Maybe we should start with what SCADA is. SCADA affects almost every aspect of ones life today.
When you awake in the morning and turn your lights 'ON", a SCADA system has monitored the flow of electricity from the originating energy source right to your switch.
When you turn your taps on to brush your teeth, and shower etc, a SCADA system has probably monitored and controlled the water from source, storage through to your taps.
When your furnace cuts in, its fuel has no doubt been or is monitored by a SCADA system.
When the telephone rings, SCADA is monitoring the remote exchanges, microwave and satellite links.
As you commute to work, chances are that the traffic system is monitored and controlled by SCADA. It is one of those hidden parts of our modern society that we all take for granted.
I will simplify the description and history.
SCADA is an acronym for "Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition"
Early versions of this technology were known as tele-monitoring, tele-control and telemetry. These technologies provided remote monitoring and remote control of different types of infrastructure projects including (but not limited to) hydro-electric dams, electricity transmission and distribution systems, domestic water collection, storage and distribution and oil & gas pipelines. Alarms generated at unmanned stations could alert operators at central stations to take corrective actions as required.
The data acquisition functions were initially stored in the form of charts which could be manually analyzed for historical content and trends could be extrapolated or inferred based on such study. With the advent of lower cost computers, particularly the mini and micro, this feature has become an important management tool that allows planners to expand their system needs, operations personnel to manage and maintain complex systems cost effectively and insure safety of our communities.
A Municipality is responsible for the supply of fresh water, fire protection, drainage and sewage collection. As a risk management tool, SCADA can detect a failure at a water booster station which will insure water availability at the fire hydrant in the even of a fire. Likewise, a failure in a drainage or sewage lift station can result in backup problems in residential basements with all the liability consequences to the municipality.
In Malaysia and Indonesia we are using our system for Flood Forecasting and Control and Irrigation. In the wet season, flooding is a major problem. SCADA is used to monitor rainfall, jungle canopy penetration, soil percolation, flash run-off and river cresting and generation of early warning of flood. It is used to monitor and control the storage systems that collect the water during the rainy season and control the flow to supply irrigation in the dry seasons to help feed the populations.
In the electrical utility, it provides cost effective monitoring of unmanned station from generation, transmission and distribution. It is used to remotely restore service when disrupted to improve customer service, utility revenues and reduce maintenance costs.
In answer to your last question: SCADA can indeed perform operations that the human cannot effectively do. SCADA is monitoring its particular functions continuously. For example: it may be used to monitor motor or generator bearing or winding temperatures and vibrations. A potential failure may be detected by the system long before major damage occurs, where the human would only detect it after it has become a major problem or through intermittent and more costly manual detection means.
Regards,
JBS
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