SCADA Tutorial Video: Architecture, PLC vs. RTU, and Other Fundamentals

What you'll learn about SCADA in this video:

1. What "SCADA" stands for
2. The two major elements of any SCADA system
3. Industries where SCADA is used
4. 3 reasons why you might need SCADA equipment
5. What you'll be able to do with a good system in place
6. The 4 key functions of SCADA
7. • The acquisition of data
   • The communication of data
   • The presentation of data
   • Controlling equipment remotely
8. The critical differences between an RTU and a PLC
9. The philosophy you need to get started

This video is an updated version of our most popular YouTube video to date. That SCADA Tutorial, published in 2009, still has good information. In fact, you might also watch it to learn even more about SCADA.

As the world has evolved in the last decade, it was time for us to make a new video on SCADA fundamentals for you. The new edition is a complete overview of the basics of SCADA, taking into account everything we've seen in the last few years.

SCADA has rapidly changed

Remote monitoring and control systems are always evolving. In recent years, we've seen smarter devices lower down in the archictecture that ever before. is being processed by RTUs today, something that was virtually unheard of a few years ago. You're even starting to see optimizations in this space, like prioritized Modbus polling for superior utilization of your available polling time.

The PDF SCADA Tutorial is always available to you

Before we published any SCADA videos at all, our first guide for you was a PDF. The latest edition of that guide is still available for you today.

Download SCADA Tutorial PDF