Gulzar College of Engineering

Department of Electronics and Electrical

Submission of
Seminar Report

SCADA
Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition

SUBMITTED BY
Athar Rashid Lone
Roll No.: 1445035
B-Tech (7th Semester)
 Electronics And Electrical
Abstract

SCADA stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. As

the name indicates, it is not a full control system, but rather focuses on the
supervisory level. It is a computer system for gathering and analyzing real
time data. SCADA systems are used to monitor and control a plant or
equipment in industries such as telecommunications, water and waste
control, energy, oil and gas refining and transportation. A SCADA system
gathers information, such as where a leak on a pipeline has occurred,
transfers the information back to a central site, alerting the home station that
the leak has occurred, carrying out necessary analysis and control, such as
determining if the leak is critical, and displaying the information in a logical
and organized fashion. SCADA systems can be relatively simple, such as
one that monitors environmental conditions of a small office building, or
incredibly complex, such as a system that monitors all the activity in a
nuclear power plant or the activity of a municipal water system.
This paper describes the SCADA systems in terms of their
architecture, their interface to the process hardware, the functionality and the
application development facilities they provide.
 Introduction:

What is SCADA?

SCADA stands for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition. As the

name indicates, it is not a full control system, but rather focuses on the
supervisory level. It is a software package that is positioned on top of
hardware to which it is interfaced, in general via Programmable Logic
Controllers (PLCs), or other commercial hardware modules. Systems similar
to SCADA systems are routinely seen in factories, treatment plants etc.
These are often referred to as Distributed Control Systems (DCS). They
have similar functions to SCADA systems, but the field data gathering or
control units are usually located within a more confined area.
Communications may be via a local area network (LAN), and will normally
be reliable and high speed. Basically, SCADA is a computer system for
gathering and analyzing real time data.

What is the difference b/w scada and dcs?

1. DCS is process oriented, while SCADA is data acquisition oriented.

2. DCS is process state driven, while SCADA is event driven.
3. DCS is commonly used to handle operations on a single locale, while
SCADA is preferred for applications that are spread over a wide
geographic location.
4. DCS operator stations are always connected to its I/O, while SCADA is
expected to operate despite failure of field communications.

Supervisory Station

Supervisory Station is used to refer to the software and servers responsible

for communication with field equipment (PLCs, RTUs etc), and after that to
HMI
software which runs on the workstations in control room, or somewhere else.
Master station could be composed of only one PC in small SCADA systems.
Master station could have multiple servers, disaster recovery sites and
distributed software applications in larger SCADA systems. For increasing
integrity of
system, multiple servers are occasionally configured in hot-standby or dual-
redundant formation, providing monitoring and continuous control during
server
failure.
Earlier, open platforms like Linux were used not as widely because of
dynamic development environment or due to the SCADA customer who
could afford
field hardware or devices for being controlled could generally also purchase
Open VMS or UNIX licenses. All big operating systems, today, are being
used
for HMI workstations and master station servers.

What is data acquisition?

Data acquisition is the process of retrieving control information from

the equipment which is out of order or may lead to some problem or when
decisions are need to be taken according to the situation in the equipment.
So this acquisition is done by continuous monitoring of the equipment to
which it is employed. The data accessed are then forwarded onto a telemetry
system ready for transfer to the different sites. They can be analog and
digital information gathered by sensors, such as flow meter, ammeter, etc. It
can also be data to control equipment such as actuators, relays, valves,
motors, etc.

So why or where would you use SCADA?

SCADA can be used to monitor and control plant or equipment. The

control may be automatic, or initiated by operator commands. The data
acquisition is accomplished firstly by the RTU's (remote Terminal Units)
scanning the field inputs connected to the RTU ( RTU's may also be called a
PLC - programmable logic controller). This is usually at a fast rate. The
central host will scan the RTU's (usually at a slower rate.) The data is
processed to detect alarm conditions, and if an alarm is present, it will be
displayed on special alarm lists. Data can be of three main types. Analogue
data (i.e. real numbers) will be trended (i.e. placed in graphs). Digital data
(on/off) may have alarms attached to one state or the other. Pulse data (e.g.
counting revolutions of a meter) is normally accumulated or counted.
These systems are used not only in industrial processes. For example,
Manufacturing, steel making, power generation both in conventional,
nuclear and its distribution, chemistry, but also in some experimental
facilities such as laboratories research, testing and evaluation centers,
nuclear fusion. The size of such plants can range from as few as 10 to
several 10 thousands input/output (I/O) channels. However, SCADA systems
evolve rapidly and are now penetrating the market of plants with a number
of I/O channels of several 100K.
The primary interface to the operator is a graphical display (mimic)
usually via a PC Screen which shows a representation of the plant or
equipment in graphical form. Live data is shown as graphical shapes
(foreground) over a static background. As the data changes in the field, the
foreground is updated. E.g. a valve may be shown as open or closed. Analog
data can be shown either as a number, or graphically. The system may have
many such displays, and the operator can select from the relevant ones at
any time.
SCADA systems were first used in the 1960s.SCADA systems have
made substantial progress over the recent years in terms of functionality,
scalability, performance and openness such that they are an alternative to in
house development even for very demanding and complex control systems
as those of physics experiments. SCADA systems used to run on DOS, VMS
and UNIX; in recent years all SCADA vendors have moved to NT and some
also to Linux.
How SCADA Works?

The measurement and control system of SCADA has one master terminal
unit (MTU) which could be called the brain of the system and one or more
remote terminal units (RTU). The RTUs gather the data locally and send
them to the MTU which then issues suitable commands to be executed on
site. A system of either standard or customized software is used to collate,
interpret and manage the data.

SCADA as of now uses predominantly open-loop control systems, though

some closed-loop characteristics are often built in. As this is an open-loop
system, it means that SCADA system cannot use feedback to check what
results its inputs have produced. In other words, there is no machine-
learning.

The Future of SCADA:

The large territories and huge volumes of data SCADA can handle form a
formidable combination. Todays SCADA systems can manage anything
from a few thousands to one million of input/output channels.

The technology is still evolving in terms of sophistication as well. SCADA

systems as they are now can perform a large variety of tasks and some
systems have artificial intelligence built into them. They are also more
network-enabled, thus paving the way for voice-data-control data
convergence. With proper planning and a custom-made installation, a
SCADA system becomes a valuable asset
Architecture:
In this section we are going to details which describe the common
architecture required for the SCADA products.

Hardware Architecture

The basic hardware of the SCADA system is distinguished into two

basic layers: the "client layer" which caters for the man machine interaction
and the "data server layer" which handles most of the process data control
activities. The data servers communicate with devices in the field through
process controllers. Process controllers, e.g. PLCs, are connected to the data
servers either directly or via networks or fieldbuses that are proprietary (e.g.
Siemens H1), or non-proprietary (e.g. Profibus). Data servers are connected
to each other and to client stations via an Ethernet LAN. Fig.1. shows typical
hardware architecture.

Figure 1: Typical Hardware Architecture

Software Architecture

The SCADA products are multi-tasking and are based upon a real-
time database (RTDB) located in one or more servers. Servers are
responsible for data acquisition and handling like polling controllers, alarm
checking, calculations, logging and archiving) on a set of parameters,
typically to which those are connected.

However, it is possible to have dedicated servers for particular tasks,

e.g. historian, datalogger, alarm handler. Fig. 2 shows a SCADA architecture
that is generic for the product.

Figure 2: Generic Software Architecture

Communication:

Internal Communication:

Server-client and server-server communication is in general on a

publish-subscribe and event-driven basis and uses a TCP/IP protocol, i.e., a
client application subscribes to a parameter which is owned by a particular
server application and only changes to that parameter are then
communicated to the client application.

Access to Devices:

The data servers poll the controllers at a user defined polling rate. The
polling rate may be different for different parameters. The controllers pass
the requested parameters to the data servers. Time stamping of the process
parameters is typically performed in the controllers and this time-stamp is
taken over by the data server. If the controller and communication protocol
used support unsolicited data transfer then the products will support this too.

The products provide communication drivers for most of the common

PLCs and widely used field-buses, e.g., Modbus. Of the three fieldbuses that
are recommended are, both Profibus and Worldfip are supported but
CANbus often not. Some of the drivers are based on third party products
(e.g., Applicom cards) and therefore have additional cost associated with
them. VME on the other hand is generally not supported.

A single data server can support multiple communications protocols;

it can generally support as many such protocols as it has slots for interface
cards. The effort required to develop new drivers is typically in the range of
2-6 weeks depending on the complexity and similarity with existing drivers,
and a driver development toolkit is provided for this.

Interfacing

Application Interfaces / Openness

The provision of OPC client functionality for SCADA to access

devices in an open and standard manner is developing. There still seems to
be a lack of devices/controllers, which provide OPC server software, but this
improves rapidly as most of the producers of controllers are actively
involved in the development of this standard.
The products also provide

an Open Data Base Connectivity (ODBC) interface to the data in the

archive/logs, but not to the configuration database,
an ASCII import/export facility for configuration data,
a library of APIs supporting C, C++, and Visual Basic (VB) to access
data in the RTDB, logs and archive. The API often does not provide
access to the product's internal features such as alarm handling,
reporting, trending, etc.

The PC products provide support for the Microsoft standards such as

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) which allows e.g. to visualize data
dynamically in an EXCEL spreadsheet, Dynamic Link Library (DLL) and
Object Linking and Embedding (OLE).

Database

The configuration data are stored in a database that is logically

centralized but physically distributed and that is generally of a proprietary
format. For performance reasons, the RTDB resides in the memory of the
servers and is also of proprietary format. The archive and logging format is
usually also proprietary for performance reasons, but some products do
support logging to a Relational Data Base Management System (RDBMS) at
a slower rate either directly or via an ODBC interface.

Scalability

Scalability is understood as the possibility to extend the SCADA

based control system by adding more process variables, more specialized
servers (e.g. for alarm handling) or more clients. The products achieve
scalability by having multiple data servers connected to multiple controllers.
Each data server has its own configuration database and RTDB and is
responsible for the handling of a sub-set of the process variables
(acquisition, alarm handling, archiving).
SCADA as a system:

A SCADA System usually consists of the following subsystems:

A Human-Machine Interface or HMI is the apparatus which

presents process data to a human operator, and through this, the human
operator monitors and controls the process.
A supervisory (computer) system, gathering (acquiring) data on the
process and sending commands (control) to the process.
Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) connecting to sensors in the
process, converting sensor signals to digital data and sending digital data
to the supervisory system.
Programmable Logic Controller (PLCs) used as field devices
because they are more economical, versatile, flexible, and configurable
than special-purpose RTUs.

Human-Machine Interface:
A Human-Machine Interface or HMI is the apparatus which presents process
data to a human operator, and through which the human operator controls
the process.
An HMI is usually linked to the SCADA system's databases and software
programs, to provide trending, diagnostic data, and management information
such as scheduled maintenance procedures, logistic information, detailed
schematics for a particular sensor or machine, and expert-system
troubleshooting guides.
The HMI system usually presents the information to the operating personnel
graphically, in the form of a mimic diagram. This means that the operator
can see a schematic representation of the plant being controlled. For
example, a picture of a pump connected to a pipe can show the operator that
the pump is running and how much fluid it is pumping through the pipe at
the moment. The operator can then switch the pump off. The HMI software
will show the flow rate of the fluid in the pipe decrease in real time. Mimic
diagrams may consist of line graphics and schematic symbols to represent
process elements, or may consist of digital photographs of the process
equipment overlain with animated symbols.
The HMI package for the SCADA system typically includes a drawing
program that the operators or system maintenance personnel use to change
the way these points are represented in the interface. These representations
can be as simple as an on-screen traffic light, which represents the state of an
actual traffic light in the field, or as complex as a multi-projector display
representing the position of all of the elevators in a skyscraper or all of the
trains on a railway.
An important part of most SCADA implementations is alarm handling. The
system monitors whether certain alarm conditions are satisfied, to determine
when an alarm event has occurred. Once an alarm event has been detected,
one or more actions are taken (such as the activation of one or more alarm
indicators, and perhaps the generation of email or text messages so that
management or remote SCADA operators are informed). In many cases, a
SCADA operator may have to acknowledge the alarm event; this may
deactivate some alarm indicators, whereas other indicators remain active
until the alarm conditions are cleared. Alarm conditions can be explicit - for
example, an alarm point is a digital status point that has either the value
NORMAL or ALARM that is calculated by a formula based on the values in
other analogue and digital points - or implicit: the SCADA system might
automatically monitor whether the value in an analogue point lies outside
high and low limit values associated with that point. Examples of alarm
indicators include a siren, a pop-up box on a screen, or a coloured or
flashing area on a screen (that might act in a similar way to the "fuel tank
empty" light in a car); in each case, the role of the alarm indicator is to draw
the operator's attention to the part of the system 'in alarm' so that appropriate
action can be taken. In designing SCADA systems, care is needed in coping
with a cascade of alarm events occurring in a short time, otherwise the
underlying cause (which might not be the earliest event detected) may get
lost in the noise. Unfortunately, when used as a noun, the word 'alarm' is
used rather loosely in the industry; thus, depending on context it might mean
an alarm point, an alarm indicator, or an alarm event.
Remote Terminal Unit (RTU):

The RTU connects to physical equipment. Typically, an RTU converts the

electrical signals from the equipment to digital values such as the
open/closed status from a switch or a valve, or measurements such as
pressure, flow, voltage or current. By converting and sending these electrical
signals out to equipment the RTU can control equipment, such as opening or
closing a switch or a valve, or setting the speed of a pump. It can also
control the flow of a liquid.

SCADA Sensors:

Almost any sensor may be used with the measurement and control system,
allowing customization for each operation. Each of our control units features
a variety of channel types for flexibility in measuring many different types
of sensors. For example, magnetic flow meters can be measured using pulse
counting channels instead of being measured as a 4-20 mA signal. Likewise,
ultrasonic level transmitters can be measured using SDI-12 protocol on
digital ports instead of as a 4-20 mA signal. Our control units also provide
extensive signal conditioning and are easily expandable.

Functionality:

Access Control

Users are allocated to groups, which have defined read/write access

privileges to the process parameters in the system and often also to specific
product functionality.

MMI

The products support multiple screens, which can contain

combinations of synoptic diagrams and text. They also support the concept
of a "generic" graphical object with links to process variables. These objects
can be "dragged and dropped" from a library and included into a synoptic
diagram. Most of the SCADA products that were evaluated decompose the
process in "atomic" parameters (e.g. a power supply current, its maximum
value, its on/off status, etc.) to which a Tag-name is associated. The Tag-
names used to link graphical objects to devices can be edited as required.
The products include a library of standard graphical symbols, many of which
would however not be applicable to the type of applications encountered in
the experimental physics community. Standard windows editing facilities are
provided: zooming, re-sizing, scrolling... On-line configuration and
customization of the MMI is possible for users with the appropriate
privileges. Links can be created between display pages to navigate from one
view to another.

Trending

The products all provide trending facilities and one can summarize the
common capabilities as follows:

the parameters to be trended in a specific chart can be predefined or

defined on-line
a chart may contain more than 8 trended parameters or pens and an
unlimited number of charts can be displayed (restricted only by the
readability)

real-time and historical trending are possible, although generally not

in the same chart

historical trending is possible for any archived parameter

zooming and scrolling functions are provided

parameter values at the cursor position can be displayed

The trending feature is either provided as a separate module or as a

graphical object (ActiveX), which can then be embedded into a synoptic
display. XY and other statistical analysis plots are generally not provided.

Alarm Handling

Alarm handling is based on limit and status checking and performed

in the data servers. More complicated expressions (using arithmetic or
logical expressions) can be developed by creating derived parameters on
which status or limit checking is then performed. The alarms are logically
handled centrally, i.e., the information only exists in one place and all users
see the same status (e.g., the acknowledgement), and multiple alarm priority
levels (in general many more than 3 such levels) are supported.

It is generally possible to group alarms and to handle these as an

entity (typically filtering on group or acknowledgement of all alarms in a
group). Furthermore, it is possible to suppress alarms either individually or
as a complete group. The filtering of alarms seen on the alarm page or when
viewing the alarm log is also possible at least on priority, time and group.
However, relationships between alarms cannot generally be defined in a
straightforward manner. E-mails can be generated or predefined actions
automatically executed in response to alarm conditions.

Logging/Archiving

The terms logging and archiving are often used to describe the same
facility. However, logging can be thought of as medium-term storage of data
on disk, whereas archiving is long-term storage of data either on disk or on
another permanent storage medium. Logging is typically performed on a
cyclic basis, i.e., once a certain file size, time period or number of points is
reached the data is overwritten. Logging of data can be performed at a set
frequency, or only initiated if the value changes or when a specific
predefined event occurs. Logged data can be transferred to an archive once
the log is full. The logged data is time-stamped and can be filtered when
viewed by a user. The logging of user actions is in general performed
together with either a user ID or station ID. There is often also a VCR
facility to play back archived data.

Report Generation

One can produce reports using SQL type queries to the archive, RTDB
or logs. Although it is sometimes possible to embed EXCEL charts in the
report, a "cut and paste" capability is in general not provided. Facilities exist
to be able to automatically generate, print and archive reports.

Automation

The majority of the products allow actions to be automatically

triggered by events. A scripting language provided by the SCADA products
allows these actions to be defined. In general, one can load a particular
display, send an Email, run a user defined application or script and write to
the RTDB.

The concept of recipes is supported, whereby a particular system

configuration can be saved to a file and then re-loaded at a later date.
Sequencing is also supported whereby, as the name indicates, it is possible to
execute a more complex sequence of actions on one or more devices.
Sequences may also react to external events. Some of the products do
support an expert system but none has the concept of a Finite State Machine
(FSM).

Interoperability

When SCADA was developed a few decades back, it was a relatively

simple system and the various components were all developed and put
together by the manufacturer of the hardware or the vendor who supplied it
to clients. However the variety and complexity of requirements in the recent
times have given rise to the need for specialist developers. Companies often
buy the different components according to their requirements and put them
together, in a mix and match manner.

Therefore the specialist developers have to ensure interoperability of

the component they take care of. In other words, the components have to be
developed in such a way that they can be used with a variety of applications
developed by different vendors.

The challenge here is that most SCADA systems are very

application specific and each component is tailor made to its specific
application. Therefore, the components have to also work across a number of
application-specific platforms.

The Promise of Wireless Sensor Networking

The static, inflexible and centralized architecture of the system

further limits the interoperability of a SCADA system with other systems as
well as their coverage of data. Wireless Sensor Networking is an emerging
area that can tackle this problem. With this technology, sensors can be
deployed with more ease and flexibility. For example, in a SCADA system
developed for gas/oil fields, sensors are typically placed at production wells
and injection walls. With wireless sensor networking technology, sensors can
be placed at other crucial places like pipelines and tanks at relatively lower
costs. This greatly enhances the efficiency of the SCADA system by making
more information available.

The current SCADA systems are not enabled to be integrated with

wireless networking systems and new systems and software with this
capability may have to be developed to exploit this possibility.

Extensibility

Another area where the current SCADA systems are found lacking is
extensibility. In other words they are not equipped to be connected to new
applications like safety alarm systems, real-time communication networks
based on new technology etc. This in turn limits the ability of the RTUs to
take proactive measures to prevent accidents.

SCADA Security issue:

The move to better standardized and more open solutions from the
proprietary technologies along with increase in number of the connections
between office networks and SCADA systems as well as Internet has led to
more vulnerability to attacks- check references. Subsequently, SCADA-
based systems security is being questioned as they are targets to
cyberterrorism/cyberwarfare attacks.

Mainly, security researchers are looking into:

1. Concern lacking in security and lack of authentic deployment, operation

and design in existing networks of SCADA.
2. By the use of proprietary interfaces and specialized protocols, the
erroneous belief that the SCADA systems are benefiting by security through
obscurity.
3. The erroneous belief about the SCADA networks being secure due to the
fact that they are purportedly secured physically.

4. The erroneous belief about the SCADA networks being secure due to the
fact that they are disconnected from internet, supposedly.

SCADA systems also are used for monitoring and controlling physical
processes, examples being, distribution of water, traffic lights, electricity
transmissions, gas transportation and oil pipelines and other systems used in
the modern society. The SCADA systems security is primary as the
destruction or compromise of the systems would have a bad impact on
various areas of the society which have been removed from original
compromise. Example- financial losses will be faced by the customers who
receive electricity from the source, due to the blackout by the electrically
compromised SCADA system. Its effect on new deployments and legacy
SCADA will be seen.

Evolution:
SCADA vendors release one major version and one to two additional minor
versions once per year. These products evolve thus very rapidly so as to take
advantage of new market opportunities, to meet new requirements of their
customers and to take advantage of new technologies.

As was already mentioned, most of the SCADA products that were

evaluated decompose the process in "atomic" parameters to which a Tag-
name is associated. This is impractical in the case of very large processes
when very large sets of Tags need to be configured. As the industrial
applications are increasing in size, new SCADA versions are now being
designed to handle devices and even entire systems as full entities (classes)
that encapsulate all their specific attributes and functionality. In addition,
they will also support multi-team development.

As far as new technologies are concerned, the SCADA products are now
adopting:

Web technology, ActiveX, Java, etc.

 OPC as a means for communicating internally between the client and
server modules. It should thus be possible to connect OPC compliant
third party modules to that SCADA product.
SCADA A BOOM IN ENGINEERING:

While one should rightly anticipate significant development and

maintenance Savings by adopting SCADA product for the implementation of
a control system, it does not mean a no effort operation. The need for proper
engineering can note sufficiently emphasized to reduce development effort
and to reach a system that complies with the requirements, that is
economical in development and maintenance and that is reliable and roust.
Examples of engineering activities specific to the use of a SCADA system
are the definition of:
1. A library of objects complete with standard object behavior, graphical
interface and associated scripts for animation,
2. Templates for different types of panels, eg alarms
3 Instructions on how to control eg. A device
4 A mechanism to prevent conflicting controls

PRACTICAL USES OF SCADA:

SCADA used as a control mechanism for chemical plants,

electricity generation, electric power transmission, electricity
distribution, heating.
Control mechanisms are described in Process Control.
EPICS is an example of an open source software environment
used to develop and implement SCADA system to operate devices
such as particle accelerators, telescopes and other large experiments.
Potential benefits of SCADA:
1. Control units function as PLCs, RTUs, or DCUs.
2. Control units perform advanced measurement and control independent
of the central computer.
3. PID control continues, even if communications to the main computer
are lost.
4. Control units have many channel types to measure most available
sensors.
5. Systems are compatible with our own or other vendors' HMI software
packages.
6. Control units have their own UPS; during ac power loss, they continue
to measure and store time-stamped data.
7. Control units provide on-board statistical and mathematical
processing.
8. Systems are easily expandable: add new sites or add sensors to
existing sites.
9. Control units have wide operating temperature ranges and operate in
rugged environments.

References:
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCADA

www.ref.web.cern.ch/ref/CERN/CNL/2002/003/scada/

www.princeton-indiana.com/wastewater/pages/scada/scada-overview.html

www.scadanews.com

www.sss-mag.com/scada.html

www.scada.com