SentientQ and SILZone

Hello. My name is Ian Verhappen. I am one of the Solutions Architects at Willowglen Systems developing SentientQ’s SILZone safety architecture. Over my career I have supported safety systems in processing facilities, qualified as a Functional Safety Engineer and continue to participate in the development of ISA-84 safety standards working groups.

Willowglen’s SentientQ and SILZone™ re-defines the control and monitoring of Safety Systems in the SCADA environment.

The Safety Integrity Level (SIL) concept is the most widely recognized method for specifying Safety Instrumented Systems to provide the associated stringent reliability, availability, and safety requirements of one failure per 100, 1,000, or 10,000 years when called on to perform an automated safety-related response.

Willowglen Systems has developed SILZone™, a solution that combines the core IEC 61508, IEC 61511 and EN 50129 safety standard concepts and applies them over geographically distributed SCADA environments.

SILZone™ uses SIL compliant communications to provide SIL capabilities and benefits without the usual associated constraints, such as the expensive and laborious process of needing to formally certify the full SCADA system.

Analogous to creating a VLAN, SILZone™ uses the industry proven ‘black channel’ concept to connect the safety controller at the edge of the control system to the central control room and its associated databases, HMI, and overall system management.

SILZone™ is based on the following core elements:

• Custom safety IO faceplates for the User Interface.
• A SILServer responsible for cybersecurity and the SCADA interface to the SILZone.
• The actual safety controls continue to be implemented in the individual safety controllers and SIL certified computing platform(s).

SILZone™ is incorporated into SentientQ™ or SCADACOM™ with minimal change from traditional SCADA implementations enabling the equivalent to SIL3 safety communications and control in an integrated SCADA environment.

To learn more about Willowglen’s SILZone™ please request a copy of our whitepaper on this topic.