SCADA applications consist of hardware, and software applications that are used to help enable automation of critical infrastructure systems and monitor them to make sure they run as they should. SCADA, which stands for “supervisory control, and data acquisition” is used to help control, and monitor automated processed involved in water treatment, waste management, electric generation, distribution systems of oil and natural gas, among many other key infrastructure systems that keep our society running smoothly today. (SCADA Systems, n.d.) It can be argued that SCADA systems make up the backbone of our infrastructure today, keeping these systems up and running, enabling us to go about our daily lives as smoothly as we do. Without SCADA systems so ingrained into our infrastructure, nothing would run as smoothly as it does.
Remote Monitoring
One of the biggest problems that SCADA solves is allowing operators to monitor, and control automated tasks across a wide area, as well as allowing them to interact with ongoing processes should the need arise. SCADA systems include subsystems that allow for human-interfacing and supervising ongoing tasks remotely, as well as remote terminals to convert sensor data into digital data that humans can utilize. This collected data that can be used by operators to locate problems in the system that can then be fixed, or where the system needs to be upgraded to keep up with task efficiency. (SCADA Systems, n.d.) It reduces the manpower and time needed to monitor a large automated system, all while providing accurate information without putting workers in harm’s way thanks to SCADA’s sophisticated communication infrastructure and components (Alade et al., 2017). SCADA systems can not only help monitor ongoing infrastructure processes, but also monitor manufacturing processes as well.
Production Processes
SCADA systems can be used to monitor critical manufacturing, and production processes to help produce an enormous amount of product, as well as filter out faulty, tainted ones that roll off the line. SCADA can be used in manufacturing to produce high amounts of products consistently, measuring very exact amounts of ingredients for use in food, or chemical production. It also helps manage, and enable lines across one facility, or multiple facilities to schedule certain production processes according to a schedule. This allows large amounts of specially made goods to be created in a short span of time, with a highly reduced risk of human error causing problems in the process. Although SCADA allows for high volume of products to be created according to a specific recipe or design, there are still some that are malformed (Balsom, 2020).
Across the world today, there is still a human hand to be found sorting through products in many production lines worldwide, but much of the work can be done by SCADA systems. SCADA can monitor production lines, filtering those tainted products out of the main line, as well as providing feedback as to how they were malformed in the first place. While providing operators with information such as temperature, humidity, as well as any issues in the production line that might be damaging goods, operators can easily troubleshoot and fix these issues to keep the line moving. They also monitor storage facilities on site, making sure both raw materials, as well as finished products stay safe until they can leave the facility, which is especially useful for materials that require a specific temperature to be maintained. Although not a perfect process, SCADA allows us to not only produce large quantities of goods, but also protect consumers from some of the faulty products made by those very processes (Balsom, 2020).
Cost efficiency of SCADA
Finally, SCADA systems help to solve a constant issue for not only private organizations, but local, and state governments when it comes to infrastructure; how can we reduce operational costs? As we talked about before, SCADA can be programmed to utilize a specific amount of materials or ingredients when creating a product, as well as allowing for fewer operators to monitor a site at any given time. Introducing SCADA into key infrastructure and production facilities reduces the number of humans needed on site to keep it running, as well as increases efficiency and reduces errors. While humans are a key part of any process in the world, we are unfortunately prone to occasional accidents, especially depending on our training, and experience with a task, or set of tasks, another aspect which SCADA helps in (Kacsik, 2019).
With fewer people needed on a given site, and the more complex tasks automated and monitored by SCADA, this helps to reduce the training time, and experience needed by operators in systems utilizing SCADA. This means that fewer operators can be maintained at a time, reducing manpower costs, and if required, replacements can be trained, and assigned without much of an impact to system processes. Introducing SCADA can help reduce long-term costs associated with running processes. SCADA can cost between $1,000, and $10,000 to install, a cost that many organizations, and governments are more than willing to pay for what it provides (Systems, 2022). Within as little as a week, SCADA can pay for itself in reduced costs of manpower upkeep, reducing manufacturing losses in production lines, as well as drastically reduced downtime in critical infrastructure.
Conclusion
SCADA systems make up part of the backbone of our infrastructure, and our society today, helping to manage systems critical to our societal infrastructure, as well as the goods we consume in our day to day lives. It helps operators manage infrastructural systems remotely, efficiently, and safely to make sure they are running as they should and fixing many issues that might arise. They help to produce and store vast quantities of goods that we use in our daily lives, from food and clothes to healthcare products, and medications., all while filtering out many of the malformed ones that may be created due to miniscule problems in the system. SCADA also helps keep costs of managing infrastructure while enabling it to run smoothly with as little human intervention as possible, reducing experience needed, as well as supervisors required to keep a system, or operation running. SCADA has helped simplify complex operations, and safely automate them in a way that has benefitted mankind like little else before, and will continue to well into the future.
Works Cited:
Alade, A. A., Ajayi, O. B., Okolie, S. O., & Alao, D. O. (2017). Overview of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) System. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 8(Issue 10), ISSN 2229-5518. https://www.ijser.org/researchpaper/Overview-of-the-Supervisory-Control-and-Data-Acquisition-SCADA-System.pdf
Balsom, P. (2020, April 22). Industries That Use SCADA Systems. High Tide. https://htt.io/scada-system-industries/
Kacsik, C. (2019, July 24). Benefits of SCADA Systems. https://www.kacsik.com/blog/scada-systems-save-companies-time-money
SCADA Systems. (n.d.). http://www.scadasystems.net/. Retrieved November 1, 2022, from http://www.scadasystems.net/
Systems, N. C. (2022, August 3). Four Key Questions to Help Keep Your SCADA Software Costs Low. Nucleus Command Systems. https://nucleuscommand.com/2022/08/03/scada-software-costs-nucleus/
What Is SCADA and Where Is It Used? (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://www.antaira.com/What-Is-SCADA-and-Where-Is-It-Used