Race Against ObsolescenceHow to Avoid Obsolescence of SCADA Componentson Long Term SCADA Projects

摘要

Due to vast improvements in technology, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems havernevolved to provide high levels of automation, data management and reporting that improve the operationrnand maintenance of water and wastewater facilities. As utilities spend large sums of money to implementrnstate-of-the-art SCADA systems, the life of the system is always a concern. This is especially true forrnSCADA projects whose construction phases occur over a long period of time and over multiple constructionrncontracts. Key components of the SCADA system such as PLCs, HMI software and other hardwarerncomponents can become obsolete by the time the project is brought to successful completion. The openrnconcept and compatibility of many of the software and hardware components used in SCADA technologyrnhave led to a furious competition between manufacturers, thereby resulting in new and improvedrncomponents that appear and disappear in the market at a very rapid rate.rnThis paper addresses the steps and methodologies in which the race against obsolescence can be won, andrnhow to achieve a state of the art SCADA system at the completion of a long term project.