A 44-chapter, image-first interactive guide to the seventeen-phase SCADA engineering workflow used on real power-generation projects — architecture and the Purdue model, documentation and I/O databases, industrial protocols, OT network cybersecurity, IEC 61131-3 PLC programming, process control and PID tuning, safety integrity levels, ISA-18.2 alarm management, ISA-101 HMI design, and factory/site acceptance testing — grounded throughout in two complete illustrative sample designs, a 650 MW combined-cycle gas turbine plant and a 180 MW run-of-river hydroelectric station.
Forty-four chapters trace the full SCADA engineering workflow in sequence: the Purdue model and system architecture; the project documentation roadmap, functional design specification, P&ID symbology, and the master I/O list; Modbus, HART, OPC-UA, DNP3, EtherNet/IP, and PROFINET protocol deep dives; IT-versus-OT security priorities, the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, IEC 62443 zones and conduits, defense-in-depth, and common ICS attack vectors; all five IEC 61131-3 PLC languages with worked ladder, function block, structured text, and sequential function chart examples; closed-loop control, PID tuning, cascade control, and control-valve selection; SIL determination, ISA-18.2 alarm design, the ISA-101 HMI hierarchy and color standards; and FAT/SAT testing through final documentation turnover.
Use the Prev / Next buttons at the bottom, or press the arrow keys on your keyboard. Click the ☰ menu button in the top-right to open the table of contents and jump to any chapter. Each chapter's technical diagram follows immediately after its text as its own dedicated, full-size slide, so every drawing, table, and worked example stays legible before you move to the next chapter.
Controls and automation engineers who want to see how a complete SCADA design workflow actually comes together across all seventeen engineering phases; instrumentation and process engineers learning ISA-5.1, ISA-18.2, and ISA-101 conventions; cybersecurity engineers applying IEC 62443 and the NIST CSF to an OT environment; and engineering students studying PLC programming languages, PID control theory, and industrial protocols through real, worked technical diagrams rather than abstract description alone.
Forty-four chapters and 88 slides covering the full seventeen-phase SCADA engineering workflow: architecture and the Purdue model, project documentation, I/O databases, industrial protocols (Modbus, HART, OPC-UA, DNP3, EtherNet/IP, PROFINET), OT cybersecurity (IEC 62443, NIST CSF), all five IEC 61131-3 PLC programming languages, process control and PID tuning, SIL determination, ISA-18.2 alarm management, ISA-101 HMI design, and FAT/SAT testing through documentation turnover.
An illustrative 650 MW combined-cycle gas turbine plant with two gas turbine generators, two HRSGs, a steam turbine, and a 345 kV switchyard, and an illustrative 180 MW run-of-river hydroelectric station with four 45 MW Kaplan turbine-generator units and FERC Part 12 dam-safety requirements. Both are walked through the same seventeen-phase workflow to show how facility type and regulatory context change real design decisions.
A PLC excels at fast, localized discrete control; a DCS excels at tightly integrated continuous control within one large process unit; SCADA excels at supervisory monitoring and control across a geographically or organizationally distributed set of assets, typically running on top of PLC-based basic control rather than replacing it.
Modbus RTU/TCP (including a full frame-structure and register-map walkthrough), HART over 4-20 mA, the OPC-UA information model, DNP3, EtherNet/IP and its CIP topology, and PROFINET — compared side by side on media, topology, addressing, typical use case, and security capability, with worked byte-level examples for Modbus.
Through the IEC 62443 zone-and-conduit model with security levels SL-1 through SL-4, the five NIST CSF core functions applied specifically to ICS/OT environments, a concentric-ring defense-in-depth architecture from physical security to SIEM monitoring, and a map of six common ICS attack vectors with their specific mitigations.
Disclaimer: This guide summarizes general SCADA engineering concepts and illustrative sample-design projects for educational purposes only. All facility names, project names, company names, tag numbers, and technical parameters referenced are fictional and simplified for instructional clarity. They are not complete or construction-ready engineering documents. Always consult a licensed professional engineer with relevant domain expertise, and the current version of any applicable standard, for actual system design, procurement, installation, commissioning, or operation.