Details on How The LiftStar™ System Operates.
When an alarm condition occurs at the lift station, the LiftStar Monitoring Unit detects the condition, and sends a message to the CrosStar’s Secure Central Computer system, over the National Cellular Telephone system. The CrosStar’s Secure Central Computer receives the alarm message, updates the Internet Web Pages for your Utility with the alarm information and enters the alarm in the Event Log. If enabled, the CrosStar’s Secure Central Computer system will also send notification to the On-Call personnel of your utility, via pager, cell phone, and/or e-mail.
LiftStar LS1000 Monitoring Unit
Each lift station being monitored has a LiftStar LS1000 installed at the station, wired to the control panel. The LiftStar LS1000 watches the status of each device it is wired to, and when a fault is determined, the LiftStar communicates with the local cell tower to send a message to the CrosStar’s Secure Central Computer system. The LiftStar LS1000 also tracks pump starts and run times, which will also be transmitted to the Central Computer system, and used for advance pump fail detection.
A rechargeable battery and charger is included in the LiftStar LS1000 to provide over 8 hours of fault detection during power fail conditions.
The Cellular Telephone System
The LiftStar System uses an underutilized portion of the AMPS nationwide standard cellular telephone system to communicate with the CrosStar’s Secure Computer System. And not just one cellular phone company’s system, but all the major nationwide companies like AT&T Wireless, Verizon, and Air-Touch; plus most of the smaller regional cellular companies across the country. If there is cell phone service in your area, LiftStar will operate.
And because LiftStar uses the underutilized portion of the cellular telephone system, CrosStar can offer the LiftStar service at a low monthly rate.
CrosStar’s Secure Computer System
The CrosStar Secure Central Computer System, located at CrosStar’s offices in the mid-western United States, provides all the required computer operation for the system. Consisting of several interconnected server-grade computers in a secure location, with long term power backup, CrosStar has setup a redundant, hot-standby computer system that only the very largest of utilities could afford to install and maintain. Using state of the art software, the CrosStar Central Computer System receives all the communications from the installed LiftStar LS1000 nation wide, stores the information per individual utility system, provides alarm notification to utility personnel, and maintains each utility’s web site with current data. Thus, CrosStar’s LiftStar system can provide the features, functions, and reliability of an expensive SCADA system to a large number of utilities for a very low monthly fee.
Some of the many LiftStar features include Real-Time Event Logging, Current Alarm Display, System Overview screen, detail station information, Weekly and Monthly Pump Cycle and Run Time Reports, Preventive Maintenance System, Accumulated Historical Database, Intelligent Alarm Detection, and easy to setup and use On-Call Duty Roster for Alarm Notification. All provided over the Internet from CrosStar’s Secure Central Computer System. On-Call Duty personnel are notified of new alarm conditions by pager, mobile text messaging devices, and /or cellular telephone (each operator can be setup with a different type of device and calling number).
The LiftStar System notifies on-duty utility personnel of critial alarms within seconds of the alarm occuring via alpha-numeric pagers, wireless text messaging devices like Blackberry or Motorola's T900, digital cellular telephones with either one-way or two-way messaging, or by common e-mail. CrosStar has communication links with over 50 different paging companies, wireless text messaging services, and digital cellular telephone providers across the country. If you have a question on LiftStar's ability to use a paging or wireless text messaging service in your area, please contact
CrosStar's Technical Support.
On-duty personnel are notified of alarm conditions with clear, concise messages containing the time and date the alarm occurred, the lift station the alarm is from, and the exact name of the alarm. Below is an example of a High Wet Well Level Alarm from Lift Station 1:
To: Erik Anderson
From: CrosStar Internet Utilities System
Subject: Alarm
07:38 PM 04-27 Lift Station 1 High Wet Well Alarm
Optionally, additional personnel can be notified of the alarm condition, like the Utility Supervisor, via pager, text messaging, or e-mail at the same time as the on-duty personnel, or when no response from the on-duty personnel has occurred after a set time delay.
The utility's on-duty personnel roster is easy to setup, with flexible daily shifts, advance holiday scheduling, and simple alternate notification personnel selection. A monthly calendar listing the scheduled on-duty utility personnel is available on the utility's LiftStar web site, which can even be quickly printed and posted. Password protected internet web pages, as part of the utility's LiftStar system, provide quick and easy access to the on-duty schedule, the utility personnel roster, and schedule holidays list to make changes and additions. Please follow the link at the bottom of this page to the CrosStar's Demo Utility for a demonstration of the LiftStar Duty Roster system.
Alarm acknowledgement is very simple with either e-mail or two-way wireless messaging: just send a reply message back to the Secure Central Computer System. Within minutes, the message will be received by the computer system, the current alarm will be acknowledged, and an entry in the utility's event log will be added detailing who acknowledged the alarm by e-mail. Otherwise, alarms can easily be acknowledged from the utility's LiftStar Current Alarms web page over the Internet.
The LiftStar System uses the global Internet Service to provide communications between CrosStar’s Secure Central Computer system and you. On the CrosStar’s Secure Central Computer, each Utility has its own World Wide Web (WWW) home page which is maintained automatically with the latest information from all the LiftStar Monitoring Units registered to your utility. Access to each utility’s Web Pages is limited by a Utility identification name and password system, protecting the privacy of each utility. Internet service is available in almost every city and town around the world.
Any computer setup to “surf” the Internet can be used to access the LiftStar system and monitor your collection system. Generally this means the computer has either a dial-up modem (56k baud is best) or a broadband connection (DSL or Cable), plus “Browsers” software on the computer like Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Netscape’s Navigator. You also need to be setup with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) when using a dial-up modem. No additional software is needed.
Just type in “www.crosstar.com/liftstar” in your Browser’s Address Window, which will bring up the LiftStar System’s Main Web Page. Login in with the Utility Identification name and password issued to your Utility when you registered your system with CrosStar. The main web page of your Utility’s system will be displayed which provides a quick overview of your complete collection system, including a listing of the last fifteen Event Log entries and status of each lift station. You can “link” to detailed displays on each lift station, a list of current alarms, the Duty Roster Management page, the Preventive Maintenance System, and other informational displays.
And you are not limited to accessing the LiftStar System just from your office. Any Internet enabled computer can be used. All you need is the Internet address (www.crosstar.com/liftstar), your utility’s identification name, and password. You can use your home computer, a computer at the Public Library, and even a laptop computer connected to the Internet with a “Wireless” modem. You could be anywhere in the world, including on a Cruise Ship in the Caribbean or on the International Space Station and have access to all the information on the LiftStar System for your Utility.
Click
here
to sign in as a guest to
CrosStar's Demonstration Utility
for a working demonstration of the LiftStar System Web Pages. This demonstation is an actual utility set up for the CrosStar Sales Department on the CrosStar Secure Central Computer System.
