PLC vs SCADA vs DCS

What's the difference between #PLC #SCADA & #DCS?
A PLC, Programmable Logic Controller, reads inputs, executes logic, and writes to outputs.
A SCADA, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition connects to a group of PLC's and provides remote monitoring, control, and alarming.
A DCS, distributed control system, has both SCADA and PLC functionality. The PLCs are sometimes called RIO or RTU units often run proprietary or application-specific code, such as a rolling mill DCS.
SCADA can then connect to a DCS using drivers such as Kepware Technologies to integrate the DCS system with other applications across your plant/enterprise.
Hope this answers your question!
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• PLC vs SCADA vs DCS (D...
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[@alfredojrflores9810]

K.I.S.S. = keep It Short & Simple - straight forward & yet detailed explanation, thank you

[@asab0777]

Thank you for the excellent explanation! The use of specific analogies and examples was also very helpful.

[@4.0Solutions]

You're very welcome!

[@tanvvichaudhary23]

Must say, your explanation is as simple as it can get. I am working for a company and planning a marketing strategy for their automation products. Even though I am an electronics engineer, I have never tread tht technical path so I had to rely on internet for my research and product and segment understanding. I have found your videos so so useful that now I have better clarity and understanding as to how to approach things further.

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you Tanvi! When you get a chance join our Discord server www.intellic.online/discord

[@jessicaflores3944]

I've been learning about all these components and systems for a few months now and after this video it has all magically clicked. It feels pretty empowering to finally "get it".

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you Jessica!! Glad you finally get it! Please join the Discord Community! www.iiot.university/discord

[@wateroverwifi]

Finally someone who explains it plainly

[@alianajeeha8952]

Thank you sir for the great explanations..it really helps me to understand more about the PLC,DCS and SCADA😊

[@4.0Solutions]

Happy to help!

[@ImSuperGoodAtDancing]

Worth the wait good job Bud!

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you!

[@abdullahammar1503]

Thank you very much for your great explanations. Now I am more understand about PLC Vs SCADA Vs DCS 🤗.

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad to hear that!

[@samirelzein1095]

Loved it, so clear, the dude knows exactly what he s talking about.

[@4.0Solutions]

Thanks!

[@sharvarishirke5336]

And for the first time I actually understood the difference! Thanks a lott:)

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you!

[@MarkMcMillen2112]

Walker didn't describe it very well and made several mistakes. There's a RealPars video that does a better job.

[@nursyazlina8988]

Thank you sir! this video help me a lot in understanding more about the PLC, SCADA, and DCS

[@4.0Solutions]

You are welcome!

[@nurlinasyahirahmustapa3943]

Thank you sir for the great explanation about PLC, SCADA, and DCS.

[@4.0Solutions]

You are most welcome

[@ammarraeszahari6520]

Thanks Sir for helping me in gaining more knowledge about the PLC, DCS and SCADA.😄

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad to help

[@nursyaheeraamila2438]

I understand better after watching this video! Thank you for ur explanation🤗

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad it helped!

[@coldeasy7759]

Thanks for the great explanation. Very easy to understand!

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad it was helpful!

[@nuramyliyaazahari4566]

A really great video to understand about this topic !! Good job sir !!

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad you liked it!

[@silverdoggg]

Best Explanation of these systems thank you

[@4.0Solutions]

Thanks! 🙏

[@elsumano]

What a great final analogie, thanks for the video!

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you Erick!

[@nursyahirahnazir3792]

Thank you sir for the explanation it give me more understanding about difference between SCADA PLC AND DCS.

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you! Make sure to watch this video next kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJ-zmKqDgLWNhc0

[@rodolforodriguez70]

Finnally somebody that actually can explain this matter Thank forbthe excellente video

[@steffenpo]

One of the best comparsion of the DCS and PLC systems. :) very good.

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you!

[@MarkMcMillen2112]

Too bad he got most of it wrong.

[@madihahabdrauf326]

A great explanation, thank you so much!

[@4.0Solutions]

You're very welcome!

[@fatinfatihah2357]

Thank you sir , I'm very clear about DCS, SCADA and PCL .

[@4.0Solutions]

You are most welcome

[@khaireenafiruzshah5136]

Your explanation is very clear ..thank you for this vid sir, it really helps me to understand better on this topic 😊

[@4.0Solutions]

Happy to help

[@ahmedmohamedhassan1033]

Thanks very much , It was very helpful

[@generalengineerph3574]

Very Good explanation. Proud Electrical Engineer here

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad to help!

[@carolinabanos4590]

Excellent video! Thank you!

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad you liked it!

[@komailbutt2998]

Thank you very much for answering my question. I am literally surprised to see my comment in your video. Thanks again Sir.

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you for the great question Komail! Keep them coming!

[@komailbutt2998]

Sure Sir.

[@AlexArizaNadjar]

Fantastic video, thank you very much

[@muhammaddanialhaikalbinnor2422]

Thank you so much sir for your clear explanation. It is really helpful for me to understand it better.

[@4.0Solutions]

You are most welcome

[@henriquesantana8948]

Great explication.

[@rizwanzafar9809]

Thanks very much Sir for such good explanation.I actually understood the difference for the first time.

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you Rizwan!

[@muhdazri9332]

Thanks for the simple explanation.. really helpful 👍

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad you liked it

[@afurqoonpauzi1518]

Thank you for the explanation sir, more easier for me to understand.

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad to hear that

[@balqissidayu]

Thank you sir... Your explanation is very clear and it very helpful for my understanding... Thank you sir...

[@4.0Solutions]

You are most welcome!

[@muhammadnazrinsabudi7857]

Thank you sir, for the explanation. It very helpful for my understanding.

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad it helped!

[@mahirahrosli5048]

It is very understandable. Thank you sir for the explanation.

[@4.0Solutions]

You are most welcome

[@anissuffia8690]

Thankyou sir for the great explanation. Your explanation give me more understanding.

[@4.0Solutions]

Happy to help

[@muizzakaria33]

Great explanation, easy for me to understand. Thank you sir.....

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad to hear that

[@nailahmahadzir9477]

Thank you sir for sharing your knowledge!

[@4.0Solutions]

You bet!

[@nuramyrasyafiqahnorhisham741]

Thank you sir for the explanation especially at the end of the video. It gives more impact on understanding the differences between PLC, SCADA and DCS. However, may I know the examples of field bus that you've mentioned in 4:45?

[@4.0Solutions]

You are most welcome

[@oscilopp3353]

great! now I understood it. Thank you.

[@4.0Solutions]

Great!

[@KuHaniff_Pak-Su]

thank you sir. your explanation is very clear

[@4.0Solutions]

You are most welcome!

[@melalbano6351]

Thank you Professor.

[@4.0Solutions]

You are very welcome

[@samirghedjati4024]

Finally got it, thank you!

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you!

[@dinaedryana]

Thank you for the explanation sir!

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad it was helpful!

[@eliatshalom4937]

Awesome .. easy to understand.. thanks

[@4.0Solutions]

You are welcome!

[@nuqmannajib6528]

thank you sir for the explanation, now I have better understanding on the topic

[@4.0Solutions]

Happy to help!

[@harshrajsanghvi6723]

Thanks for explaining it in a simple manner. Would like to understand, where does MES and Historian fit into this ecosystem?

[@tomato3347]

Great explanation great teacher thanks

[@4.0Solutions]

Thanks!

[@sftami5549]

great explanation

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad you liked it

[@paulfrancisco6653]

excellent explanation

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you!

[@plc2_ir]

Thank you very much❤

[@dalilaanuar9127]

Thank you sir for your explaination! But mind to explain what do you mean by DCS acting as the turnkey?

[@4.0Solutions]

It is pre-configured out of the box. No setup / programming required.

[@nisasofiahbintiroszeli9307]

Very well explanation Sir ..now I understood the topic much better than before

[@nisasofiahbintiroszeli9307]

But there is certain part that i cant fully understood which are what is it mean by SCADA center/central.Next,what is it mean by PLC have certain limitations?Hope you can help me thank you😊

[@4.0Solutions]

Can you mark the timestamp?

[@Lopanfernando]

Good explanation

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you, Anirudh!

[@jayadevp2845]

finally got the right answer from the right place 👏

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you!

[@nuranisahbintiyazid6387]

Your explanation is very clear sir Thank you! 👍🏻☺️

[@4.0Solutions]

You are welcome

[@nuruluyunahmad1254]

Thank you Sir!

[@4.0Solutions]

You are welcome!

[@ahmadziadrasidi]

thank you sir for the explanation... it helped me a lot..

[@4.0Solutions]

You are most welcome!

[@SaddamHossain-oq6ci]

Good class

[@Sabrina-iw4ul]

Very well explanation..thank you sir😊

[@4.0Solutions]

All the best

[@Muuccss]

so clear and concise, I love having defined terms lol. Do you have any learning recommendations for an industrial electrician attempting to find an *official* instrumentation tech position?

[@4.0Solutions]

There are many vendor trainings, but we recommend anyone in this space to Learn IIoT and set yourself apart! go to IIoT.University to take our free mini-course and join our community Discord Server!

[@sohailjanjua123]

Hi, I like your lecture.Thanks

[@4.0Solutions]

Thanks!

[@archieengineer9942]

Great video

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@muhammadatif1696]

Thanks walker!

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you!

[@jamesforrest9310]

Great video!

[@4.0Solutions]

Thanks!

[@RakeshSingh-pl9xx]

Tq sir for beautiful explanation

[@4.0Solutions]

Thanks Rakesh!

[@kennydieu2694]

Thanks for sharing .

[@4.0Solutions]

Thanks for watching!

[@nureenamni3175]

Thank you so much sir for the video..it help me alot in my subject

[@4.0Solutions]

It's my pleasure

[@syahirahshukri7148]

Sir, what is the application of SCADA? And what are the types of remote stations used for SCADA? Thank you sir.

[@4.0Solutions]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJ-zmKqDgLWNhc0

[@shahidiqbal5273]

Dear Sir, I have around more than 10 years of field experience in the E&I works where i am directly involved in handling field instrument connected with different PLC and DCS based control system...... Your lectures are always upto the mark, I want to do some research where the conventional SCADA with even OPC or ERP cost can be reduced using IoT cloud........ Could you please guide me in this direction.... .. My area of interest is AI, Embeded system.. microconterollers, Arduino, Resbarry Pi.... Etc.......

[@4.0Solutions]

Reach out to [e-mail] and our team can help.

[@farraadeebah423]

in the vid, it mention abt the PLC change the output on a certain condition. my question is how can it change the output? does it have a disturbance in the system? and is it a big change or a small change ?

[@4.0Solutions]

It will change it's output based on what all of it's inputs are and the logic that it runs to determine what it's outputs should be based upon it's inputs. Think of it like a "black box"

[@studyhard128]

Awesome!

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad you think so!

[@nurulsyairahmohdfadzil5041]

Sir, may i know what makes DCS more beneficial than SCADA ? and what is example of SCADA's application ? btw thank you for the video, it helps a lot :)

[@4.0Solutions]

Hi Nurul! Have you seen this video yet? kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJ-zmKqDgLWNhc0

[@norfarishamasturafissol7729]

Thank you, Sir. Sir, if PLC system has problem, does it give us an alarm like SCADA system does? Thank you, Sir.

[@4.0Solutions]

Yes it does! If you configure it to do such.

[@hanisahjaafar5435]

Thank you for this video sir, so if SCADA can manage more than one PLC it could be a DCS or not? Thanks again sir!

[@4.0Solutions]

SCADA can manage more than one PLC and more than one DCS yes. A DCS is typically integrated.

[@akmalsyazani4342]

Thank you sir

[@4.0Solutions]

Welcome

[@SaifulIslam-gc6yu]

Thanks sir

[@4.0Solutions]

Welcome

[@youriregnaud8461]

Is answer to question 2 (Thingworx as DataLayer) is available on video?

[@4.0Solutions]

The short answer is no. Here is the answer on video (with timecode) kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIGuhqanfr6IisU

[@wyc2462]

Master of 4.0 Solutions.

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you!

[@beerman081]

Phenominal

[@4.0Solutions]

Thank you, Buchanon!

[@sarahaina7856]

Sir, so what is the difference between i/o system and fieldbus?

[@4.0Solutions]

Great question!

[@Muddassarshah969]

Sir do you have more video about PLC & Scada if yes kindly paste the link I want to learn more about that

[@4.0Solutions]

Glad this was helpful for you! We will be doing some additional whiteboard lessons soon, but if you are looking for practical, basic information, you might take a look at this channel as well > kzbin.infofeatured

[@diyanaderaman5337]

sir can we decide which one is better between these 3? btw thank you for your great explanation sir:)))

[@4.0Solutions]

There is a place for each!

[@mohammadalifaimanshamsukam1910]

SCADA and DCS is quite similar but what is the sligh difference between them??

[@4.0Solutions]

Check out part II! Link in the description above.

[@lejlamony]

Hi. I need scada for on grid solar plant 155kw where to buy it.

[@paulkomba944]

Fine I got u well

[@aleeyanatasha4444]

how to distinguish between RIO, RTU and PLC?

[@4.0Solutions]

Added this question to our video topics list!

[@nurulnajihah5871]

What are the benefits of using the SCADA, DCS and PLC?

[@akmalsyazani4342]

Oooo

[@4.0Solutions]

See what is Digital Transformation video on our channel Nurul!

[@ciah5998]

Hi sir! May I ask something? So from your video, it means that PLC is under SCADA, and SCADA is under DCS or I'm wrong? 🤔 But, between SCADA and DCS, which one is better i mean from their safety, technology and others, and why? 🤔 Other than cars, can we find DCS in other daily applications too? 🤔

[@4.0Solutions]

PLC is under SCADA. DCS is is own thing. DCS can also be integrated into SCADA. Check out the IIoT Mini-Course to learn more www.intellic.online/iiot-mini-course

[@vusalgozalov]

Thanks. By the way you look like Hank from Breaking Bad

[@ntcuong01ct1]

1 MES can control multiple SCADA in a plant, right?

[@4.0Solutions]

Yes

[@qasrinasyazwanibintirostam694]

Sir, can i ask something ? 1. According from these two type, which is more advantages, is it SCADA or DCS ? 2. Does all types of cars use DCS ? 3. Which one is more save in cost for using it in industries ? Thank you sir !

[@nurulhusnamohammadmisroji6315]

I wonder the same things

[@4.0Solutions]

They both have their place in industry! It really depends on the application.

[@salu190]

is Delta V a DCS?

[@4.0Solutions]

Yes

[@muhammadhakimi250]

Sir whats the difference between SCADA and DCS ??

[@4.0Solutions]

Have you seen part II?

[@nanairdiana2929]

Sir why all tesla is using DCS. And how about the other cars?

[@4.0Solutions]

Yes they are all most likely using a combination of all of them.

[@ImSuperGoodAtDancing]

Damn... I’m super early. 😐

[@4.0Solutions]

Going live Tomorrow morning! #whiteboardwednesday

[@santimccluskey3733]

This guy looks like the haired version of Hank Shrader

[@miked8278]

Your explanations are great, but I think you are oversimplifying DCS due to your limitation of Siemens. If you look at Honeywell Experion, Emerson Ovation, the DCS systems are very scalable, and are often customized. Your description sounds like packaged skids that are usually limited to subsystems like compressors and dryers. DCS' controllers tend to be proprietary for the simple reason of how so many controllers can integrate together. Applications tend to become less like a collection of PLC's, and more like a unified system where the location the pieces of a program execute is nearly transparent to the Engineer and the operator. PLC''s and SCADA systems tend to integrate by tables, EDS definitions, and parallel databases that must be kept synchronized either manually, or by batch update functions. DCS's allow changing of the shared data and links without having to re-compile, or shutdown a process. They allow dynamic connections and re-sizing of peer-to-peer and HMI without having to shut down a controller. Some DCS's like Honeywell Experion have the advantage of being able to in-activate one small chunk of logic and load a new control scheme to update it without having to reload/ reboot a whole controller, and it is transparent to the engineer building the logic, or technician trying to troubleshoot a problem. A DCS system also tends to have a master system database. Enterprise level data for historians (PI, PHD, Kepware), can be obtained from one source regardless of the location of the actual device that contains the data. The DCS also has much more capability in their "SCADA/HMI" component for supervisory control, and peer-to-peer control eliminating dependence on the server. HMI stations also collect alarming and data independent of their SCADA or HMI servers so that network or server issues will not interrupt the connection between the operator, supervisory control, and the field device. Too often, especially with older SCADA systems and some Allen Bradley networks, and Devicenet, minor changes can force either the shutdown of the communication network, or rebooting of the controller or SCADA server just to add communications to a new device. DCS systems are much more flexible about integrating new devices.... but the price they pay is proprietary communication architecture, and an architecture that tightly integrates the controller configuration with the enterprise system. There are also two kinds of SCADA systems that people don't realize. The original SCADA systems were mainly for very remote simple control such as water distribution, or power distribution over very slow networks (i.e.1200 baud ... not kbaud or MB over leased telephone lines) to substations miles away. They grew to handle more sophisticated water and power transmission and Distribution , and eventually power plant dispatch. The other kind of SCADA system is what has been created in the process control world by steeling the architecture of SCADA systems. Your definition applies and is why the process control industry adopted the architecture of SCADA systems since they handle real-time data with multiple HMI screens, alarming, security, and historical data capture. Even DCS systems like Ovation and Experion now use SCADA architecture as their "front end" processor for communication, and HMI servers. They just then tightly integrate it into their proprietary control system network. PLC/HMI systems tend to be a small local pair. A Panelview to a PLC. Maybe two or three PLC's, but managing the parallel databases for them to communicate (produce and consume) becomes more tedious. Rockwell with their Factory Talk, and Schneider (Modbus) have tried to address this by making a tag-based architecture, but it is still rooted deep in the process, and requres a PLC reboot to change the tables significantly. SCADA systems as you described correctly have the ability to talk to almost any open standard device and concentrate the data into one server database to serve up to HMI stations, Supervisory controls, Data collection and aggregation and common alarm systems. They take scattered controllers and bring them together for simplifying the life of the operator, HMI support, Data analysists etc... They however still have to have a specific method to synchronize their communication databases with the PLC's or RTU's that they talk to that must be managed as a separate task. DCS's don't need to worry about keeping databases synchronized. As you build it in the PLC, it is built in the SCADA system dynamically without requiring to reboot or reload anything. I hope this is helpful to others. Mike Dougherty Industrial Design Control Solutions, Inc.

[@4.0Solutions]

We tend to Oversimplify for our audience! Thank you for sharing Mike!