From: Tom Willis <tom.willis@...>
Date: 2005-03-10T10:51:11+09:00
Subject: Re: scada: killer app for ruby

On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 09:59:42 +0900, Luke Graham <spoooq@gmail.com> wrote:
> I look forward to being proved wrong.
> 
> On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 09:42:53 +0900, jm <jeffm@ghostgun.com> wrote:
> >
> > On 10/03/2005, at 10:41 AM, Luke Graham wrote:
> >
> > > I think gnu scada systems are unlikely for a few reasons.
> > > Customers want support more than anything, costs for
> > > a broken scada can be calculated in wheelbarrows of
> > > cash per minute. Scada is boring. Scada is hard.
> > > The cost of integration can be more than the cost of
> > > the software anyway. Finally, anyone who knows
> > > anything about it is probably already doing it for a living.
> > > Would you run your control systems on some kids
> > > part-time experiment?
> > >
> > > One last thing.. ruby is fine for the windows end, all the
> > > protocols can be implemented.. but its just not going
> > > to work on the embedded end.
> >
> > There is already some work in this area (non-ruby through).
> >
> > http://pvbrowser.org/pvbrowser/index.php
> >
> >  From the web page (introduction section),
> >
> > SCADA
> >
> > SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) is a category of
> > software application program for process control, the gathering of data
> > in real time from remote locations in order to control equipment and
> > conditions. SCADA is used in power plants as well as in oil and gas
> > refining, telecommunications, transportation, and water and waste
> > control.
> >
> >   SCADA systems include hardware and software components. The hardware
> > gathers and feeds data into a computer that has SCADA software
> > installed. The computer then processes this data and presents it in a
> > timely manner ( HMI ). SCADA also records and logs all events into a
> > file stored on a hard disk or sends them to a printer. SCADA warns when
> > conditions become hazardous by sounding alarms.
> >
> > ProcessViewBrowser
> >
> > The concept is similar to an internet browser. But it is intended for
> > the use in industrial process visualization. It is based on Qt
> > http://www.trolltech.com which is a platform independent GUI toolkit.
> > ProcessViewBrowser is platform independent, because only posix calls
> > and Qt are used. ProcessViewBrowser runs on Linux/Unix, OpenVMS and
> > Windows. The browser can display nearly all standard Qt widgets
> > (labels, buttons, editfields, comboboxes, ...) and other widgets for
> > bmp images, diagram widgets for displaying xy-graphs, OpenGL and VTK.
> > The widgets can be arranged on your masks. You can specify the position
> > and size of the widgets.You can place one widget on top of another
> > widget. I have seen many process visualization systems, which define
> > their masks in the clients (I think this is not the right way to go).
> > Instead of this, the masks in ProcessViewBrowser are defined in the
> > appropriate process computer itself. The user can jump from one process
> > computer to the other and see all masks. When masks are updated nothing
> > has to be done in the clients.
> >
> >
> > J.
> >
> >
> 
> --
> spooq
> 
> 

I had to integrate a shipping system written in vb6 with something
like a SCADA system once. It was not fun. Most of the time was spent
in integration it was impossible to test before hand, and due to the
geniuses in sales, the schedule and deadline(week before xmas rush)
left very little room for fixing errors.

If I was asked to do it again under the same circumstances, I'd rather
jump off a cliff.
-- 
Thomas G. Willis
http://paperbackmusic.net