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Practical_modern_SCADA_protocols_-_dnp3,_60870-5_and_Related_Systems

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16<br />

Future developments<br />

Objectives<br />

When you have completed study of this chapter you will be able to:<br />

• Give an indication of where the <strong>SCADA</strong> industry is heading with DNP3<br />

This section attempts to take a brief look at the future for DNP3 <strong>and</strong> other <strong>SCADA</strong><br />

<strong>protocols</strong>. Of course, attempting to make predictions about the future is always going to be<br />

a risky business. However, it is reasonable to review the past <strong>and</strong> present <strong>and</strong> look for<br />

trends <strong>and</strong> change drivers.<br />

DNP3 <strong>and</strong> IEC <strong>60870</strong>-5-101 emerged as ‘open’ <strong>protocols</strong> from a long period during<br />

which proprietary <strong>protocols</strong> were the norm. This period extended from the early days<br />

of <strong>SCADA</strong>, from the 1950s through to the 1980s. This period was an expansionary period<br />

for process control systems world-wide generally, during which many systems have been<br />

developed <strong>and</strong> installed. In the latter part of this period the need for st<strong>and</strong>ardization <strong>and</strong><br />

interoperability became apparent <strong>and</strong> more widely recognized. St<strong>and</strong>ards bodies began to<br />

address the st<strong>and</strong>ardization of communications for telecontrol applications.<br />

Why has this been the case? What factors have driven this? Economics <strong>and</strong> cost factors<br />

have. In the 1990s industrial growth has slowed world-wide. As growth has slowed,<br />

business has become more competitive <strong>and</strong> sought savings to costs at all levels of<br />

organizations. As organizations have become leaner the need for organization-wide information<br />

flow through communications systems <strong>and</strong> computers has increased.<br />

In prior decades <strong>SCADA</strong> systems were typically isl<strong>and</strong>s, isolated from management <strong>and</strong><br />

other systems. In the present, this is no longer the case. <strong>SCADA</strong> systems typically are<br />

required to interface to management information systems. <strong>Systems</strong> are being interconnected<br />

on a wider scale also. Where a water utility in the past may have operated separate<br />

<strong>SCADA</strong> systems in separate operating areas, they are becoming integrated. In the<br />

electrical utility industry deregulation has brought about increasing inter-utility communications.<br />

The high costs of interconnecting <strong>and</strong> maintaining systems on a wide scale have<br />

been behind the emergence of the Utilities Communications Architecture (UCA) project.

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