SCADA Automation System Laboratory,

Elements and Applications

Cristina Anita Bejan, Mihai Iacob and Gheorghe-Daniel Andreescu
“Politehnica” University of Timisoara, Dept. of Automation and Applied Informatics, Timisoara, Romania
E-mails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract—This paper presents practical laboratories for paper factories, newspaper rotary printing presses, plants
teaching purpose in Supervisory Control and Data for extraction and bottling of alimentary juices, energy
Acquisition (SCADA) systems. A SCADA system is monitoring, etc. They require the use of sophisticated
described in terms of architecture, process interfaces, automation schemes that must be able to grant access to
functionality, and application development facilities. These
production data and field distributed variables at large
concepts are implemented on an integrated automation
system, particularly for digital control of electric drives with distances, and from various levels of factory automation
distributed peripheral, i.e., Totally Integrated Automation (field, control, supervision, etc.) [4].
with Democase from Siemens. Using this system, a wide Programmable Logic Controls (PLCs) are used for
range of applications can be designed, implemented and system control. As need to monitor and control more
tested. A practical labs set are presented to introduce devices in the plant grew, the PLCs are distributed and
gradually the main SCADA elements, and finally to develop the systems became more intelligent and smaller in size.
an application to control an induction motor in interlocked
manual/automatic mode, with touch-screen Human In a distributed control system (DCS), the data
Machine Interface (HMI). The system employs industrial acquisition and control functions are performed by a
busses like PROFIBus and industrial Ethernet. The SCADA number of distributed microprocessor-based units situated
system also shows trends, alarms, motor frequency and near to controlled devices or by instruments from which
automatic sequence of motor speed profile. data are gathered. DCS have evolved into systems
providing very sophisticated analog control capability [5].
Keywords: Automatic control, engineering education,
ethernet, hardware configuration, laboratory works, SCADA, PLC and DCS are three types of control
profibus, programmable logic controller (PLC), supervisory systems. Nowadays, there are systems that incorporate all
control and data acquisition (SCADA), WinCC Flexible. these concepts in one integrated automation system.
Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) is the foundation
I. INTRODUCTION to implement industry specific automation solutions that
SCADA systems became popular to arise the efficient are coordinated with individual requirements, combining
monitoring and control of distributed remote equipments. increased productivity with a high level of investment
Today SCADA systems include operator-level software security [6]. TIA is the unique basis offered by Siemens
applications for viewing, supervising and troubleshooting for uniform and customized automation in all sectors of
local machines and process activities. Powerful software the production, process and hybrid industries. TIA offers
technologies are used for controlling and monitoring uniform automation technology on one single platform
equipments in easy-to-use web-based applications, e.g., for all applications of process automation, starting with
platforms: PCS7 – Siemens, CX-Supervisor – Omron, input logistics, covering production or primary processes
Genesis 32 – ICONIX [1]. as well as secondary processes, up to output logistics.
The term supervisory control is associated with (i) the This paper introduces theoretical and practical
process industries, where it manages the activities of a concepts regarding SCADA for education purpose,
number of integrated operation units to achieve certain illustrated and implemented on an integrated automation
economic objectives for process; and with (ii) the discrete system TIA from Siemens. Laboratory works will
manufacturing automation, where it coordinates the provide for student: competences, experience in
activities of several interacting pieces of equipment in a identification, selection and programming of needed
manufacturing cells or systems, such as a machines equipments to make a fully operational application. The
interconnected group by a material handling system [2]. emphasis is placed on the study of the concepts and
SCADA encompasses the collecting of information languages of control, to guide the student on how to
transferring to the central site, carrying out any necessary analyze and design such systems.
analysis and control, and then displaying that information Terminology, concepts, principles, procedures,
on a number of operator screens or displays. The required computations, and communication protocols used in the
control actions are then conveyed back to the process [3]. control field programming are studied. The programming
Control and supervision tasks of industrial plants are of the human machine interface (HMI), to present process
distributed over wide areas, and are characterized by data to a human operator, is another subject of interest.
many sensing and actuation points (in order of hundreds During the practical labs, besides to understand the
or even thousands of units) as in petrol chemical plants, theoretical concepts, the students will develop

978-1-4244-5349-8/09/$26.00 ©2009 University.

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applications to illustrate them. Finally, the application A. General Description of SCADA - Totally Integrated
refers to control of an induction motor associated with a Automation Democase
frequency inverter, in manual or automatic mode. The The aim of this section is to present the SCADA
manual control mode is equivalent to predefine system with its components. SCADA - TIA Democase
frequencies and logic programming that are sent as from Siemens (Fig. 1) is an integrated automation system
telegrams to the frequency inverter. In the automatic for digital control of electric drives with distributed
control mode a specific sequence is run (sequential peripheral [8]. It can be used for a wide range of
discrete control). applications with variable speed drives, like: pumps, fans
or conveyor belt, etc. This subject covers applications to
II. PRACTICAL LABS FOR SCADA SYSTEMS USING TIA plant and mechanical engineering, as well as
DEMOCASE manufacturing technology and process engineering.
Using the equipment from Siemens SCADA – TIA The main TIA Democase integrated components are:
Democase, the students will develop practical labs for a
- S7-300 PLC that controls ET200S;
real functional application.
- ET200S consists on: communication interface module
The development platform for applications is STEP 7, IM 151-3, Motor starter DS1e-xH, proximity sensor
which is the standard software package used for Opto Bero;
configuring and programming SIMATIC programmable - Sinamics G120 frequency inverter;
logic controllers. The standard package includes a series - induction motor connected via PROFIBUS;
of valuable tools like: Symbol Editor, NETpro, SIMATIC - Human Machine Interface (HMI) panel MP 277
Manager, Hardware Configuration, Programming connected via industrial Ethernet.
Languages (Ladder Logic (LAD), S7Graph) and
The motor is controlled manually with predefined
Hardware Diagnostics.
frequencies, and automatically by sequence.
To create an automation solution with STEP 7, there
are a series of basic tasks:
• Plan your controller;
• Design the program structure;
• Create a project structure;
• Configure hardware;
• Configure networks & communication connections;
• Define symbols;
• Create the program;
• Configure operator control and monitoring variables
• Download programs to the programmable controller;
• Test programs;
• Monitor operation, diagnose hardware;
• Document the application.
A project contains all programs and data for the entire
automation tasks. It is an object structure, under which
other STEP 7 objects will be organized [7]. This project Figure 1. SCADA – TIA Democase setup
can contain several hardware stations, networks or
several programs that are used in one or several CPUs.
Following these steps, through practical labs, the
students will learn to use the equipment and program it,
and the final result will be an application for controlling
an induction motor. Each practical lab has the following
structure: purpose, theoretical topics, workflow, questions
and references.
The gradual laboratory sections are structured as: A)
General description of SCADA - Totally Integrated
Automation Democase, B) Hardware configuration and
programming languages, C) Programming and
commissioning for frequency inverter SINAMICS G120,
D) Manual control for frequency inverter, E) Automatic
control for frequency inverter, F) Integration of manual
and automatic control modes for frequency inverter, G)
Introduction to WinCC Flexible SCADA platform, H)
Programming elements in WinCC Flexible. These lab
sections are shortly presented in what follows. Figure 2. Components of SCADA – TIA Democase

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 B. Hardware Configuration and Programming As a workflow for the section, a LAD program (Fig. 3)
Languages will be implemented for the following functionalities:
This section presents concepts on how to configure the motor off, motor on, start motor at a preset frequency
hardware, the communication connections and some (25Hz), reverse sense, initialize the system (start direct
programming elements. In Fig. 2 are presented the used starter, motor off, frequency 0 Hz).
components for the application.
D. Manual Control for Frequency Inverter
Hardware Configuration is a tool used to configure
and assign parameters to the hardware of an automation The aim of this section is to implement the manual
project. drive control for the frequency inverter. The manual
operating mode for the motor assumes the following:
The following programming languages are used. The
graphic programming language Ladder Logic (LAD) is - Start the motor at preset frequency (10, 25 and 50 Hz);
based on the representation of circuit diagrams for - Stop the motor.
programming the PLC [9]. LAD will be used to design The three-phase induction motor is controlled by the
the control logic for the manual drive control. S7Graph inverter. The motor starter will protect and switch any
[10] is used to implement the automatic drive control. three-phase loads. The ensemble formed by ET200S
WinCC Flexible is employed as SCADA platform. (Direct starter), inverter and motor have to be
At the end of this section, the hardware configuration programmed. For programming the inverter, telegrams
for the application and some short examples using the will be sent to it. In the hardware configuration for
programming languages will be implemented by students. SINAMICS G120, the standard telegram 1 was selected.
Ladder logic LAD is used for programming the manual
C. Programming and Commissioning for Frequency drive control [9].
Inverter SINAMICS G120
This section presents the frequency inverter E. Automatic Control for Frequency Inverter
SINAMICS G120, its parameters and telegrams and the This section main scope is the implementation of
software used for drive/commissioning of the inverter automatic control of the frequency inverter used for
(STARTER). controlling the induction motor. The automatic control
The inverter is parameterized to be adapted to motor consists in a sequence of steps executed in a defined order.
for optimal operation and protection. This is realized A sequencer consists of a series of steps and transitions
using one of the following operator units: that are activated in a fixed order depending on the step
- Keyboard and display unit (Operator Panel) that is enabling conditions. A sequencer is always executed
snapped onto the inverter; starting with an initial step, or several initial steps located
- Software (STARTER commissioning tool) that allows at any position in the sequencer. As long as the actions of
the inverter to be parameterized and controlled by a PC. a step are being executed, this step is active. If several
steps are being executed at the same time, they are all
Although inverters can be parameterized for very
active steps. An active step is exited when the transition
specific applications, many standard applications can be
following this step is satisfied. The next step following the
configured by means of just a few parameters [11]. The
satisfied transition becomes active.
specific telegrams are understanding and developed.
At the end of a sequencer, there is a jump to any step in
this sequencer or to another sequencer (this allows cyclic
operation of sequencer) or a branch stop. The sequence of
steps stops when the branch stop is reached [10].

Figure 3. LAD program for inverter control Figure 4. Sequencer types in S7 Graph

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 In Fig. 4 are presented a few usual sequencer types in Only in the manual control mode, the proximity sensor
S7 Graph: linear sequencer, alternative and simultaneous is on. When the IQ-Sense module detects an object, the
sequencer and parallel sequencer. motor is stopped and the motor starter is disabled
The following sequence will be designed: (contactor off). In this case, an initialization is necessary
Step 1 – Run at 10Hz, to start running again the application [12].
Step 2 – Hold for 10s 10Hz,
G. Introduction to SCADA Platform (WinCC Flexible)
Step 3 – Run at 25Hz,
Step 4 – Hold for 10s 25 Hz, This section introduces WinCC Flexible - the software
Step 5 – Slow down to 10 Hz, for programming the human machine interface (HMI) in
Step 6 – Hold for 10s 10Hz, SCADA applications.
Step 7 – Ramp up to 50Hz, The HMI provides the transparency needed between the
Step 8 – Hold 50Hz for 10s, operator, who works in environments where the processes
Step 9 – Reverse rotation sense to -50Hz, are becoming more complex, and the machine. The HMI
Step 10 – Hold -50Hz for 10s, system represents the interface between man (operator)
Step 11 – Slow down to 0 Hz, and process (machine/plant). There is an interface
Step 12 – Stop. between the operator and WinCC flexible (at HMI device)
and an interface between WinCC flexible and controller.
F. Integration of Manual and Automatic Control The controller is the actual unit that controls the process.
Modes for Frequency Inverter An HMI system assumes the following tasks:
This section presents the integration of the two inverter • Process visualization
functioning modes (Fig. 5). The integration means to The process is visualized on the HMI device. The
bring together the two control modes into one system, screen on the HMI device is dynamically updated. This is
and ensuring that they function together as a system. based on process transitions.
The manual control mode is the first subsystem that • Operator control of the process
was implemented in section II D, and the automatic
The operator can control the process by means of a
control is the other one implemented in section II E. The graphical user interface (GUI), e.g., the operator can
subsystems have to cooperate so that the system is able to preset reference values for the controls or start a motor.
deliver the over-arching functionality.
• Displaying alarms
In this case, there are a series of conditions to consider:
- The switching between the two subsystems (operating Critical process states automatically trigger an alarm,
modes of the inverter) is possible at any time; for example, when the set point value is exceeded.
- A force stop is available in each subsystem, when the • Archiving process values and alarms
inverter brings the motor in its initial state. The HMI system can log alarms and process values.
This feature allows to log process sequences and to
retrieve previous production data.
• Process values and alarms logging
The HMI system can output alarms and process value
reports. This allows printing out production data at the end
of a shift, for example.
• Process and machine parameter management
The HMI system can store the parameters of processes
and machines in recipes. For example, these parameters
can be downloaded in one pass from HMI device to PLC
to change over the product version for production [13].
A full automation solution not only involves a HMI
system such the WinCC-Flexible, but also additional
components, e.g. controller, process bus and periphery.
Process tags provide the link for communication
between the controller and HMI system. Without the
advantage of the Totally Integrated Automation, each tag
would have to be defined twice: once for the controller
and once for the HMI system. The elements necessary for
programming the HMI are: tags, screens (objects used on
the screens), alarms, trends and special objects.
Students will create the connection between the PLC
and HMI, design some screens with basic buttons, define
Figure 5. Flowchart of the Manual and Automatic control modes all necessary tags and assign them to buttons.

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 H. Programming Elements in WinCC Flexible skills to do so. Runtime scripting is used to solve more
This section presents some special objects used in complex problems.
WinCC Flexible: trend view, gauge, alarms, scripting [14] The workflow for this practical lab is the following:
and the finalization of the main application. • Create a script to convert the frequency value from
The trend view is a dynamic display object. It is meant hexadecimal to decimal, and associate the value to an
for the graphical representation of tag values from the internal tag.
current process or from an archive in form of trends. The • Insert into the manual drive control a gauge for the
Trend view can display actual process data or data from a frequency value (Fig. 6).
log continuously when it is supported by the HMI device. • Create a screen for automatic drive control (Fig. 7).
The gauge is a dynamic display object. It displays • Create a trend view to monitor the frequency value
analog numerical values using a pointer. in a separate screen (Fig. 8).
The main tasks of the alarm system are:
• Create two analog alarms: one for the frequency
• Visualization on the HMI: report events or states that being below 25 Hz and another one for the frequency
occur in the plant or process. A state is reported as soon as being above 45 Hz.
it occurs.
• Create discrete alarms to notify when the frequency
• Reporting: Alarm events are output to a printer. is at 10 Hz, 25 Hz and 50 Hz.
• Logging: Alarm results are saved for further editing • Create a screen for the alarm view (Fig. 9).
and evaluation.
• Insert buttons in both operating modes for trend
WinCC flexible provides predefined system functions
view and alarms.
for common configuration task. They can be used to
• Finalize the application.
perform many tasks in Runtime and need no programming

Figure 6. Manual drive control mode Figure 8. Trend view for inverter frequency

Figure 7. Automatic drive control mode – reference sequence Figure 9. Alarms

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 III. CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES
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The concepts and software technologies used to
develop the present application can be reused to write
many other similar control/supervisory applications.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
One of authors, Ph.D student Mihai Iacob thanks for
financial support of his work under strategic grant
POSDRU 6/1.5/S/13, 2008 of the Ministry of the Work,
Family and Social Protection, Romania, co-financed by
the European Social Found.

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