Data Acquisition Protocols Helps SCADA Systems Turn Insights Into Actions

by Archer Finch Software SCADA

Any SCADA system or application helps one automate their industry and its operating environment into a software with models of equipment like motors, valves, switches, and others as used by them in their manufacturing system. When allowing such flexibility a SCADA based software package also allows the software to collect data through its various communications protocols and media. There are various types of data acquisition devices that employ sensors for measuring temperature, current, voltage, velocity, weight, pressure, force and many other variables like frequency, load, and the distance among other basic variables. Now, one of the most widely employed and accepted protocol is Modbus TCP and RTU which collect information relayed through the internet or directly through a relay unit. One of these supports a wide range of devices in order to be able to collect the aforementioned range of variables, or measurements some 100 times a second. The resolution is high since the time series information leads to insights as to how the system is performing, and whether it needs any improvements. The improvements are needed as systems undergo wear and tear with time, so this is also modeled using those measurements.

Who does the measurement?

A Modbus is a serial-based communication protocol that allows simple data to be collected from various sensors as below and converting them to digital data that PC and controllers can understand. This physical to digital conversion is very important. The sensors, one is most familiar with include thermocouples, thermistors, strain gauge, RTD, counter, voltmeter and many others in the expanded list of devices. These devices help counter the issues caused due to unusual behaviors of the system. These systems are composed of such sensors located at various strategic locations and maybe hundreds in numbers. Thus, a simple data acquisition mechanism holds some thousands of sensors data and feed them to a hard drive located in a data center some thousands of miles away. There are PC loggers locally mounted inside the campus as well.

Survival

Additionally, these systems feed on these data and offer visualizations to the end-user who is monitoring it using these systems. They have touch-enabled panels to trigger actions based on user input. One can create backups of the data, though connectivity options on board. They are running 24x7 in some cases and are industrial grade that can survive in harsh conditions. Any such system comes installed with an embedded operating system, panels, and controllers for them, drivers installed, and often a company takes care of such installations, demos and running efficiency of those devices. They need to be fast, memory efficient, and support graphics output for easy navigation, and HMI applicability. Thus, it ensures feasibility.

Archer Finch reads through the web to collect information on SCADA systems, its various communication standards, including Modbus interfaces, which are the norms for today's data acquisition systems. He also takes care of providing supplementary information in an abstract way to make sense of technical details, and it’s useful to businesses.