Case Study
Northern Lighthouse Board

The Client

Industry: Maritime Safety

The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) is the General Lighthouse Authority responsible for the waters surrounding Scotland and the Isle of Man.

It has been providing a vital safety service to mariners since 1786 and its service makes a significant contribution to the prevention of accidents and incidents around the coastline, safeguarding not only lives and property, but also protecting precious marine environment.

NLB operates two ships NLV PHAROS and NLV POLE STAR. The ships carry out buoy work, deliver stores and supplies to lighthouses and inspect navigation aids on oil and gas rigs in the Scottish sector.

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The Requirement

The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) currently operates and maintains 208 lighthouses and 174 buoys as well as providing radio aids to navigation (AtoN) around the coast of Scotland and the Isle of Man. The authority is also responsible for ensuring other AtoN providers such as port authorities, are conforming to international standards.

Faced with technology obsolescence of their legacy SCADA system, NLB went out to tender for a new monitoring and reporting solution that would serve the organisation for the next 20 years. Since 1998, all lighthouses and AtoNs are unmanned so timely and accurate telemetry data is crucial for NLB to support their mission-critical maritime safety mandate.

Following a competitive tender, EMR Integrated Solutions were awarded the contract.

The Solution

Phase one of the project involved the design and build of a high-availability telemetry/SCADA network in hot stand-by mode with full resiliency as standard. This could simultaneously use protocol emulation for the legacy DATAC outstations while also providing robust, secure data collection across the new outstation estate based on Schneider RTUs and 4G LTE cellular networks.

All data from lighthouses and buoys is transmitted back to a centralised SCADA system, powered by Inductive Automation’s Ignition platform. Thanks to a custom-designed dashboard, staff can view their full estate at a glance and this ‘single pane of glass’ is critical for ongoing monitoring and reporting.

The SCADA network generates data on AtoN status, light, power and other performance parameters.

Extending the Power of SCADA

Following the success of phase one of the project, NLB took the decision to extend the SCADA network to two other elements of their maritime remit.

Under their ‘Rigwatcher’ program, NLB’s commercial division monitors hazards at sea. And for the many decommissioned oil rigs, formerly part of North Sea Oil this means extending monitoring and reporting to these sites, which can also pose a danger to shipping if left unmonitored.

Solution at a Glance

Telemetry Network
Design and deployment of telemetry network across NLB’s estate based on Schneider RTUs
SCADA installation
Installation and configuration of Ignition SCADA instance
Dashboard design
Design and build of custom dashboards with interactive maps, displaying ‘single pane of glass’ reporting on NLB’s estate
SCADA extension and land-based AIS
Extension of SCADA network to ‘Rigwatcher’ program and provision of land-based AIS for vessels and other hazards at sea
Project Management
Project management services through EMR’s dedicated PMO

In addition to this, EMR has provided and integrated shore-based Automatic Identification System (AIS) equipment capable of not only transmitting their own position and identification but also generating virtual AIS data for hazards at sea, which will be achieved through remote configuration in real-time, using an Ignition SCADA system. This provides essential collision avoidance for hazards, which arises from shipwrecks or the creation of exclusion zones.

The Benefits

Detailed, real-time reporting with future-proofed technology is the key benefit delivered to NLB. The status of all lighthouses, buoys and aids to navigation are now visible on an intuitive, interactive dashboard, powered by an industry-leading SCADA system.

The SCADA system has also been extended to cover obsolete oil rigs. And a land-based AIS provides virtual digital addresses for hazards at sea, negating the need for vessels to travel to the location to mark them as such.

This allows NLB to fulfill its martime safety remit using the latest technology.

“The Ignition system continues to form a crucial element of the NLB’s delivery of Aids to Navigation. Providing real-time data and analysis drives maintenance planning and can deliver early warning of faults allowing for timely rectification. Longer term trends also support wider organisational decisions for the future and identify areas for continual improvement whilst integration of new technologies ensures that the NLB will be able to continue its vital service to mariners throughout the 21st Century and beyond.”

Joe Jeffrey, Delivery & Planning Manager, Northern Lighthouse Board

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Benefits at a Glance

Real-time reporting at a glance
Provides a single pane of glass for real-time reporting on the status of all lighthouses, buoys and AtoNs with a user-friendly dashboard
Automatic alerts for light failures
Automatic notification if lights fail to activate at the appointed time, negating the need for manual checks
Virtual digital addresses via AIS
Land-based AIS (Automatic Identification System) provides virtual digital addresses for hazards at sea, negating the need for NLB vessels to physically travel to site to mark them as such
Predictive maintenance and support
Historic data analysis provides valuable predictive information for pro-active maintenance and support as such
Technology investment protection
Future-proofed technology will protect NLB’s financial investment for many years to come