A resource oriented architecture for Web-integrated SCADA applications

Abstract

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are widely used on industry and public utility services to gather information from field devices and to control and monitor processes. The adoption of Internet technologies in automation have brought new opportunities and challenges for industries, establishing the need to integrate information from various sources on the Web. This paper exposes the design and implementation of a Resource Oriented Architecture for typical SCADA applications based on the architectural principles of the Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural style. The application to a didactic Flexible Manufacturing Cell illustrates how SCADA can take advantage of the interoperability afforded by open Web technologies, interact with a wide range of systems and leverage from the existing Web infrastructure, such as proxies and caches.