SCADA or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems can be used across many commercial enterprises and big businesses. If you are unaware of the uses of SCADA in day to day activities they are common in applications like traffic signals and distributing power for electrical power distribution grids. Civil engineering regularly use SCADA systems.
How does Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system work?
SCADA systems often manage several pumps and switches in whichever application they are controlling and this is referred to as the RTU – otherwise called a Remote Telemetry Unit. Data is provided to humans by the RTU. Often the human operators will only make use of this information to perform pre defined protocols that have been put in place at the start of the application. The human operator can often be alerted to any actions they have to perform by an alarm – making sure the complete operation is done correctly in a combination of SCADA and human interaction.
Which everday processes employ SCADA ?
Whilst lots of people won’t have heard of SCADA, they will certainly have experienced the benefits. SCADA can be used for numerous applications including:
• Waste water treatment
• Traffic lights
• Chemical industry
• Automotive industry
• Paper and mill industries
• Food processing
SCADA or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems are often found in large industries like:
• Oil
• Gas
• Mining
• Power Plants
How has SCADA moved with technological developments such as the Internet?
In more recent times, SCADA systems control more processes without the dependence on human interaction . Various advancements in technology like the development of Distributed Control System (DCS), Intelligent RTUs, and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) have all contributed towards this Now, rather than depending on human operators RTUs are capable of safety related tasks determined by data from the master station.
The use of Ethernet has replaced previous methods employed to fulfill the communication specifications of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems .
In order to reduce the danger to the security of a SCADA system, they should not be connected to the internet . This greatly minimizes the risk of someone getting unauthorised access of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system and controlling it in an act of cyber terrorism.
This article was written on behalf of Lee Dickens Ltd. Lee Dickens are experts in Process Monitoring and SCADA. For more detials, please visit www.leedickens.biz