SCADA is the Supervisory control and data acquisition system. It has software as well as hardware components that help the organizations to carry out various functions efficiently. This includes controlling the processes at remote locations, examining, collecting and processing real-time data, getting the events recorded in a file log and direct communication through human-machine interface (HMI) software with various devices such as sensors, valves, pumps, motor.
SCADA systems play a vital role in making smart decisions by processing the data and reducing the downtime by communicating the system issues. Suppose there is a high rate of error in a batch of product, the operator will be soon notified about it by SCADA after which he will view the system through HMI to know the reason behind the issue. All this prevents the situation from further deteriorating.
The companies in public, as well as private sectors, use the SCADA systems owing to their installation versatility in a simple to complex configurations. There are a lot of modern industries in which SCADA acts as a backbone, such as power, oil and gas, energy, food and beverage, recycling, manufacturing, transportation etc. Even in day to day operations, you can spot the presence of SCADA system behind the scenes such as in the local supermarkets for maintaining the refrigeration system, ensuring the quality standards in the wastewater treatment, tracking the energy usage in houses etc. Time, as well as money, can be saved if the SCADA systems are used effectively.
Coming to the modern SCADA systems, it helps in getting the real-time data from the plant floor which enables the individuals, businesses, and governments to make well-informed decisions for enhancing the processes. In case users do not have sufficient knowledge regarding software development, they can still design applications with ease because of SCADA’s designer applications’ capabilities of rapid application development (RAD).
There have been the latest IT standards introduced into the SCADA software. This includes SQL, applications based on web etc, which enhance SCADA systems’ the efficiency, makes it more secure and reliable. Besides this, there can be a seamless flow of the data through the whole organization because of the use of SQL database with a SCADA system which makes integration into the MES and ERP systems easy. It is also possible to log the historical data from a SCADA system. This makes analyzing the data easier through data trending.
Ignition is the new SCADA software which is being currently used by a number of businesses and organizations. It enables the system integrators to reach the customers’ demands at less cost compared to other SCADA software. Since this makes use of modern IT practices, it easily matches the components of the current SCADA system. The users just need to pay a flat rate as per the number of servers owing to its unique licensing model, unlike other vendors who charge each client on per tag basis. With Ignition, there are unlimited clients and tags made available. Also, it takes very less time to download and install the web-deployable Ignition.
