Increased efficiency of SCADA systems for better, more accurate information

GE Intelligent Platforms has a new upgrade feature for its PACSystems controller platform. The new modules feature DNP 3.0 Unsolicited Reporting to address speed and efficiency in SCADA applications that employ numerous remote terminal units (RTUs). DNP 3.0 was originally developed for the Power Utility industry and is now widely used in Water/Wastewater and Oil & Gas.

“When a SCADA system is required to poll every RTU it can take a long time which results in lagging data for the updates,” said Bill Black, Controllers Product Manager for GE Intelligent Platforms. “With Unsolicited Reporting, slave devices can send updates automatically as the values change without having to wait for a poll from the SCADA.”

As applications become larger, they require more distributed I/O and more information flowing through them. Obtaining insight through information means that they need the most up to date information possible, and Unsolicited Reporting will allow them to get that information immediately, as opposed to waiting for the request for information from the SCADA system.

With DNP3.0 Unsolicited Reporting, the RX3i can be configured as an Unsolicited Master or Unsolicited Slave per port. This enables the RX3i to collect data from DNP 3.0 slave devices more efficiently.

“This new feature adds to the PACSystems promise of an open, scalable platform for control,” comments Black.