Radio Telemetry (synonymous with
telematics)
is a
technology that allows the wireless remote measurement and reporting of
information of interest to the system designer or operator. The word is
derived from
Greek roots tele = remote, and metron = measure. Systems that
need instructions and data sent to them in order to operate require the
counterpart of telemetry,
telecommand.
SCADA is the abbreviation for Supervisory Control And Data
Acquisition. It generally refers to an industrial control system: a
computer system monitoring and controlling a process. The process can be
industrial, infrastructure or facility based 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, 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.
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 which 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.
Communication infrastructure connecting the supervisory system to
the
Remote Terminal Units.
