Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition

ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, said it has received a contract from the Algerian oil and gas company Sonatrach to supply pumping stations and automation systems worth more than $215 million.
Two new pumping stations and support systems will be supplied to serve the 665-kilometer-long NK-1 oil pipeline linking Algerian oilfields at Haoud El Hamra with the Mediterranean port of Skikda.

“This order builds on a series of recent ABB projects that support the production of hydrocarbon energy in Northern Africa,” said Veli-Matti Reinikkala, head of ABB’s Process Automation division. “In close cooperation with Sonatrach, we are dramatically expanding oil and gas transport capacity in the region.”

ABB’s scope of supply includes engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the new pumping stations, terminal upgrades, and a 44-kilometer-long fuel pipeline. ABB will also provide Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, instrumentation and electrical equipment. The project will be designed and managed by ABB’s Italian unit, with construction activities carried out by a joint venture company operated by ABB and Sonatrach.

The latest project follows a recent $210 million ABB contract for natural gas compressor stations at Hassi R’Mel, Algeria. ABB has several additional projects ongoing with Sonatrach, including construction of a major oil-treatment plant in the Bir Berkine basin and a $150 million contract for TFT gas compressor stations awarded in 2004.

The NK-1 project now under way is set for completion in late 2008, and will add some 18 million tons per year to Algeria’s oil transport capacity.

Source and more info: wateronline

Intelligent microprocessor based devices, for monitoring and controlling equipment at remote sites, have been introduced by Lee-Dickens. The Sitewatch MIDI 8 Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) represents the next-generation of class-leading RTU’s used primarily as part of a supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA) or a telemetry system, says the company.

The MIDI 8 uses the same distinctive IP65 rated moulded enclosure as the previous model, but the use of the latest compact surface-mount technology and RoSH components has freed up space for a number of additional features. These features include a broad range of interchangeable networking communication options including PSTN (fixed line modem), GSM and LAN Ethernet communications. The unit also has a transient to transmitter logic (TTL) interface that enables off the shelf modems to be used. This means a GSM or Ethernet modem can be easily swapped should it fail or the communications method need to be changed. The modems and radio transceivers are powered from the RTU itself and supported by standby batteries should mains power fail.

As well as increased networking options, additional I/O has been added. The Sitewatch MIDI 8 has 8 optically isolated digital inputs, 8 differentially selected analogue inputs and a further 3 digital outputs fitted as standard. The digital input capacity can be increased to 16 or 4 pulse inputs can be added by fitting a small expansion board. Digital and analogue inputs are configured by on-board links to provide a two wire interconnection to site equipment. A 24VDC 250mA supply is available to power external analogue transducers.

Each Sitewatch MIDI 8 has two serial data ports, one of which is configured for the Master Station communications interface and a second that can be used for local interrogation, connection to other RTU’s via a Local Area Network or for interfacing to other intelligent site equipment.

Source and more information: electropages

SCADA technology quietly operates in the background of critical utility and industrial facilities nationwide. This important tool efficiently manages utility assets, refineries and other critical industrial segments, but protecting SCADA networks from cyber attacks, hackers and even physical assault is becoming a test of will, cleverness and determination.

Cybersecurity for SCADA Systems provides a high-level overview of this unique technology, with an explanation of each market segment. Readers will understand the vital issues, and learn strategies for decreasing or eliminating system vulnerabilities.

Benefits for readers:

Functional breakdown and explanation of the typical features, capabilities, and components of a SCADA system

IT and cybersecurity technology and terminology overview and explanation

Industry-specific as well as generalized discussion of SCADA vulnerabilities and available remediation strategies

Discussion of physical and electronic security issues and strategies

Source and more information: presszoom

Verano Inc., a maker of industrial security systems, has acquired the Managed Security Services Division of e-DMZ Security, LLC, in a deal that will extend Verano’s SCADA security offering with a subscription-based, co-managed service. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Earlier this week, the company announced the completion of the deal and its rebranded Industrial Defender Co-Managed Security service, which combines real-time SCADA and control security with remote diagnostic capabilities.

Verano’s flagship product, Industrial Defender, is an appliance that offers perimeter protection to legacy control systems. It functions as the first line of defense against network and SCADA process control intrusion. In January of this year, Verano acquired PlantData Technologies Inc., a security consulting firm specializing in assessing and establishing policy procedures for real-time industrial environments. The e-DMZ acquisition rounds out Verano’s offerings, officials said.

“It’s the last piece of puzzle,” said Brian Ahern, Verano’s president and CEO, in an interview with Managing Automation. “We knew we had all of the alarms and alerts within the Industrial Defender console. The next logical offering was to [provide] that alerting capability as a managed security service.”

When Verano went shopping for a managed security service vendor, it found that most catered to government and financial organizations. e-DMZ stood out because it does 95% of its business in the chemicals sector, which not only fit the criteria for having expertise in a real-time, high-availability industrial environment, but also brought Verano into a new market. Verano has traditionally focused on four verticals: power, water, energy, and mass transit.

Source and more information: managingautomation

Citect, one of the world’s largest, real-time intelligence software companies, today announced that its Switch2Citect solution has allowed end users and Citect Integration Partners (CIPs) to convert over 1000 screens from other SCADA vendors to CitectSCADA.

Launched in 2005, Switch2Citect has helped many companies throughout the world easily upgrade to CitectSCADA from one or multiple legacy systems. Switch2Citect automates approximately 75% of manual tasks, making upgrading to CitectSCADA from outdated SCADA systems easier and more economical.

In one example Sun Peaks Resort the largest ski resort in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. Citect Partner, Guillevin Automation, converted screens from a legacy system in both the Sun Peaks’ resort and the village to CitectSCADA. According to Jeff Havisto, Project Engineer for Guillevin Automation, “Switch2Citect is a very economical and easy solution for automating the conversion of legacy systems with minimal time and effort required.”

“We chose CitectSCADA because it offers the best overall solution and lowest cost of ownership, and Switch2Citect made it possible to preserve our existing graphics and database,” explains Ian Tabor, I.T. Manager, Sun Peaks Resort Corporation.

In addition to providing an automated way to upgrade to CitectSCADA from Intellution Fix32 and iFix, many customers have also utilized Switch2Citect importers to convert and improve their existing systems from InTouch and FactoryLink. “Since we launched Switch2Citect, customers from all across the world, in all industry segments, have been asking us for additional importers to help them upgrade from their legacy control system,” says Stephen Flannigan, SCADA Global Director, Citect. ” In response Citect has accelerated the development of new importers, with RSView and Monitor Pro to be released later this month, and we have started work on WinCC, Wizcon, Genesis32 and Vijeo Look importers.”

Source and more information: pandct

Since 9/11, protecting SCADA and distributed control systems against cyber attacks has gained much higher priority, especially for mission-critical operations — and yet few solutions focus on the operations end of the business.

Verano, Inc. (Mansfield, MA) is one of the few. Since it bought the RTAP (Real-Time Application Platform) SCADA business from HP in 2000, Verano has been working on a security event-management solution. That effort involves Verano’s Industrial Defender product, designed for mission-critical settings like power plants and water treatment facilities, and now spreading to manufacturing.

“What Verano does is unique,” says Charles W. Newton, president of Newton-Evans Research Co., Inc. (Ellicott City, MD), and an analyst who studies SCADA usage. According to Newton, virtually no one else provides the combination of SCADA and cyber security products and services that Verano does or offers a product like Industrial Defender.

Verano’s Industrial Defender product protects control systems and networks in real time against an array of internal and external threats. Those threats include hackers, viruses, malicious insiders, and authorized outsiders like contractors or automation vendors that connect to the network as part of their work or support function and can inadvertently or deliberately cause malfunctions, change critical files, or obtain data they are not entitled to see. The software also can provide alerts regarding the addition of unauthorized systems or devices as well as information-sharing violations.

Source and more information: managingautomation

DCS (distributed control system) and scada (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems both emerged independently within the controls industry and by the early to mid 1970s they both had a strong following. DCS was a term coined by two major control vendors providing plant automation systems in the early 1970s while scada first appeared in print in 1973 as part of the Bonneville Power Administration Study into system automation started in the late 1960s. Although these systems have much in common, the goals of DCS and scada systems are quite different.

DCSs are process centric and have a direct connection to the data source. They are primarily focused on realtime states with past and present process variables the main focus. DCSs are most often directly connected to the hardware device I/O, and therefore require a very reliable network connection to equipment. As a process state driven system, a DCS is sequential in nature with alarms generated not when a point changes but when a process is run; trends primarily focused on data states past and present. In many instances DCSs are not at all aware of a change in state, but simply report the current realtime state at the instant the hardware is polled. In a DCS, events and alarms (both central concepts in scada) are secondary to process displays. Therefore, it is often necessary to set up alarms by hand on each point, and many DCSs have limited alarm filtering. Finally, DCSs are deployed only when the system has a very small geographical footprint, such as a factory or plant, due to the fact that they must have a continuous connection to the hardware.

Scada systems are data centric and have a database driven architecture. Scada systems have historically focused on control of remote equipment where telecommunications may be regularly interrupted. To overcome the unreliable telecommunications to remote field devices, scada systems are indirectly connected via a database to the field equipment and can continue operating even when telecommunications are temporarily lost. In addition, more complex polling capabilities are typically provided by scada systems to help address telecommunication restrictions. This allows scada systems to deal with controlling assets over a very large geographical area, making it suitable for electric grids, and oil and gas pipelines.

Source and more information: instrumentation

Driving down farm roads on a summer afternoon, Brad Laffins pointed out acres of orchards and row crops.

As he maneuvered past green pasture land and fields of sunflowers, he explained that farmers are changing the way they irrigate — away from flood type irrigation and toward sprinkler or drip systems.

On Laffins’ tour of the Paul L. Byrne Memorial Agricultural Teaching and Research Center at California State University, Chico, he spelled out how agricultural operations and community water districts depend on a serpentine system of dams, rivers and canals.

Laffins may sound like a farmer, but he’s is a computer whiz who is part of Chico State’s commitment to bring efficient irrigation technology to agriculture students and Northern California water users.

The University Farm, as the Byrne teaching center is known, is implementing a supervisory control and data acquisition system — SCADA for short — in a brightly lit room humming with computers. The computers connect to pumping stations in fields and control the amount of water released for irrigation and its flow.

The system is a technology used commercially for years.

A farm manager can set the controls so that irrigation begins at a certain time.

“To every grower who has ever gotten up at 4 a.m. to turn the water on, this has got to sound pretty good,” said Michael Spiess, an associate professor in the Chico State College of Agriculture.

The SCADA system is a key component of the irrigation training facility that Laffins manages for Chico State. Completed in 2003 at the University Farm — about six miles south of the main campus — it includes a pump and meter test facility and a model canal system.

Source and more information: sacbee

The U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Energy will offer free classes during Part II of the SCADA Security Summit for control system engineers and IT professionals who need or want a deeper understanding of security in control systems. The courses, both introductory and intermediate, will be held Sept. 28-30 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

There are 40 seats for the full-day, hands-on course and 120 seats for the half-day course; both of are taught by experts at Idaho National Laboratory and said to be fast-paced. The classes are meant not only to facilitate students in understanding how attacks against SCADA systems are launched and why they work, but also to provide mitigation strategies to increase the cyber security posture of one’s control system network.

The introductory course is targeted to system managers and control operators for power and energy generation, transmission and distribution organizations. It will cover, among other topics, common vulnerabilities of control systems, inappropriate use of wireless communication, and lack of detection and logging of intrusion. There will also be a cyber security awareness demonstration video.

The intermediate course is a more technical class and attendees are required to bring a laptop. Information security personnel, SCADA security personnel, network engineers, and SCADA engineers/integrators and developers are recommended to take this more hands-on course. Among the topics planned are general security observations and pitfalls, dissecting SCADA protocols, and common programming pitfalls.

Source and more information: manufacturing

CHS has selected Invensys to implement an InFusion-based supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system for the Front Range Pipeline and the Cenex Pipeline. These pipelines provide transportation of crude oil to the CHS refinery in Laurel, Montana, and transportation of refined products to markets east, including eastern Montana and North Dakota. The new system will integrate existing third-party programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and monitor and control the data from fifteen pumping stations along the two pipelines.

Communications will be via a Wide Area Network (WAN) utilising fibre optic, VSAT, and dial up links with the different pumping stations.

InFusion View will provide the graphical human machine interface (HMI) for operator visualisation in the Main Control Centre located in Laurel, Montana as well as at each of the fifteen pumping stations.

Source and more information: processingtalk