IBA was created in 1986 as a spin-off of the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium). The company develops very high-precision solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. IBA develops cyclotrons capable of treating many forms of cancer with an unrivalled degree of precision and effectiveness.

In addition, IBA introduced a new type of particle accelerator, the Rhodotron®, to offer sterilisation and ionisation solutions designed to optimise hygiene and safety in everyday life.

IBA, the leading world manufacturer of cyclotrons, welcomed us to its production site in Gand, Belgium. This site was created from a partnership between IBA, the Gand University Hospital and the University of Gand for the production of FDG.

FDG is a radiotracer, produced with an isotope of fluorine, which is used in PET scans for the diagnosis of cancers. This site is also currently operated by IBA as a pilot site, in particular to set up and demonstrate the new remote access service, Talk2M.

First and foremost, our goal is to be able to solve problems remotely for customers in the event of a failure or if there are questions, explained Patrick Delcour, Customer Service Project Manager. Some 80 Cyclone® 18/9 and 10/5 cyclotrons are currently installed at different production sites worldwide. With Talk2M, I can connect and switch from the Melbourne site to Gand in three seconds. However, these are not the only advantages of
Talk2M for IBA.

To understand the benefits of a remote connection system, it is important to grasp the structure of a machine such as a cyclotron. Our tour took us to the core of the machine – a Cyclone® 18/9 cyclotron – safely tucked away in a bunker. This is where the nuclear reaction to produce the radioisotope takes place. The site manager explained that the general configuration of this type of machine is always more or less the same: the bunker containing the cyclotron core, operated from a control room where the end-user interface is a local PC.

The control room consists of a series of cabinets and racks for powering the magnets, generating and amplifying radio frequencies (RF), and powering the source (ionisation of the hydrogen to create the particles). A Siemens S7 automated controller to coordinate the equipment is also installed in this area.

Faults are resolved for the customer from this control room based on the information provided by the status of indicator lights and the displays. However, the information escalated from the control room is very fragmented, stressed Patrick Delcour. When a problem occurs, the customer’s operator can call an IBA Hotline, but, it is not difficult to imagine the communication and comprehension issues that may arise when a customer calls from Korea or Australia.

Based on the fragmented information gathered by telephone, the technical support team asks
the operator to check a series of indicator lights and/or displays. From experience, we know which indicator lights to check, but the limits soon become apparent when, through lack of experience, the operator omits to tell us about a light that at first sight appears normal to him or her.

Amongst the solutions implemented by IBA to improve the efficiency of its aftersales
service is a remote desktop solution to remotely access the customer’s control PC.

An IT-type infrastructure solution was used for the first prototype, but it proved to be quite complicated to install and had a major disadvantage: only programmers had access and not the engineers on the ground. The solution did not allow access to the machines from any geographical location.

As IBA’s business grows, it has become essential to reduce the number of call-outs for a limited team dealing with an increasing number of machines, confirmed Patrick Delcour. The Talk2M solution has revolutionised their way of working. Talk2M offers simplicity of use and connection while enhancing response efficiency. Just three clicks and I’m connected.

The Talk2M solution

Talk2M is a brand new remote access service for eWON’s range of industrial routers. The Talk2M solution is based on the principle of Plug & Play for remote Internet connection. The complexity associated with firewalls or proxies is entirely hidden from the user, which is one of the key advantages of Talk2M over other IT solutions.

IBA installed an eWON 2005CD at the Gand site. This is connected via WAN to the Internet, or to Talk2M to be more precise, using the site's ADSL router. On the LAN side, the eWON is connected to an IP camera in the electrical power room, to the Siemens S7 automaton and to the local control PC. Finally the system includes an SMS alarm service using the GSM embedded in the eWON. This alarm service is intended in the main for our customers and on-site personnel.

The IP camera in the electrical power room is controlled remotely and provides an on-site view to enable technicians to quickly detect a problem. The idea of the camera is to have a virtual presence on site, as transferring information by telephone is not efficient enough, stressed Patrick Delcour. Once the connection with Talk2M is established, all the IP addresses on the LAN side of the eWON become transparent and accessible to the user. In a few clicks, the user can connect to the IP camera or start the remote desktop application on the control PC to take over the local PC and launch the “InTouch1” HMI. The eWON allows remote users to transparently connect to the S7 automated system using the “Simatic Step72“ programming environment. The system provides a wide bandwidth, because the eWon uses the local network ADSL connection.

We are looking at a machine worth a total of more than EUR 1 million, installed on a site worth up to EUR 5 million in all. IBA provides a warranty period with each new installation and offers maintenance and support contracts to all its customers.

Regardless of the type of contract, installing an eWON as standard in each machine, as is the case today, means we can keep an eye on the system at all times, ensuring a good after-sales service, despite the complexity of a machine such as a cyclotron. This guarantees both satisfaction and performance for our customers, keeping in mind that each night of lost production represents a significant loss for them. The half-life of medical isotopes is fairly short and a production cannot be saved.

Having an eWon installed on site ensures continuity of production at all times, through Talk2M.

In the case of cyclotrons with maintenance contracts, there are scheduled preventive maintenance visits by a technician every three months, when consumables are also replaced. We intend to expand Talk2M in the future to cover predictive maintenance. In the long term, Talk2M will allow us to really optimise travel time and improve customer satisfaction while offering a faster service.

IBA is totally satisfied with Talk2M, which presents a real advantage in terms of connections.
Our mission does not include IT services and server maintenance, and therefore we wanted an overall, hosted solution. Moreover, the eWon enables us to develop other added-value services, such as sending text messages or datalogging for example.

There is already keen interest from customers as a result of the few local demonstrations organised by IBA.

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