SCADA

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems provide operators with a graphic user interface (GUI) to monitor and control automation equipment from a remote location while collecting data for process analysis. Automated SCADA systems are prevalent in the building automation, agriculture, manufacturing, oil and gas, power generation and water treatment industries. In this face-to-face course consisting of lecture and laboratory components, students will be introduced to the primary fundamentals of scalable SCADA systems and an industrial software package (FTalk View SE) that is used to design SCADA screens for operator use. Working in teams of two, students will design and demonstrate the functionality of custom operator screens integrated with industrial Programmable Automation Controllers (PAC) to monitor and control industrial equipment installed in the laboratory setting. Lab activities will focus on the application and programming of the following SCADA topics: monitoring and control of multiple PLCs/PACs from a remote computer location; configuration of data and HMI servers that communicate with multiple thick and thin clients; creation of a database for data storage using Microsoft SQL server; configuration of mobile devices to control the equipment wirelessly; configuration of user/group access policies to provide multi tiered system login access; and application of software security measures to protect against potential network threats.