Unit 5 winter 2017 paper

Q.10) (a) Explain the flexible function blocks (FFB)

Ans FFB

The flexible function block (FFB) process is a control half-duplex bus network. It was
developed by the Fieldbus Foundation, which is a consortium of 130 automation
organizations. The goal of the consortium was to develop an open, two-wire international
standard for process automation applications. It is particularly useful for controlling
devices such as valves and transmitter devices. In operation, each device on an FFB
network taps into the two-wire bus structure. Logically, FFB operates as a 31.25 Kbps
master-slave network, but functions for a brief period as a token-passing scheme. In the
master-slave communication model, a master or primary device controls a number of slaves
or secondary devices. The master sends control signals to the slave devices and they
respond according to the control instructions received. The slaves can send information
back to the master for storage, interpretation, and processing. The token passing scheme is
a method used to arbitrate among devices that desire to communicate on a network.. A
device can transmit when it receives an electronic token (similar to a message) that is
passed around. There is only one token on the network and, when a device receives the
token from its neighbor, it can transmit. When the trans- mission is complete or if the device
does not need to transmit, the token is passed on to the next device. Then, the next device
can transmit. This process continues as the token is passed around the network. Relative to
the OSI model, FFB incorporates a user application layer, a field- bus message
specification layer, a fieldbus access sub layer, a data link layer, and a physical layer.
Layers 3 through 6 of the corresponding OSI model are not used.

The FFB layers are shown in Figure 3-12.

 USER APPLICATION
Layer 7
FIELDBUS MESSAGE SPECIFICATION
FIELDBUS ACCESS SUBLAYER
Layer 6
NOT USED
Layer 5
NOT USED
Layer 4
NOT USED
Layer 3
NOT USED

Layer 2
DATA LINK
Layer 1
PHYSICAL IEC 61158-2, ISA S50.02-1992

Fig. Foundation fieldbus layered architecture

In the FFB layers, the application layer comprises the Fieldbus Message Specification
(FMS) and the Fieldbus Access Sublayer (FAS). FMS provides for the exchange of
messages among applications and FAS supports the FMS. The data link layer uses a link
active scheduler (LAS) to control the sending of fieldbus messages. The LAS is the
mechanism that FFB uses to provide deter- minism by maintaining a list of network
transmission times for all devices on the network. Devices transmit at their designated
transmit times and, if there is time available between these scheduled transmit times,
devices can transmit during these unscheduled times. The FFB physical layer follows IEC
Standard 61158-2 and ISA Standard S50.02-1992. The electrical characteristics of this
layer include the use of Manchester biphase encoding of the digital signals and a ± 10-
mAcurrent loop. Manchester encoding uses pulse transitions to represent binary ones and
zeros instead of pulse voltage or current levels. The FFB physical layer also provides power
supply voltages from 9 to 32 volts.

Q.10).(B) Explain Architecture of SCADA

ANS: ARCHITECTURE OF SCADA

Typical SCADA System Architecture

Specific terminology is associated with the components of SCADA systems. These

SCADA elements are defined as follows:
■■ Operator: Human operator who monitors the SCADA system and per- forms
supervisory control functions for the remote plant operations.
■■ Human machine interface (HMI): Presents data to the operator and provides for control
inputs in a variety of formats, including graphics, schematics, windows, pull-down menus,
touch-screens, and so on.
■■ Master terminal unit (MTU): Equivalent to a master unit in a master/ slave architecture.
The MTU presents data to the operator through the HMI, gathers data from the distant site,
and transmits control signals to the remote site. The transmission rate of data between the
MTU and the remote site is relatively low and the control method is usually open loop
because of possible time delays or data flow interruptions.
■■ Communications means: Communication method between the MTU and remote
controllers. Communication can be through the Internet, wireless or wired networks, or the
switched public telephone network.
■■ Remote terminal unit (RTU): Functions as a slave in the master/slave architecture.
Sends control signals to the device under control, acquires data from these devices, and
transmits the data to the MTU. An RTU may be a PLC. The data rate between the RTU
and controlled device is relatively high and the control method is usually closed loop.
A general diagram of a SCADA system is shown in Figure 1-3. Modern SCADA
architectures rely heavily on standard protocols and digital data transmission. For example,
a communications protocol such as the Foundation Fieldbus, is applied in conjunction with
industrial Ethernet radios. These Ethernet radios provide data rates of 512 Kbps, a large
increase over those provided by EIA-232 serial links. For security, industrial Ethernet
access points use spread-spectrum frequency hop- ping technology with encryption.
As discussed previously, a SCADA architecture comprises two levels: a master or client
level at the supervisory control center and a slave or data server level that interacts with
the processes under control. In addition to the hard-ware, the software components of the
SCADA architecture are important.
1. 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

Here are some of the typical SCADA software components:

■■ SCADA master/client
■■ Human machine interface
■■ Alarm handling
■■ Event and log monitoring
■■ Special applications
■■ ActiveX or Java controls
■■ SCADAslave/data server
■■ Real-time system manager
■■ Data processing applications
■■ Report generator
■■ Alarm handling
■■ Drivers and interfaces to control components
■■ Spreadsheet
■■ Data logging
■■ Archiving
■■ Charting and trending
2. Hardware Architecture:
The generally SCADA system can be classified into two parts:

 Clint layer
 Data server layer
The Clint layer which caters for the man machine interaction.
The data server layer which handles most of the process data activities.The SCADA station
refers to the servers and it is 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 equipments 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
 OR

There are different types of SCADA systems that can be considered as SCADA
ARCHITECTURES of four different generations:

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

1. Monolithic or Early SCADA Systems

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.
 Monolithic or Early SCADA 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.

2. 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.

Distributed SCADA Systems

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 a 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.

3. Networked SCADA Systems

The current SCADA systems are generally networked and communicate using Wide Area
Network (WAN) Systems over data lines or phone. These systems use Ethernet or Fiber
Optic Connections for transmitting data between the nodes frequently. These third
generation SCADA systems use Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) for monitoring
and adjusting the routine flagging operators only in case of major decisions requirement.

Networked SCADA Systems

The first and second generation SCADA systems are limited to single site networks or
single building called as sealed systems. In these systems, we can not have any risk
compared to the third generation SCADA system which are connected to the internet
causing the security risks. There will be several parallel working distributed SCADA
systems under a single supervisor in network architecture.

4. 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.

Internet of Things

These SCADA systems are able to report state in real time by using the horizontal scale
from the cloud computing 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.