WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCADA, INTEGRATION, AND AUTOMATION?
SCADA VS INTEGRATION VS AUTOMATION
Traditional substation design has segmented secondary
equipment into separate functional “compartments”. A
Remote Terminal Unit performs remote control and
monitoring, protective relays provide protection, strip charts
record metering data, meter-dials display volts and amps and
control handles and annunciator panels provide local control
and monitoring.
The industry has experienced significant change in design
philosophy over the last ten years. SCADA has been
supplemented, and in some cases replaced, by Integration and
Automation Systems. It is somewhat difficult to define strict functional boundaries between the three systems and the
terms are very often used interchangeably.
In the opinion of
the authors, the differences can be summarized as follows:
• SCADA is responsible for providing amps, volts, watts,
CB status, etc. This is normally accomplished using a
RTU.
• Integration systems provide the same data, typically
acquired from IEDs using legacy or industry standard
communications protocols. In some designs, the
integration system supplants the RTU, in others the RTU
is treated as another IED. In addition to the “traditional”
SCADA data, the Integration System also has access to
additional data like fault forensics, diagnostics,
maintenance, alarming etc, extracted from the IEDs.
The
challenge is externalizing these data, and two choices are
available – map the data (somehow) into the SCADA
protocol the SCADA Control Center supports, or provide
a secondary link into the substation to access the data –
normally some form of broadband access.
• Automation systems provide the same functionality as the
Integration System with one additional and
differentiating feature, namely the ability to turn data into
something meaningful and valuable.
What additional characteristics does a substation design have
to possess to be deemed an Automation system? It must be
capable of providing the following advanced, value-added
applications:
• Protection and Process Automation - the core
protection and control processes;
• Maintenance Automation - tools and tactics to employ
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and Just-inTime
(JIT) Maintenance for transformers, breakers,
switches, CTs and VTs;
• Information Automation - the “art” of changing data to
information, trending, alarming, archiving and employing
expert decisions;
• Information Distribution - getting pertinent information
to where it can be used.
