SCADA Systems
SCADA didn’t get its name by luck, it is actually an abbreviation that stands for Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition. As we said earlier, it’s a system that has both software and hardware elements and is usually used
for a couple of things:
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Control of various processes from a remote location or locally
Interaction with sensors, pumps, motors, and valves through an HMI (Human-Machine Interface) software
Monitoring, acquiring, and processing real-time data
Recording the events into a file.
In the modern time, there isn’t a serious organization that doesn’t take advantage of SCADA systems. These systems help save some time, they increase efficiency, they process data faster and with accuracy, and they allow for smooth communication between various parts of the system. As such, the SCADA architecture consists of two basic parts – an RTU (Remote Terminal Unit) and a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller). A PLC is essentially a microcomputer that directly communicates with a plethora of objects such as end devices, sensors, or numerous factory machines.
A PLC, however, is directly hooked to the factory machine, while the RTU is used remotely, as its name implies. The sheer power of SCADA software allows us to process, distribute, and display the required data, thus making it easier for employees to analyze it and come up with solutions if needed. It works exactly as it sounds. If there’s an error somewhere in the process, it notifies the operator who can then pause the production process and check the data from the SCADA system. This data can be checked via an HMI, which we’ll talk about later.