Ignition intro - Rethinking SCADA for modern manufacturing

An informative 3 minute video of the Ignition concept from Inductive Automation, rethinking SCADA for modern manufacturing.

Using Open Standards in Water and Wastewater

I hadn't expected to be blown away by Inductive Automation's Using Open Standards, web-based modern SCADA technology to manage your water operations webinar, but the collection of speakers and content was phonomenial!

Don Pearson, the moderator, opened up with a brief presentation on federal 'relief' monies specific to water and wastewater. Henry Palechek presented trends that he's taken Helix Water District of San Diego through from their $2 mil VAX system, to their $350k Wonderware system, to their existing FactoryPMI system. He had a lot of interesting insight into the decision process and business ramifications of his choices. The transcript can be read here (you can also listen to a recording of the interview from the webinar).

Patrick Callaghan of MCS Integrations then presented a system integrators prospective. He showed off a live system (which, by the way, made me unnecessarily nervous) that he wrote for the City of Largo Vista in Texas. His setup was INCREDIBLE!!! Operators run around with tablet PCs, connected via VPN over the cell network. Everything looked sharp and screens were linked together intuitively. He had screens where he could create groups of operators on the fly that recieve alarms at different intervals until they're acknowledged. He showed generic tanks and valves that would display different values based on their types, but used the same objects/windows. This included animation based on setpoints (levels in a tank), an alarm history, trends, and even a custom note field that would record the operator/date_time and create an overlay icon on the main screen that showed the existence of a note. The trend screen allowed you to create, save, and edit arbitrary groups of pens. He had all sorts of reports autogenerated that operators needed to generate, and had an integrated pdf library of the ones they had to fill out by hand. It's hard to fully describe how sweet his SCADA package is - it seemed more to me like the product of a $1mil well written custom application that was tailored to the client. I've never seen such a thing from Wonderware, Rockwell, GE, or the others.

That webinar was fantastic! I'll keep my eyes open for more.

Java and the future of SCADA systems

Web based, web launched, AJAX, Java, OPC UA - these terms are commonly thrown around along with HMI, SCADA, and even DCS these days. What's the big deal? More importantly, what's the point and what does it mean for you? The common thread is ubiquity. Yes, I'll say it again, ubiquity. I don't know why there's not a more common word with the same meaning - to be, or appear to be, everywhere at once. It's the perfect word to describe the Internet. So when somebody says, "Web based", think, "That means I can access it anywhere". That means it's firewall and VPN friendly. Nobody said anything about web browsers, static HTML, http, or the likes! Web applications, particularly Java and Macromedia Flash, run and feel just like local applications. They support multimedia, run constantly, and can initiate and receive updates without "refreshing". They're locally running programs with the huge benefit of not requiring a traditional "installation" process!



So where does SCADA come in? An important aspect of a modern SCADA system is to be able to get detailed realtime and historical process information. For most production managers, this is the most important data for their day to day work. It's like checking stock quotes - a 30 second glance should give you an accurate summary and a warm fuzzy feeling that you know what's going on. If something demands action you want to know. How much sense does it make to go to your stock broker every time you want a quick update? Should you fly out to Wall Street? No, it's valuable for you to be able to easily pull this up from your office desk, or home. What does this have to do with SCADA? Same principal applies. Who wants to go to the control room or plant floor every half hour? Ideally, you should get a portal or summary page that provides a high level summary with reports. The idea is that you have access to the same underlying data, but formatted as useful information to you.

What actually happens in an organization that provides "frictionless" data access to their core process is that everyone comes up with separate requirements. QA wants summaries, management gets reports, maintenance looks at long term statistics, etc. All that it really takes is a system that can be run anywhere and easily expanded - "easily" referring to without additional licensing pain.

Web based SCADA - what's the big idea?

My control system isn't on the Internet! Why should I care about web based HMI or SCADA systems? I've been discussing these points for 5 years now, which is at least 10 years behind the corporate world. My ultimate goal is to educate end users on the pros and cons of a technology that may be very relevant to them.

"You'll sail upwind by a fire under your deck - I don't have time for such nonsense", my recollection of a quote from a Civilization video game. The point is that the application of new technologies isn't always immediately obvious. It helps to take a step back to consider what you're trying to accomplish.

Let's break down your SCADA system. Visibility into your process is probably the single most important aspect, which may come in the form of numbers, pretty graphics, etc. You need to be able to see the realtime and historical status of your operation. Next comes control. The ability to adjust setpoints, start and stop things, etc. After that it probably branches into: data input, reporting, alarming, interfacing with other systems, specialized applications, etc.

Sound like things a stand alone computer software package can do? Yes, that's an ideal version of the HMI that you're used to. Sound like something an HTML web page can do? Absolutely not! The first thing to realize is that "web based" is referring to a technology set that's prevalent on the Internet.

Now think of all the cool animated web sites you've been to. Java, Flash, ActiveX, DHTML and AJAX, and other technologies enable rich multimedia content. The big advantage is that the framework exists to run such applications with only a web browser. Instead of dragging CDs along to each HMI seat to install the software, then necessarily configuring: projects, data connections, PLC connections, server connections, etc, a new "web based" client need only the URL and permissions to access the system.

The next advantage has to do with routing and existing infastructure. How easy is it to connect a new computer on the other side of the plant to your legacy (non-ethernet) PLC network? It can get pretty tough! You probably already have an IP network throughout your plant to ride. What about realtime connections to your other locations? Again, our existing transport infastructure simplifies things with a "web based" approach. Does this mean that it has to be on the Internet? No, but it can. Or you can establish secure tunnels over a public network (Internet).

OK - so a "web based" approach brings nearly the same capabilities to the table, and can be easily launched from anywhere without the "traditional" lengthy installation and configuration process. What about safety, responsiveness, stability, and security?

It's true that the Industrial arena has considerations that don't exist elsewhere. This is why it's important to deal with people and companies that specialize in your trade. However, dealing with proven standards and technologies on the scale of decades of development and millions of users makes more sense than blindly trusting the "big" industrial software companies homebrewed nightmares. They are small as software companies go, and began with single terminal requirements that were much simpler. It's in their best interst to stretch their legacy junk in favor of backward compatibility, but even they are slowly turning to standards based approaches.

Remember that the Internet didn't grow out of the necessity to email grandma - it was the evolution of a hardened system designed for C2 (command and control), specifically launching missiles. Keep in mind that standard encryption based security schemes keep your investments safe from hackers. Web based SCADA provides a very capable, centrally managable, scalable and secure, IT supportable system. Wow!