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Handout 16 - Bms Scada

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13 views5 pages

Handout 16 - Bms Scada

Uploaded by

Sharvin Mungur
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MITD KBTC – Electronic Security and Control Systems – Building

Management System - Handout 16 - SCADA

1.0 Understanding the SCADA

SCADA stands for supervisory control and data acquisition. It generally refers to industrial control
systems: computer systems that monitor and control industrial, infrastructure, or facility-based processes,
as described below:

 Industrial processes include those of manufacturing, production, power generation, fabrication,


and refining, and may run in continuous, batch, repetitive, or discrete modes.
 Infrastructure processes may be public or private, and include water treatment and distribution,
wastewater collection and treatment, oil and gas pipelines, electrical power transmission and
distribution, Wind farms, civil defense siren systems, and large communication systems.

 Facility processes occur both in public facilities and private ones, including buildings, airports,
ships, and space stations. They monitor and control HVAC, access, and energy consumption.

The term SCADA usually refers to centralized systems which monitor and control entire sites, or
complexes of systems spread out over large areas (anything between an industrial plant and a country).
Most control actions are performed automatically by Remote Terminal Units ("RTUs") or by
programmable logic controllers ("PLCs"). Host control functions are usually restricted to basic overriding
or supervisory level intervention. For example, a PLC may control the flow of cooling water through part
of an industrial process, but the SCADA system may allow operators to change the set points for the flow,
and enable alarm conditions, such as loss of flow and high temperature, to be displayed and recorded. The
feedback control loop passes through the RTU or PLC, while the SCADA system monitors the overall
performance of the loop.

Prepare by B Jankee MITD – KBTC 21/03/2011


Data acquisition begins at the RTU or PLC level and includes meter readings and equipment status
reports that are communicated to SCADA as required. Data is then compiled and formatted in such a way
that a control room operator using the HMI can make supervisory decisions to adjust or override normal
RTU (PLC) controls. Data may also be fed to a Historian, often built on a commodity Database
Management System, to allow trending and other analytical auditing.

SCADA systems typically implement a distributed database, commonly referred to as a tag database,
which contains data elements called tags or points. A point represents a single input or output value
monitored or controlled by the system. Points can be either "hard" or "soft". A hard point represents an
actual input or output within the system, while a soft point results from logic and math operations applied
to other points.

2.0 HMI

Prepare by B Jankee MITD – KBTC 21/03/2011


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.

Prepare by B Jankee MITD – KBTC 21/03/2011


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.

Prepare by B Jankee MITD – KBTC 21/03/2011


Prepare by B Jankee MITD – KBTC 21/03/2011

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