For the first time the company will present its products and services at Smart Cities exhibition in April 2019.
Already 27 years its specialists deliver high qualitative communication, information, control and industrial automation products and services.
Interview with Mr. Alexander Savov, Manager of the company.
Mr. Savov, tell us about the field of activities of your company.
Since the establishment of the company, we have been working in the field of industrial automation – supply of solutions for automation of industrial processes and systems, including design, delivery and production of equipment, installation and commissioning, warranty and after sale service. We also have some our own developed products that are available on the market.
During the years we have gradually entered in the field of building automation - mainly with systems for building management and energy management and monitoring. And already for a few years we have been working in the field of home automation - this is a market niche that will expand and will provide more and more sophisticated solutions.
Share in brief the results achieved with the telemetry systems for wireless control and monitoring of remote installations.
Remote installations very often work outside, in places without electrical power supply. On the other hand, they are part of the production cycle and their monitoring and management is necessary, so as to assure the smooth running of the processes. Usually the distances to them are significant and it is not worth to have cable connections between these facilities and the control centre. Often additional obstacles can be present – like railways, rivers, asphalt roads, etc. Wireless control and monitoring systems enable such remote facilities to be continuously monitored and managed without need for continuous human presence at the remote place. This ensures a smooth running of the technological process and also saves money from potential losses due to unsettled problems of remote installations.
You are producing ZigBee and EnOcean wireless communication modules as well as LoRa gateways. Where are they applicable? How do these technologies differ from the others?
ZigBee, EnOcean, Lora are three advanced wireless communication technologies that are becoming more and more popular.
For years we have been manufacturing a range of own developed ZigBee-based devices for reliable and secure wireless transfer of standard analogue, discrete and serial signals. They work in systems for control of the level in water reservoirs and management of pumping stations, remote monitoring of parameters in industrial installations and processes, remote reading of sensing devices, control of steam supply, management of security equipment, monitoring of environmental parameters, etc. The devices are industrial-grade, for indoor and outdoor applications, with options for different power supply, including supply by battery and solar panel.
EnOcean is a wireless technology, very suitable for applications in building and home automation systems. With EnOcean technology signal transmission requires very small quantity of energy, often supplied by the so-called energy harvesters. EnOcean devices are practically energy-independent, they do not need batteries or main power supply. Our company produces a gateway for bidirectional communication between EnOcean Wireless Networks and Modbus, applicable in systems for home and building automation and energy management and monitoring systems as well.
LoRa is a relatively new wireless communication technology featuring the ability to cover longer transmission distances at low power consumption.
As part of an international project for development of advanced concepts for early detection systems of forest fires, Comicon has developed a gateway for connection between wireless LoRa® sensors and Modbus TCP / MQTT servers. The device is created in two versions - an Ethernet version for stationary application at monitoring towers for example, and a 3G mobile version for installation on a mobile device - like a drone. The gateway is suitable for applications in monitoring systems for the utility sector (water, oil and gas, etc.) as well as in the agriculture, environmental monitoring, transport infrastructure, etc.
How does the implementation of energy management systems help the business?
Such system insure the opportunity to have an improved management of the energy consumption in the factory or the building, which usually leads to a reduction (sometimes quite significant) of the energy costs of the latter. There are also other pluses from the use of an energy management system - it provides information on inefficient energy costs (i.e. forgotten working heating appliances), equipment in pre-failure condition, etc..
Which foreign companies do you partner with?
Our company is actively partnering with Schneider Electric company.
Another company with which we actively partner is the Swedish HMS Networks - a manufacturer of a wide range of products for industrial communication, supplied under the brands Anybus, Ixxat and eWON.
We have a long-standing partnership with Det-tronics (flame and gas detection equipment), Huggenberger (physical security monitoring of engineering structures), Eyevis (already part of Leyard, supplier of video wall equipment).
What will you present at the exhibition?
At the exhibition we will show wireless solutions based on LoRa, EnOcean, ZigBee technologies; solutions for home and building automation.
Whom are your products and services directed to and who would you like to invite to your booth?
All visitors are welcome at our booth. We hope to be able to present interesting and appropriate solutions for monitoring and control of the home, building, garden, park, forest, farm land.
