Glossary of Common Terms
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Now that you are considering, or already participating in, the ever-expanding SCADA technology of data transmission, downloads, monitoring, and control, we at High Sights are pleased to provide you with this primer on understanding some of the vast network of abbreviations and acronyms you may hear discussed or displayed.
​SCADA; This is simply an acronym for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition. This refers to any equipment designed to do just what it says, to supervise systems, provide control of those systems if desired, and to collect any data about those systems that has been programmed in its PLC.
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PLC; This refers to any Programmable Logic Controller. The PLC of a system is usually its “brains” and holds the computerized program that provides any of the SCADA tasks that a Customer wants. The Program in the DataLogger can be added to, or modified in any way you want, as many times as you want. It will collect any of the data that passes through it, and automatically download that data to the computer of your choice.
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DataLogger; This is the “catch-all” term for the PLC types of hardware in the Campbell line of equipment. At their inception numerous decades ago, the Logging of Data was the primary purpose for much of the Campbell gear. However, through constant improvements they have made them some of the most advanced, and user-friendly, PLCs available. The menial task of ‘data logging’ is the least capability of these PLC instruments, but with our help they will be able to control any equipment we program into it. Their power extends to full automation, where it can be programmed to do anything, based upon anything else. For instance, if water levels reach a certain level, the pump(s) will activate, or gate(s) will move, on their own if you desire. We are very excited that you have chosen this type of equipment and are willing to train you on its use and programming for maximum benefit to your business.
HMI; Another acronym, Human Machine Interface, is a graphics software system of some sort that provides the persons using the SCADA system with a “Pretty Face” for their data. An expensive and complicated HMI is NOT required to manage a system and observe all it's parameters. However, sometimes the programs or machine language of a PLC is complicated and confusing for users. Therefore, several manufacturers have developed their versions of HMI packages, that receive the PLCs data and presents it to the observer in a more understandable picture, graph, chart, table, etc. Some examples of an HMI are found on the next page -->
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