the plant, which can transmitted to the control room HMI over standard IT or industrial networks or wireless and cellular links. The Video Historian enables the user to retrieve video based on time, manufacturing or security context, such as process alarms, workflow steps, batch phases, intruder alarms, and so forth.

Using a thin-client, web-based “Longwatch Viewer” user interface, the Video Historian creates a split-screen display showing real-time or archived video from one or more cameras on the bottom half of the screen. The top half of the screen can show plant information in a number of formats.

By integrating the Wonderware ActiveFactory trend chart object, the Video Historian simultaneously shows trend graphs of user-selected variables (displayed as color “pen” lines) with archived video. The video panel and trend chart can be “linked” (synchronized) with the click of a button on the Viewer display. When the user clicks and drags the chart object’s time cursor (normally used only for displaying the process variable’s engineering units value and status at a selected point in time), the Video Historian also moves the video forward or backward accordingly.

Conversely, the user can view the video and when at a point of interest, click the “link” button, causing the trend chart to slew automatically to the selected point in time.

Longwatch has integrated functionality to the trend chart object, including:

· Integration of the Tag Picker so that new trend items can be added easily to the chart,

· Enhancement to the time cursor to enable video scrolling.

“The integration of plant video with Wonderware’s powerful and flexible Active Factory chart brings new capabilities for monitoring and controlling manufacturing,” said Tom Barczak, marketing manager for Insource Solutions, a Wonderware distribution partner. “In a matter of no time, we were able to interweave the trends of Wonderware ActiveFactory with the video from Longwatch to provide a picture of production and operations that revealed the ‘Rest of the Story’ and led to more rapid improvement. The applications for Longwatch appear endless for safety, operations, production, MES, batch tracking and quality applications. Definitely, it’s a technology that delivers rapid results.”

The Video Historian with support for the Active Factory trend chart is available now from Longwatch, Longwatch distributors, and Wonderware distributors.