Protocol gateway handling 250,000 points with DNP3/Modbus translation across distributed substations.
Industry: Renewable Energy / Utilities
Quick Facts
Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
Customer | Major utility company — solar/hydro generation |
Scale | 250,000 points (125k Modbus reads + 125k DNP3 writes) |
Sites | 5 remote substations |
Points per Site | 25,000 tags |
Architecture | EdgeConnect + Enterprise with DataHub TagProvider |
Infrastructure | 48 vCPU, 128 GB RAM (including redundancy) |
Status | In production |
The Challenge
Challenge: Implement a gateway solution to read from 125,000 PLC points and write to 125,000 electrical points across 5 remote substations with real-time protocol translation, redundancy, and zero-downtime maintenance.
Specific pain points:
Legacy system couldn't handle protocol translation at scale
Lack of real-time visibility across distributed substations
No redundancy — single point of failure for critical grid operations
Required full downtime for any system changes
Risk to critical grid operations during maintenance windows
Impact: Without scalable gateway architecture, substations operate in isolation, protocol mismatches prevent unified control, and any system update risks grid stability.
The Solution
Architecture
Tier | Component | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
Edge (5 sites) | FrameworX EdgeConnect | Modbus collection, 25k tags each, store-and-forward |
Central | FrameworX Enterprise | UI, DataHub TagProvider, Historian, Alarms |
Protocol Translation | DNP3 Master/Slave + Modbus | Bidirectional gateway (125k read → 125k write) |
Clients | SmartClient + HTML5 | Operations monitoring |
Data Flow
Scale
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total Points | 250,000 (125k reads + 125k writes) |
| Edge Nodes | 5 substations |
| Tags per Edge | 25,000 |
| Modbus Reads | 125,000 points |
| DNP3 Writes | 125,000 points |
| Infrastructure | 48 vCPU, 128 GB RAM |
Connectivity
| Protocol | Direction | Application |
|---|---|---|
| Modbus | Inbound | Field device collection (inverters, trackers) |
| DNP3 | Outbound | Remote Operation Center integration |
| DataHub | Internal | Edge-to-Central communication |
Modules
| Module | Configuration |
|---|---|
| Historian | Postgres + TimescaleDB |
| Alarms | Centralized alarm database |
| DataHub | TagProvider for distributed engineering |
Redundancy & Failover
Central:
- Full-project redundancy (1 pair)
- Automatic failover
Edge:
- Store-and-forward enabled
- Independent operation during network outages
- Automatic resync on reconnection
Engineering:
- DataHub TagProvider enables hot-add of new Edge sites
- Zero downtime for system expansion
Key Enablers
FrameworX capabilities that made this solution possible:
| Capability | Application |
|---|---|
| DataHub TagProvider | Distributed engineering with zero-downtime Edge additions |
| Full-project redundancy | 99.99% uptime with store-and-forward |
| DNP3 protocol support | Electrical utility integration (master/slave) |
| Modbus collection | Field device connectivity at scale |
| Protocol translation | Seamless Modbus-to-DNP3 conversion |
| Scalable Edge architecture | 5 sites × 25k tags with unified management |
Strategic Insights
Protocol Gateway Architecture
Utility operations often require bidirectional protocol translation — field devices speak Modbus, control centers speak DNP3. Rather than custom middleware, FrameworX provides native support for both protocols with built-in translation, reducing integration complexity.
Zero-Downtime Engineering
Traditional SCADA systems require downtime to add new sites or modify configurations. DataHub TagProvider enables distributed engineering where new Edge nodes can be hot-added without interrupting production systems — critical for utilities that cannot afford maintenance windows.
Right-Sized Infrastructure
250,000 points with full redundancy running on 48 vCPU / 128 GB RAM demonstrates efficient resource utilization. Proper architecture design avoids over-provisioning while maintaining performance headroom.
The Results
- Full Gateway Capability — Data flow handling 250,000 points (125k Modbus reads → 125k DNP3 writes) with real-time protocol translation
- Real-time Protocol Translation — Seamless Modbus-to-DNP3 conversion across all 5 substations without custom middleware
- Zero Downtime — Hot-add new sites without system interruption via DataHub TagProvider
- 99.99% Uptime — Full redundancy with store-and-forward eliminated data loss during network disruptions
- 85% Faster Deployment — New edge sites added in hours instead of days
- 40% Cost Reduction — Optimized infrastructure (48 vCPU, 128 GB RAM) supporting entire redundant system
This case demonstrates large-scale protocol gateway architecture with DNP3/Modbus translation, distributed edge deployment, and zero-downtime engineering for utility operations.
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