WEEK: - 11

Introduction to SCADA:
Advancements in Intelligent Instrumentation and Remote Terminal Units (RTUs)/Programmable Logic
Controllers (PLCs) have made the process-control solutions in many of the industries to be easily
managed and operated by utilizing the benefits of a SCADA system. SCADA is popular in several
applications like process industries, oil and gas, electric power generation, distribution and utilities, water
and waste control, agriculture/irrigation, manufacturing, transportation systems, and so on.

1 Definition:
SCADA stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition; it is an industrial computer-based control
system employed to gather and analyse the real-time data to keep track, monitor and control industrial
equipment’s in different types of industries.

2 Backgrounds:
SCADA system usage has become popular from the 1960s with the increase in need of monitoring and
controlling the equipment. Early systems built using mainframe computers were expensive as they were
manually operated and monitored. But the recent advancements in technology have made-advanced
automated SCADA systems with maximum efficiency at reduced cost, according to the alarming
requirements of the company.

Features/Working Procedure of SCADA System:

The working procedure of a SCADA system can be illustrated with the below features:

 Data Acquisitions
 Data Communication
 Information/Data presentation
 Monitoring/Control
 Programming
These functions are performed by sensors, RTUs (Remote Terminal Units), controller, programming and
communication network. The sensors are used to collect the important information and RTUs are used to
send this information to controller and display the status of the system. According to the status of the
system, the user can give command to other system components. This operation is done by the
programming and processed through a communication network.

Data Acquisitions:
Real time system consists of thousands of components and sensors. It is very important to know the
status of particular components and sensors. For example, some sensors measure the water flow from the
reservoir to water tank and some sensors measure the value pressure as the water is released from the
reservoir, etc.
Data Communication:
The SCADA system uses wired network to communicate between user and devices. The real time
applications use lot of sensors and components which should be control remotely. The SCADA system
uses internet communications. All information is transmitted through internet using specific protocols.
Sensor and relays are not able to communicate with the network protocols so RTUs used to communicate
sensors and network interface.

Information/Data Presentation:
The normal circuit networks have some indicators which can be visible to control but in the real time
SCADA system, there are thousands of sensors and alarm which are impossible to be handled
simultaneously. The SCADA system uses human machine interface (HMI) to provide all of the
information gathered from the various sensors.
The information is displayed and monitored to be processed by the human. HMI provides the access of
multiple control units which can be PLCs and RTUs. The HMI provides the graphical presentation of the
system. For example, it provides the graphical picture of the pump connected to the tank. The user can see
the flow of the water and pressure of the water. The important part of the HMI is an alarm system which
is activated according to the predefined values.
For example: The tank water level alarm is set 60%and 70% values. If the water level reaches above
60% the alarm gives normal warning and if the water level reaches above 70% the alarm gives critical
warning.
Monitoring/Control:
The SCADA system uses different switches to operate each device and displays the status at the control
area. Any part of the process can be turned ON/OFF from the control station using these switches.
SCADA system is implemented to work automatically without human intervention but at critical
situations it is handled by man power
Programming:
SCADA programming in a master or HMI is used for creating maps and diagrams which will give
important situational information in case of an event failure or process failure. Standard interfaces are
used for programming most commercial SCADA systems. SCADA programming can be done using
derived programming language or C language.
Typical SCADA System:
Consider the block diagram of SCADA system shown in the below figure which consists of different
elements, namely;
Human-machine Interface (HMI)

 Supervisory system
 Remote terminal units (RTUs)
 PLCs
 Communication infrastructure SCADA Programming
 HMI
 Supervisory System
 SCADA
 Communication Interface
 RTO
 PLC
 SCADA Programming

Human-machine Interface (HIMI):

It is an input-output device that presents the process data to be controlled by a human operator. It 1s used
by linking to he SCADA system's software programs and Data bases for providing the management
information. Including the scheduled maintenance procedures, use schematics, logistic information, ding
and diagnostic. Data for a specific sensor or machine. HMI systems facilitate the operating personnel to
see the information.

Supervisory System:
Supervisory system is used as server for communicating between the equipment of the SCADA system
such as RTUs, PLCs and sensors, etc.,, and the HMI software used in the control room workstations.
Master station or supervisory station comprises a single PC in Smaller SCADA systems and, in case of
larger SCADA systems, supervisory system comprises distributed software 4Pplications, disaster
recovery sites and multiple server. These multiple servers are configured in a hot-standby formation or
dual-redundant, which continuously controls and monitors in case of a server failure for increasing the
integrity of the system.
Remote Terminal Units:
Physical objects in the SCADA systems are interfaced with the microprocessor controlled electronic
devices called as Remote Terminal Units (RTUs). These units are used to transmit telemetry data to the
supervisory system and receive the messages from the master system for controlling the connected
objects. Hence, these are also called as Remote Telemetry Units.

Programmable Logic Controllers:

In SCADA systems, PLCs are connected to the sensors for collecting the sensor output signals in order to
convert the sensor signals into digital data. PLCs are used instead of RTUs because of the advantages of
PLCs like flexibility, configuration, versatile and affordability compared to RTUs.

Communication Infrastructure:
Generally the combination of radio and direct wired connections is used for SCADA systems, but in case
of large systems like power stations and railways SONET/ SDH are frequently used. Among the very
compact SCADA protocols used in SCADA systems a few communication protocols, which are
standardized and recognized by SCADA vendors - send information only when the supervisory station
polls the RTUs.

SCADA Programming:
SCADA programming in a master or HMI is used for creating maps and diagrams which will give
important situational information in case of an event failure or process failure. Standard interfaces are
used for programming most commercial SCADA systems. SCADA programming can be done using
derived programming language or C language.

An example of Typical SCADA System:

To have a clear picture about SCADA, consider an example of SCADA in power systems for operation
and control as illustrated below.
SCADA in power system can be defined as the power distribution application which is typically based on
the software package. The electrical distribution system consists of several substations; these substations
will have multiple numbers of controllers, sensors and operator- interface points.
In general, for controlling and monitoring a substation in real time (PLCs) Programmable Logic
Controllers, Circuit breakers and Power monitors are used. Data is transmitted from the PLCs and other
devices to a computer-based-SCADA node located at each substation. One or more computers are located
at different centralized control and monitoring points.

Types of SCADA System:

There are different types of SCADA systems that can be considered as SCADA architectures of four
different generations as mentioned below:
1) First Generation: Monolithic or Early SCADA systems,
2) Second Generation: Distributed SCADA systems,
3) Third Generation Networked SCADA systems and
4) Fourth Generation: Internet of things technology, SCADA systems.

13.2.1 First Generation: Monolithic or Early SCADA Systems.

The architecture of first generation monolithic or early SCADA system is as shown in the below figure.
13.4. Minicomputers are used earlier for computing the SCADA systems. In earlier times, during the time
of first Generation, monolithic SCADA systems were developed wherein the common network services
were not available. Hence, these are independent systems without having any Connectivity to other
systems.

All the remote terminal unit sites would connect to a back-up mainframe system for achieving the first
generation SCADA system redundancy, which was used in case of failure of the primary mainframe
system. The functions of the monolithic SCADA systems in the early first generation were limited to
monitoring sensors in the system and flagging any operations in case of surpassing programmed alarm
levels.
Hence, the first generation SCADA are:

 Standalone systems with virtually no connectivity to other systems.

 to the SCADA master station by the system vendor.
 Use of two identically equipped mainframe systems, a primary and a backup.
 Communication protocols developed by vendors. Of RTU equipment.
 Protocols have no functionality beyond that required.
 Not feasible to intermingle other types of data traffic with RTU communications.
 Very limited connectivity

Second Generation Distributed SCADA Systems.

In the second generation, the sharing of control functions is distributed across the multiple systems
connected to each other using Local Area Network (LAN). Hence, these were termed as distributed
SCADA systems. These individual stations were used to share real-time information and command
processing for performing control tasks to trip the alarm levels of possible problems.
The cost and size of the station were reduced compared to the first generation system, as each system of
the second generation was responsible for performing of particular task with reduced size and cost. But
even in the second generation systems also the network protocols were not standardized. The security of
the SCADA installation was determined by a very few people beyond the developers, as the protocols
were proprietary. But generally the security of the SCADA installation was ignored.
Hence, the second generation SCADA are:

 Vendor controlled, proprietary environment.

 Improvement in system miniaturization.
 LAN technology to distribute the processing across multiple systems.
 Distribution of system functions across multiple systems.
 Networks not capable of reaching beyond the limits of the local environment.
 Vendor creates its own network protocol.
 External communications networks were limited to RTU protocols.
 Improves the redundancy and reliability or the system.

Third Generation: Networked SCADA Systems.

The current SCADA systems are generally networked and communicate using Wide Area Network
(WAN) Ethernet or Fibre Optic Connections for transmitting data Systems over data lines or phone.
These systems use between the nodes frequently. These third generation SCADA System’s use
Programmable Logic Controllers PLC) for monitoring and adjusting the routine flagging operators only in
case of major decisions requirement.
The first and second generation SCADA systems are limited to single site networks or single building
called as sealed systems. In these systems, we cannot have any risk Compared to the third generation
SCADA system which are Connected to the internet causing the security risks. There several parallel
working distributed SCADA systems under a single supervisor in network architecture.
Hence, the third generation SCADA are: Open system architecture.

 Multiple networked systems, sharing master station functions.

 Utilizing open standards and protocols.
 Distribute SCADA functionality across a WAN.
 Open standards eliminate multiple limitations.
 Easier to connect to third party peripheral devices to the system or the network.
 Use of WAN protocols for communication between the master station and communications
equipment.
 Disaster survivability.

Fourth Generation: Internet of Things.

In fourth generation, the infrastructure cost of the SCADA systems is reduced by adopting the internet of
things technology with the commercially available cloud computing. The maintenance and integration is
also very easy for the fourth generation compared to the earlier SCADA Systems.
These SCADA systems are able to report state n real time by using the horizontal scale from the cloud
commuting facility; thus, more complex control algorithms can be implemented which are practically
sufficient to implement on traditional PLCs.
The security risks in case of decentralized SCADA implementations such as a heterogonous mix of
proprietary network protocols can be surpassed using the open network protocols such as TLS inherent in
the internet of things which will provide comprehendible and manageable security boundary.

SCADA Hardware and Software:

Generally SCADA System is a centralized system which monitors and controls entire area. It is purely
software package that is positioned on top of hardware. A supervisory system gathers data on the process
and sends the commands control to the process. 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 by software
and the condition is displayed and recorded in hardware.

Hardware Architecture
The generally SCADA system can be classified into two parts:

 Clint layer: Caters for the man machine interaction.

 Data server layer: Handles most of the process in data activities.
The SCADA station refers to the servers and it 1S 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’s like sensors connected to the PLCs or
RTUs. The RTUs convert the sensor signals to digital data and sends 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 as we can see in the figure 13.8 above.

Software Architecture:
Most of the servers are used for multitasking and real time database. The servers are responsible for data
gathering and handling. The SCADA system consists of a software program to provide trending,
diagnostic data, and manage information such as scheduled maintenance procedure, logistic information,
detailed schematics for a particular sensor or machine and expert system troubleshooting guides. This
means the operator can see a schematic representation of the plant being controlled.
EX: alarm checking, calculations, logging and archiving; polling controllers on a set of parameter, those
are typically connected to the server.
The detailed structure of software SCADA is shown in the above figure. In brief, the software performs
the following functions:

 Data Acquisitions
 Data Communication
 Information/Data presentation
 Scanned with OMEN Scanner
 Monitoring/Control.

Interfacing PLC with SCADA:

A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is a microprocessor running special software. That software has
communications elements, some of which are accessible to an internal database.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software typically runs on a "standard" PC or
Server. t, to, has communications elements, some of which are accessible to its own internal database.
To connect an interface between PLC to SCADA, the below are the basic steps to be followed;

 First establish the physical communication connection. Industrial Ethernet, for example
communications or network port of the will connect to wiring (usually) which connects to the
PLC.
 The next step is to assure that both systems can now communicate with each other using
whatever protocol that have selected for particular purpose.
 Finally, need to configure the SCADA database to gather the information across the network
from the PLC database. This is typically done by having names or addresses in the PLC map to
typically similar names within the SCADA.
Once that is all done, information may flow back and forth between PLC and SCADA, and various
control aspects may be programmed into the SCADA to execute on the PLC, and similarly information
collected by the PLC updates the SCADA, typically graphic elements.
These are the basic steps. The details vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer, and in many
instances some or all of the software involved may be licensed and "closed source" for both revenue and
security purposes. Consult PLC and SCADA manufacturer for their specific details and
recommendations. One such example is illustrated below;
Here is a very efficient and expandable robust control system solution for industrial purposes. For the
proposed system, they have used AB Allen Bradley Micro Logic l1400 C 1766, WonderwarelnTouch
2012R2 SCADA system and KEPServer version 5 software for communicating between the PLC and
SCADA. WonderwarelnTouch SCADA is becoming increasingly popular due to is powerful user-friendly
graphics.

1) PLC is programmed using Ladder programming in RSLogix software. Different inputs and
outputs have different addresses. Mostly the field devices, which are to be controlled, are
connected to the PLC via digital input, analogue input, digital output and R$232, among others.
The address of each device module and register is specific to each PLC manufacturer, including
Allen Bradley, Siemens, Schneider, Mitsubishi, Hitachi and Delta.
2) The PLC is connected to the PC via the Ethernet. Since both PLC and SCADA are from different
manufacturers, they used an intermediate OPC link (communicator) between these. This job is
done by KEPServer, which is installed on the PC.
3) The PLC IP address is configured using software tool BOOTPServer.
4) When the main SCADA is running, applications like KEPServer should be running in the
background and PLC should be in online mode.
5) Using SCADA, a graphical user interface (GUI) is built to monitor and control various
parameters like current/voltage and to switch on/off various devices.
Difference between PLC and SCADA:

Applications of SCADA:
SCADA systems are used for monitoring a variety of data like flows, currents, voltages, pressures, ten. of
water levels, and etc., in various industries. If the system detects any abnormal conditions from any
monitoring then the alarms at the central or remote sites will be triggered for alerting the operators
through HMI. There are numerous applications of SCADA Systems, but a few most frequently used
SCADA applications include:

 Manufacturing Industries.
 Waste Water Treatment and Distribution Plants.
 Power System such as transmission and distribution.
 Power
 generation,
 Public buildings like electrical heating and cooling system.
 Generators and turbines.
 Traffic light control system etc.