SCADA

SCADA means supervisory control and data acquisition. This process is a type of software application program for control. SCADA is a central control system in which the controller's network interface, input or output, communication equipment and software are included. SCADA systems are used in the industrial process for monitoring and controlling devices, including manufacturing, production, development and construction.

The SCADA system takes the reading of the meter and examines the position of sensor in regular intervals so that it requires human intervention minimum.This system used to gather the data from sensors and instruments located at remote area.

The SCADA concept was developed as a universal means of remote access to various local control modules, which could allow access to various manufacturers through standard automation protocols. In practice, large SCADA systems have become similar to distributed control systems at work, but are using several means of interfacing with the plant.

They can control large processes, which may include many sites, and work at a short distance with a large distance. It is one of the most commonly used industrial control systems.

HISTORY OF SCADA

Before we discuss the history of data, first we must understand the problem faced by the industrial organizations.Many manufacturing floors, industrial plants, and remote sites depend on personnel for manual control and monitoring through push buttons and analog dials.

Since the industrial floors and remote sites began to increase the size , the solutions needed to control the devices at long distances.

After that organizations started to use relays and timers to reduce the level of dependency on the personnel.

Relay and timer was difficult to reconfigure as industries continued to scale out.At this point of time a more efficient and full automated system of control and monitoring was needed.

At the beginning of the 1950s, computers were first developed and used for industrial control purposes. At that time supervisory controls became popular in major utilities, oil and gas pipelines and other industrial markets.In the 1960s, it was established for monitoring telemetry, which allowed the sites to transmit measurements and other data from remote to monitor devices for automatic communication.

In the early 1970's term SCADA came into the picture.

WORKING OF SCADA

DATA ACQUISITION-

There are thousands of components and sensors in the real time system. Knowing the position of special components and sensors is very important. For example, some sensors measure the flow of water from the reservoir to the water tank and some sensors measure the price pressure because the water is free from the reservoir.

DATA COMMUNICATION-

SCADA system uses wired networks to communicate between users and devices. Real time applications use many sensors and components that should be controlled remotely. The SCADA system uses Internet communication. All information is transmitted via the Internet using specific protocols.

DATA PRESENTATION-

There are some indicators in the normal circuit network that may be visible for control, but in real time, the SCADA system has thousands of sensors and alarms which are impossible to handle at once. This system uses the Human Machine Interface (HMI) to provide all the information collected from various sensors.

HUMAN MACHINE INTERFACE-

Human Machine Interface (HMI) is the user friendly interface to interact with machine. The SCADA system uses the human machine interface. Information is being displayed and monitored for human being processed. HMI provides access to multiple control units which can be PLC and RTU. HMI provides graphical presentation of the system.