Integrating Video With SCADA

Enhance Security And Efficiency By Integrating Video With SCADA

For industrial users, the separation of traditional security systems from industrial automation and production systems makes them frustrating to operate. Security systems are also typically a hassle just to set up, configure and manage. Imagine an application with geographically dispersed production sites and personnel and valuable equipment operating in a dangerous environment. What would you do if you see a warning light flashing on your SCADA monitoring screen? You may send your engineer to the field site, wait a couple hours—or even a couple of days—and then discover that the warning was just a false alarm. Now, consider the time and money you could save if your SCADA control system were integrated with video cameras that are situated at every production site, regardless of the location. Current SCADA Application Scenario With the network age now in full swing, networks are the norm in almost every industry, and people have grown accustomed to communicating instantly with friends and coworkers regardless of geographical location. In fact, it is now easy for engineers to connect to industrial devices and systems over a network; you can monitor the status of field site equipment, production lines, and other key indicators with your SCADA system, even though the control center may be hundreds of miles away. However, for many industrial applications, the monitoring of I/O signals transmitted from RTUs or PLCs to the SCADA console simply do not provide sufficient information for operators and managers to make intelligent decisions when abnormal events are detected. Some common drawbacks of this type of decision making with limited information are: When your system is flooded with alarms, the root cause of the system fault is often obscured or impossible to determine. For industries with facilities spread out over a wide area, such as water utilities and oil fields, "getting a visual" means sending staff to the field, which is both costly and time-consuming. The inability to distinguish false alarms from the real thing can result in the dispersion of already limited human resources. Current SCADA Application Scenario with Video Surveillance Thanks to recent advances in network technology, people readily embrace the use of laptops and mobile phones to monitor remote video cameras over a network. You no longer need to sit glued to your seat in front of a desktop monitor to view images sent from remote surveillance cameras. Remote video surveillance together with the information gathered when abnormal SCADA events occur empowers system operators. Videos, on top of I/O alarms, dramatically reduce the likelihood of wasting time and money on false alarms. It is important to note that separate SCADA and video surveillance systems significantly hamper operators' efficiency when events are triggered, as operators need to divide their attention between the two systems. Integrating Video Surveillance with Your SCADA System Incorporate video surveillance with your SCADA system to reap the following benefits: Reduced operation costs and the possibility of injuries to personnel by not needing to send personnel to field sites every time a red light starts flashing. Improved operation efficiency by providing greater insight into events and thus diminishing the potential for damage caused by emergency events. Administrators to make critical decisions quickly and accurately by providing them with all the necessary information from a single interface.