Industrial control

system
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Industrial control system (ICS) is a

general term that encompasses several
types of control systems and associated
instrumentation used for industrial
process control.

Such systems can range from a few

modular panel-mounted controllers to
large interconnected and interactive
distributed control systems with many
thousands of field connections. All
systems receive data received from
remote sensors measuring process
variables (PVs), compare these with
desired set points (SPs) and derive
command functions which are used to
control a process though the final control
elements (FCEs), such as control valves.

The larger systems are usually

implemented by Supervisory Control and
Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, or
distributed control systems (DCS), and
programmable logic controllers (PLCs),
though SCADA and PLC systems are
scalable down to small systems with few
control loops.[1] Such systems are
extensively used in industries such as
chemical processing, pulp and paper
manufacture, power generation, oil and
gas processing and telecommunications.

Discrete controllers

Panel mounted controllers with integral hard displays.

The process value (PV), and setvalue (SV) or setpoint
are on the same scale for easy comparison. The
controller output CO is shown as MV (Manipulated
co t o e output CO s s o as ( a pu ated
variable) range 0-100%

A control loop using a discrete controller. Field signals

are process variable (PV) from the sensor, and control
output to the valve (the Final Control Equipment - FCE).
A valve positioner ensures correct valve operation.

The simplest control systems are based

around small discrete controllers with a
single control loop each. These are usually
panel mounted which allows direct
viewing of the front panel and provides
means of manual intervention by the
operator, either to manually control the
process or to change control setpoints.
Originally these would be pneumatic
controllers, a few of which are still in use,
but nearly all are now electronic.

Quite complex systems can be created

with networks of these controllers
communicating using industry standard
protocols, which allow the use of local or
remote SCADA operator interfaces, and
enable the cascading and interlocking of
controllers. However, as the number of
control loops increase for a system design
there is a point where the use of a PLC or
DCS system is more cost-effective.

Distributed control systems

A distributed control system (DCS) is a
digital processor control system for a
process or plant, wherein controller
functions and field connection modules
are distributed throughout the system.
They are used when the number of control
loops makes DCS more cost effective than
discrete controllers, and enable a
supervisory view over large industrial
processes. In a DCS a hierarchy of
controllers is connected by
communication networks, allowing
centralised control rooms and local on-
plant monitoring and control.

The introduction of DCSs enables easy

configuration of plant controls such as
cascaded loops and interlocks, and easy
interfacing with other computer systems
such as production control and
scheduling. It also enabled more
sophisticated alarm handling, introduced
automatic event logging, removed the
need for physical records such as chart
recorders, allowed the control racks to be
networked and thereby located locally to
plant to reduce cabling.
DCS structure

Functional manufacturing control levels, DCS and

SCADA operate on levels 1 and 2.

A DCS typically uses custom-designed

processors as controllers, and uses either
proprietary interconnections or standard
protocols for communication.Input and
output modules form the peripheral
components of the system.

The processors receive information from

input modules, process the information
and decide control actions to be
performed by the output modules. The
input modules receive information from
sensing instruments in the process (or
field) and the output modules transmit
instructions to the final control elements,
such as control valves.

The field inputs and outputs can either be

continuously changing analog signals e.g.
4~ 20mA dc current loop or 2 state signals
that switch either "on" or "off", such as
relay contacts or a semiconductor switch.

DCS systems can normally also support

such as Foundation Fieldbus, profibus,
HART, Modbus, PC Link and other digital
communication bus that carries not only
input and output signals but also
advanced messages such as error
diagnostics and status signals.

SCADA systems
Supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA) is a control system architecture
that uses computers, networked data
communications and graphical user
interfaces for high-level process
supervisory management, but uses other
peripheral devices such as programmable
logic controllers and discrete PID
controllers to interface to the process
plant or machinery. The operator
interfaces which enable monitoring and
the issuing of process commands, such as
controller set point changes, are handled
through the SCADA supervisory computer
system. However, the real-time control
logic or controller calculations are
performed by networked modules which
connect to the field sensors and actuators.
The SCADA concept was developed as a
universal means of remote access to a
variety of local control modules, which
could be from different manufacturers
allowing access through standard
automation protocols. In practice, large
SCADA systems have grown to become
very similar to distributed control systems
in function, but using multiple means of
interfacing with the plant. They can control
large-scale processes that can include
multiple sites, and work over large
distances.[2] It is one of the most
commonly-used types of industrial control
systems, however there are concerns
about SCADA systems being vulnerable to
cyberwarfare/cyberterrorism attacks.[3]

Referring to the functional hierarchy

diagram in this article:

Level 1 contains the PLCs or RTUs

Level 2 contains the SCADA software and

computing platform.

The SCADA software exists only at this

supervisory level as control actions are
performed automatically by RTUs or PLCs.
SCADA control functions are usually
restricted to basic overriding or
supervisory level intervention. For
example, a PLC may control the flow of
cooling water through part of an industrial
process to a set point level, but the SCADA
system software will allow operators to
change the set points for the flow. The
SCADA also enables alarm conditions,
such as loss of flow or high temperature,
to be displayed and recorded. A feedback
control loop is directly controlled by the
RTU or PLC, but the SCADA software
monitors the overall performance of the
loop.

Programmable logic
controllers
Siemens Simatic S7-400 system in a rack, left-to-right:
power supply unit (PSU), CPU, interface module (IM)
and communication processor (CP).

PLCs can range from small "building brick"

devices with tens of I/O in a housing
integral with the processor, to large rack-
mounted modular devices with a count of
thousands of I/O, and which are often
networked to other PLC and SCADA
systems.

They can be designed for multiple

arrangements of digital and analog inputs
and outputs (I/O), extended temperature
ranges, immunity to electrical noise, and
resistance to vibration and impact.
Programs to control machine operation
are typically stored in battery-backed-up or
non-volatile memory.

It was in the automotive industry in the

USA that the PLC was created. Before the
PLC, the control, sequencing, and safety
interlock logic for manufacturing
automobiles was mainly composed of
relays, cam timers, drum sequencers, and
dedicated closed-loop controllers. Since
these could number in the hundreds or
even thousands, the process for updating
such facilities for the yearly model change-
over was very time consuming and
expensive, as electricians needed to
individually rewire the relays to change
their operational characteristics.

When digital computers became available,

being general-purpose programmable
devices, they were soon applied to control
sequential and combinatorial logic in
industrial processes. However these early
computers required specialist
programmers, and stringent operating
environmental control for temperature,
cleanliness, and power quality. To meet
these challenges this the PLC was
developed with several key attributes. It
would tolerate the shop-floor environment,
it would support discrete input and output,
and it was easily maintained and
programmed. Another option is the use of
several small embedded controls attached
to an industrial computer via a network.
Examples are the Lantronix Xport[4] and
Digi/ME.

History
A pre-DCS era central control room. Whilst the controls
are centralised in one place, they are still discrete and
not integrated into one system.

A DCS control room where plant information and

controls are displayed on computer graphics screens.
The operators are seated as they can view and control
any part of the process from their screens, whilst
retaining a plant overview.
Process control of large industrial plants
has evolved through many stages. Initially,
control would be from panels local to the
process plant. However this required a
large manpower resource to attend to
these dispersed panels, and there was no
overall view of the process. The next
logical development was the transmission
of all plant measurements to a
permanently-manned central control room.
Effectively this was the centralisation of all
the localised panels, with the advantages
of lower manning levels and easier
overview of the process. Often the
controllers were behind the control room
panels, and all automatic and manual
control outputs were individually
transmitted back to plant in the form of
pneumatic or electrical signals.

However, whilst providing a central control

focus, this arrangement was inflexible as
each control loop had its own controller
hardware so system changes required
reconfiguration of signals by re-piping or
re-wiring. It also required continual
operator movement within a large control
room in order to monitor the whole
process. With coming of electronic
processors, high speed electronic
signalling networks and electronic graphic
displays it became possible to replace
these discrete controllers with computer-
based algorithms, hosted on a network of
input/output racks with their own control
processors. These could be distributed
around the plant and would communicate
with the graphic displays in the control
room. The concept of "distributed control"
was realised.

The introduction of distributed control

allowed flexible interconnection and re-
configuration of plant controls such as
cascaded loops and interlocks, and easy
interfacing with other production
computer systems. It enabled
sophisticated alarm handling, introduced
automatic event logging, removed the
need for physical records such as chart
recorders, allowed the control racks to be
networked and thereby located locally to
plant to reduce cabling runs, and provided
high level overviews of plant status and
production levels. For large control
systems, the general commercial name
"Distributed Control System" (DCS) was
coined to refer to proprietary modular
systems from many manufacturers which
had high speed networking and a full suite
of displays and control racks which all
seamlessly integrated.
Whilst the DCS was tailored to meet the
needs of large industrial continuous
processes, in industries where
combinatoric and sequential logic was the
primary requirement, the PLC
(programmable logic controller) evolved
out of a need to replace racks of relays
and timers used for event-driven control.
The old controls were difficult to re-
configure and fault-find, and PLC control
enabled networking of signals to a central
control area with electronic displays. PLC
were first developed for the automotive
industry on vehicle production lines, where
sequential logic was becoming very
complex. It was soon adopted in a large
number of other event-driven applications
as varied as printing presses and water
treatment plants.

SCADA's history is rooted in distribution

applications, such as power, natural gas,
and water pipelines, where there is a need
to gather remote data through potentially
unreliable or intermittent low-bandwidth
and high-latency links. SCADA systems
use open-loop control with sites that are
widely separated geographically. A SCADA
system uses RTUs (remote terminal units,
also referred to as remote telemetry units)
to send supervisory data back to a control
center. Most RTU systems always did have
some limited capacity to handle local
controls while the master station is not
available. However, over the years RTU
systems have grown more and more
capable of handling local controls.

The boundaries between DCS and

SCADA/PLC systems are blurring as time
goes on.[5] The technical limits that drove
the designs of these various systems are
no longer as much of an issue. Many PLC
platforms can now perform quite well as a
small DCS, using remote I/O and are
sufficiently reliable that some SCADA
systems actually manage closed loop
control over long distances. With the
increasing speed of today's processors,
many DCS products have a full line of PLC-
like subsystems that weren't offered when
they were initially developed.

This led to the concept and realisation of a

PAC - programmable automation controller
- which is programmed in a modern
programming language such as C or C++, -
that is an amalgamation of these three
concepts.

See also
Automation
Industrial safety systems
 MTConnect
OPC Foundation
Safety instrumented system (SIS)
Control System Security
Operational Technology

References
 This article incorporates public domain
material from the National Institute of
Standards and Technology website
http://www.nist.gov .

1. NIST SP 800-82
2. Boys, Walt (18 August 2009). "Back to
Basics: SCADA" . Automation TV: Control
Global - Control Design.
3. "Cyberthreats, Vulnerabilities and Attacks
on SCADA Networks" (PDF). Rosa Tang,
berkeley.edu. Archived from the original
(PDF) on 13 August 2012. Retrieved
1 August 2012.
4. "Lantronix Device Networking" . Retrieved
6 March 2017.
5. "Introduction to Industrial Control
Networks" . IEEE Communications Surveys
and Tutorials. 2012.

Additional reading
Guide to Industrial Control Systems
(ICS) Security , SP800-82 Rev1, National
 Institute of Standards and Technology,
May 2013. Accessed June 5, 2014.

External links
New Age of Industrial Controllers
Proview Open source Process Control
System
A simple guide to Embedded PLCs

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