Keeping the fuel flowing at a major UK airport

Project Overview

Sector: Aviation | Airports
Location: United Kingdom
Project purpose: Upgrade an obsolete bespoke pump control system for fuelling and storage that was generating unreliable fault signals.
Expertise: Automation – System integration, Control system (SCADA), HMI
Scope: Advise, Install, Test, Commission, Implement, Maintain
Solution: Schneider Electric – M340 PAC, Magelis HMI and SCADA system; Advantys I/O

Our client & their requirements

A major international airport in the United Kingdom required significant upgrades and extensions to its aircraft fuel distribution network to support enhancements to existing terminals and the construction of a new one. Actemium was awarded the contract to deliver a comprehensive control systems upgrade for all fuel hydrants across the airport’s tank farms.

Aviation fuel was supplied via pipeline to the airport’s storage facilities, where the control system managed tank sequencing, recorded fuel quality data, operated 20 high‑capacity pumps to maintain consistent pressure, and ensured hydrant lines remain leak‑free. To improve reliability, performance, and maintainability, a full system upgrade was essential. This included replacing obsolete hardware, restructuring and rewriting the control software, and strengthening communication systems to eliminate recurring issues and support long‑term operational efficiency.

The Challenges

Airports – especially this one which is among the largest and most complex in the UK – present unique operational and technical challenges. The sheer scale of the site introduced significant instrumentation and connectivity issues that needed to be addressed.

The upgraded system had to collect and transmit large volumes of data from numerous remote outstations, requiring highly reliable long‑distance communications across the entire airfield environment.

Crucially, all of this work had to be completed while the airport remained fully operational, ensuring zero disruption to aircraft fuelling activities and day‑to‑day airport operations.

The Solution

The original system architecture at the airport consisted of three InTouch 7.0 SCADA nodes communicating via Modbus with Modicon 984 PLCs. As part of the upgrade, Actemium was tasked with modernising the SCADA environment and enabling communication with new Schneider Quantum PLCs.

To achieve this, Actemium upgraded all SCADA nodes to the latest version of InTouch and reconfigured the control system to interface seamlessly with the Quantum hardware. Communication reliability was significantly enhanced through the use of the Wonderware OPC Link application, enabling robust interaction between InTouch and Schneider’s OPC Factory Server, which acted as the bridge to the Quantum PLCs. In addition, two I/O servers were configured in a Master/Standby arrangement, providing a fully resilient backup communication path in the event of a primary system failure.

The upgraded solution also included seven ‘view‑only’ SCADA nodes, all running a single unified application that automatically synchronises whenever updates are made to the Master (SCADA1). Actemium implemented an improved InTouch alarm handling system and deployed the Wonderware InSQL real‑time database server to support efficient data logging, analysis, auditing, and reporting.

This programme represented a substantial upgrade and expansion of the existing control scheme – delivered under uniquely challenging operational constraints. The airport’s fuelling infrastructure had to remain fully operational throughout the installation and commissioning phases, with only a brief overnight maintenance window available each day. To maintain continuity, new PLC backplanes were pre‑assembled on temporary stands, allowing engineers to disconnect the old equipment, install the new configuration, and test using live I/O – all within the limited nightly shutdown period. By each morning’s first flight, the system was fully restored to operational status – downtime was simply not an option.

Client Benefits

Working with Actemium on this project, the airport secured the following benefits:

• Greater system reliability through the upgraded hardware, rewritten software, and improved communications.
• Reliable long‑distance data transmission for accurate monitoring across the entire airfield.
• Zero operational disruption, with all upgrades completed overnight while fuelling stayed fully functional.
• Stronger resilience and redundancy via Master/Standby servers and upgraded alarms.
• Centralised, real‑time visibility with unified SCADA and enhanced data logging.

Endorsement

Following the successful installation, Actemium was awarded an additional contract to expand the system threefold, enabling control of two new pipeline receipt facilities and a major tank farm supplying both the existing terminal hydrant network and the new hydrant system for the additional terminal.