SCADA
SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) is the system that monitors and controls industrial processes in real time, gathering data from sensors and PLCs and presenting it to operators. It is the operational backbone many analytics and AI tools build on.
SCADA systems collect data from field devices (sensors, PLCs, RTUs), display it via HMIs, and let operators supervise and control processes such as power distribution, water treatment or manufacturing lines. Modern analytics, historians and AI platforms typically sit on top of SCADA/historian data rather than replacing it.
Related terms
Industrial IoT (IIoT) · MES (Manufacturing Execution System) · Process Historian