Books about SCADA systems 1

[WHiPCPL]

Hello

I've learnt about PLC programming and want to learn about SCADA systems. I know a google search can yield a lot of results, however since most of my google results either lean towards: "Learn by making your own" or "buy our SCADA solutions" I haven't really learnt anything from that.

My question more leans towards; are there any good resources focusing explicitely on how a SCADA system is designed and programmed with examples or is there any books that I could get that could help me? The price is not an issue.

Anyone who can lead me on track?



Short circuits, protection, arc flash assessment. That's what I know best

 

[danw2]

That's like saying, any good books on PLCs? Depends on what aspect of SCADA you're looking at.

I've got a handful of books from the late 1990's when telephone modems were the major topic, so they're not terribly useful nowadays.

If it's a vendor specific HMI, like Wonderware then sitting down with the manual is likely the best option. I've seen books on Siemens' WinCC and TIA Portal but know nothing of either.

If it's a crippled DCS SCADA program, then resources are likely to be very scanty, because DCS systems thrive on their proprietary nature. You'll need to get someone on the inside to get you some docs.

If it's security, there's a slew of books. Maybe someone else can comment on a SCADA security books. Not my field.

I own Designing Scada Application Software, a Practical Approach, by Stuart McCrady, Elsevier, 2015. The author has done that which he writes about, and that's reflected in the way he writes. He doesn't write like an academic (my view become apparent).

Practical SCADA for Industry by Bailey and Wright, published in 2003 by Newnes does not even mention OPC. OPC DA had been out there for 7-8 years by then and it fails to make the book? Where were those guys for the previous 8 years?

If it's electrical distribution SCADA that uses DNP and IEC 60870 then there's some basics in "Practical Modern SCADA Protocols:
DNP3, 60870.5 and Related Systems, by Gordon Clarke, Reynders and Wright, published by Newnes (my copy 2004). I do neither protocol so I can't comment on it.

A friend has Power System SCADA and Smart Grids, Thomas and McDonald, CRC Press, 2015 and recommends it, power distribution is his field. "Good on the basics".

Newnes books, particularly used, are not very expensive, so it isn't that big a hit if it's not that valuable.

I've used illustrations from the section data sampling from the 1400 page text book, Data Communciations and Networking by Forouzan, 4th Ed, McGraw Hill, 2007. It's a text book.

If your SCADA is process fieldbus, like Profibus, Profinet, Foundation Fieldbus, Ethernet/IP, Devicenet then one decent book is
Practical Fieldbus, DeviceNet and Ethernet for Industry by IDC Technologies. It's a text book. Their section on RS-485 hits about every problem I've run into.

Practical Industrial Data Communications: Best Practice Techniques by Reyners, Mackayu and Wright is more technician oriented and duplicates some of the other Newnes stuff, but it covers ASI, Modbus, DeviceNet. It's come up a solution a couple times to a problem when others haven't.

 

[FreddyNurk]

There are multiple means of implementing SCADA these days, and a lot of the detail is more or less vendor or platform specific. As an example I think AB has their own platform used for their own gear, others such as Citect were designed to be able to support multiple vendors.
There are also fast changes happening with the platforms in terms of protocols supported (OPC had a rugged start from what I understand and was often black magic to get the Windows bits to behave), now there's MQTT among others, such that overarching documentation on SCADA platforms is unlikely to be found easily.
Combine that with changes in communications media (from serial to ethernet as an example) and it gets pretty broad very fast.

Most of them will offer training courses on their specific platform, which will give you somewhat of an overview as well as details of how their specific system operates.
Expect as well that SCADA means dramatically different things depending on industry, and Power System monitoring is quite different in a number of ways from something that uses a batch process like a brewery. danw2's summary of references is excellent though, including the IDC publications.

EDMS Australia

 

[thebard3]

If you google 'ftview design considerations'--
You will find lots of Rockwell-centric publications on the design and implementation of their FTView sytems architecture and how to implement it. Also, you'll see that pretty much everything assumes you are using all Rockwell hardware and software, with some unspecific references to 3rd party products. You'll find a lot of esoteric stuff there, and unless you have it in front of you, a lot of things will be hard to get a grasp on. I don't know how valuable that will be for you, but I think the general architecture would be similar, regardless of the brand.
I believe any other system would prove likewise (Wonderware, Siemens, or other).

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.

 

[thebard3]

Expect as well that SCADA means dramatically different things depending on industry

Right. I neglected to point out that historical data collection is a completely separate part of the Rockwell architecture, that requires some more very expensive licenses to do that. Batch control is another separate set of services and licenses.
Just FYI- My company pays about $17k/yr for software support on our system, and we're not really a very big company.

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.

 

[WHiPCPL]

Thank you all for the inputs. They've been a great help

Short circuits, protection, arc flash assessment. That's what I know best