Timely availability of information is crucial for the realization of smart plants. Information, in turn, relies on the proper collection and further processing of measurement values. This processing is performed through a variety of software means: data reconciliation, gross error filtering, fault detection, inferential control, etc. To perform well, all these methods, need redundant measurements, which are not usually available. Accuracy targets that will allow for efficient on-line optimization, control, fault detection and diagnosis are usually not transparent. Faced with all of the above, practitioners need to decide on measurement locations and accuracy levels that will result in plant performance that is safe, reliable and profitable (i.e, smart plant operations).

In this presentation, we will illustrate a profit driven integrated approach to sensor network design, and will show that: a) to achieve smart plant operation a new perspective with respect to the value of instrumentation is needed, b) this new perspective needs to be a profit driven strategy, which includes multiple operational tasks, and c) these integrated sensor networks will exploit information synergistically in such a way that all objectives are satisfied simultaneously.

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