SCADA stands for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition — a technology that has single-handedly spearheaded the wave of Industrial IoT in countries all over the world.
In general, a SCADA systemis a centralized system which monitors and controls anentire area.It is a software package that is positioned on top of hardware.
This supervisory system gathers data on the process and sends the commands control to the process. The SCADA is a remote terminal unit which is also known as RTU. Most control actions are automatically performed by RTUs or PLCs. The RTUs consist of programmable logic converters that can be set to specific requirement. For example, in the thermal power plant the water flow can be set to specific value or it can be changed according to the requirement.
The SCADA system allows operators to change the set point for the flow, and enable alarm conditions in case of loss of flow and high temperature and the condition is displayed and recorded. The SCADA system monitors the overall performance of the loop. This system is a centralized system that communicates with both wire and wireless technology to Clint devices. This rather amazing system controls and completely runs all kinds of industrial processes.
A SCADA system is classified into two parts:
- Clint Layer – Caters for the main machine interaction
- Data Server Layer – Handles most of the process data activities
The SCADA station refers to the servers and it is composed of a single PC. The data servers communicate with devices in the field through process controllers like PLCs or RTUs. The PLCs are connected to the data servers either directly or via networks or buses.
The SCADA system utilizes a WAN and LAN networks. The WAN and LAN consists of internet protocols used for communication between the master station and devices.
The physical equipment like sensors are connected to the PLCs or RTUs. The RTUs convert the sensor signals to digital data and send digital data to master. According to the master feedback received by the RTU, it applies the electrical signal to relays.
Most of the monitoring and control operations are performed by RTUs or PLCs.
Want to know more about SCADA? Tonex offers several SCADA training courses.
Additionally, Tonex offers nearly 400 classes, seminars and workshops in close to four dozen categories of systems engineering training.
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.