What Is SCADA?

What is SCADA?

HMI SCADA systems let you monitor your equipment and infrastructure (such as power plants and manufacturing facilities) from a single location. You can monitor the status of different equipment, receive alerts about potential problems, and take actions to fix them.

• You can control industrial processes from any location.
• You can monitor, gather & process real-time data right here on the go.
• You can communicate with your machinery using HMI software which allows you to connect directly to certain devices. This could be sensors, valves, pumps, motors and more.
• Log Data to a database

SCADA systems are often used in industrial organizations because of how important they are for data management, system efficiency, and preventing downtime.

SCADA is a whole system that essentially starts with PLCs, RTUS. PLCs & RTUs are highly-specific "microcomputers" that communicate with machines and other devices. They then route information they receive to SCADA driven software as well as HMIs, sensors, and endpoints.  The SCADA software processes, distributes and displays data so that operators and employees can analyze it. It is important because it helps them reach decisions when analyzing data.

For example, SCADA systems send notifications about any issues with a batch of product. If a high number of errors are detected, the operator pauses the operation and investigates by viewing the data on an HMI. The operator reviewed the data and found out that Machine 2 was broken. Because of the SCADA system, which sent an alert to the operator, he discovered and fixed it before any further troubles could occur.

Who Are The Users of SCADA?

Industrial organizations, agencies in the public and private sectors, and other companies use SCADA systems for a variety of purposes such as controlling and maintaining efficiency, distributing data to make more informed decisions, and letting people know about system issues so these can be dealt with in time.  SCADA systems can be configured with many custom features to work best for the business type. They can also be deployed in large or small-sized enterprises.  SCADA systems are used in many modern industries, such as:

• Electronics, food and beverage, paper and pulp, metals manufacturing.

SCADA systems can be found virtually anywhere. In many cases, they run a business' operations behind the scenes.

SCADA systems can be extremely powerful and save you a lot of time and money. There are many case studies that highlight the benefits of a modern SCADA software solution such as Empowered.

The very beginning of SCADA

To find out more about the origin of SCADA, we should first explore the problems industrial companies are trying to solve.  Before the introduction of SCADA (System Control and Data Acquisition) in the mid-20th century, many industrial plants and remote sites relied on manual labor to control equipment. This change made it possible for operators to use push buttons and dials for machine control.

When a company started scaling out its remote site and on-site floors, they had difficulty controlling all the equipment over long distances.  Companies started to use relays and timers to provide supervision over various devices which helped avoid sending people out at different locations.

Relays and timers applied limited automation to decrease entropy as organizations grew. These solutions, however, also created more problems as organizations scaled out. In the past, relay and timer failures were difficult to reconfigure and time-consuming. So, they had to control the panels. The requirements for this project meant that a more efficient system was needed. This fully automated system would let you monitor your panels better and provide better control

By the early 1950s, computers had been developed and started being used in factory settings. Supervisory control was also first implemented at about this time for some major utilities, oil and gas pipes and other industrial markets. In the 1960s, there was a big advancement in telemetry. The new technology allows for data to be transmitted from remote locations back to our headquarters. This often includes measurements and other data. SCADA stands for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition and was first coined in the early 1970's. This is a remote-sensing control system that records, collects, and analyzes data from sensors, detecting trends and performing an analysis that adapts to changes. The availability of the microprocessor & PLC during the decade helped bring about this rise.

How SCADA Has Changed

The first version of SCADA started out with mainframe computers, before networks were retrofitted. Each system was closed off and could not interact with one another. These "monolithic" networks would now be considered SCADA systems by today's standards.

For many years following the 60s, SCADA continued to evolve. One of the major advancements was in the 80s when small computer systems and LAN technologies emerged. This allowed SCADA to be connected to similar systems. This leaves the data being transmitted over a system somewhat unsecure because the proprietary LAN protocols that were used were made with only one vendor in mind. This can reduce interoperability with other servers as well, such as those from competitors.

Ten to fifteen years ago, SCADA systems adopted an open system architecture. This helped them by moving away from vendor specific protocols. The newest version of SCADA was designed to use emerging technology like Ethernet. As the number of systems or devices in your network grows, the risk of one system failure cascading and shutting down other systems in the process increases. Networked SCADA has helped a lot by allowing legacy SCADA systems to communicate with more modern ones, reducing these risks.

While SCADA systems have undergone lots of changes, there are still a lot of organizations struggling to access data from their enterprise level. For the last 10 years, there's been a significant amount of noticeable increase in computing, especially in computer speed. SQL databases have been the standard for IT database work but SCADA remains unaffected by this phenomenon. IT professionals have been frustrated by their lack of access and knowledge over control systems, which led to the rift between the two fields. This has caused SCADA technology to become outdated.

"SCADA" is a term for "supervisory control and data acquisition" which has been traditionally very expensive with complex solutions. However, there are many open-source alternatives nowadays that can make this easier to deal with. SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system is an industrial machine that automates the control and acquisition of data. Modern SCADA systems are now leveraging the best controls in order to solve the problem of modern machine automation.

Recent SCADA Systems

SCADA systems provide a remote connection to information on the factory floor. This means that you can inspect data in real-time and make smarter decisions about your business by using data rather than just instinct. With SCADA software, you don't have to spend a ton of resources on data acquisition. You can instead spend that time elsewhere, like assessing whether your business strategies are working.

Most SCADA -designing applications allow you to develop your software easily with the help of a RAD module. You don't need to be a developer or knowledgeable in technical matters, as the application's wizard will take you through all necessary steps.

SCADA systems have been built around modern IT standards such as SQL and web-based applications, to improve their efficiency (e.g., by using SQL), security, productivity and reliability.

SCADA software that uses SQL databases are a much better alternative than SCADA software that does not use them. They also provide benefits over older SCADA systems. One of the main advantages of using SQL databases in conjunction with your SCADA system is that it makes it easier to integrate with other MES, ERP and other systems. This allows data to flow out of your SCADA system and into other parts of your organization without any problem.

Historical data from SCADA systems can also be logged in SQL databases - this allows for easier-to-read data analysis through more detailed data trends.

The HMI SCADA Empowered Automation is the brand-new industrial control software that was designed to be both compatible with legacy systems and able to run on tablets, mobile devices, and IoT hardware

Empowered HMI SCADA Software

Empowered Automation Software which has been previously used by many businesses and organizations, often for their automation needs.

Empowered has been installed all over the world. Its robust & powerful nature makes it the ideal solution for SCADA system integrators to match their customers' needs.

Here are 3 reasons why customers turn too Empowered:

• Empowered offers an open and modern software platform that is compatible with current SCADA components.
• Empowered’ s Open Platform allows for using the best-in-class applications that you are already familiar with.
• Empowered is easy to use and quick to get started. You can download the framework, install it in a few minutes, and clients on your Windows, web or mobile phone applications can be launched and updated instantaneously.

Empowered Automation’s move data form anywhere to anywhere is a perfect integration tool for any manufacturer.