SCADA Integration

This topic covers the integration of OpenPLC with SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems for comprehensive monitoring and control of industrial processes.

SCADA Overview

SCADA systems provide supervisory control and data acquisition capabilities for large-scale industrial sites and factories. A SCADA system typically consists of:
  • Sensors: Measure physical parameters (temperature, pressure, flow)
  • RTUs (Remote Terminal Units): Collect sensor data and control actuators
  • PLCs: Execute control logic based on sensor inputs
  • SCADA Unit: Central data aggregation and monitoring

OpenPLC includes a built-in web-based HMI (accessed via the Monitor menu), which displays data for the local OpenPLC instance and its connected slave devices. For comprehensive monitoring across multiple PLCs and devices, integration with a SCADA system is required.

FUXA Integration

FUXA is a modern, web-based SCADA/HMI software that is well-suited for integration with OpenPLC on VisionFive 2/VisionFive 2 Lite due to its lightweight design and flexible deployment options.

To install FUXA:
  1. Prerequisite: Install nodejs and npm.
    • To install nodejs:
      sudo apt-get install nodejs -y
    • To install npm:
      sudo apt-get install npm -y
      Note: Network issue may occur in mainland China. Therefore, users in mainland China are recommended to install cnpm by executing
      npm install cnpm -g --registry=https://registry.npmmirror.com
  2. Execute the following commands to install FUXA:
    git clone https://github.com/frangoteam/FUXA.git
cd FUXA/server/
npm install or cnpm install
Run FUXA: npm start or cnpm start

FUXA Operations

The following table describes the FUXA operations:
Table 1. FUXA Operations
Operation Details
Access the FUXA Web Interface Log in to the web server through port 1881 of the device, for example, 192.168.125.38:1881.
Add Modbus Component
  1. Navigate to Editor in the FUXA interface
  2. Select Edit Project > Plugins to see if the Modbus component is installed. If not, add the component.
Connect to Modbus Devices
  1. Click Edit Project > Connections.
  2. In the lower right corner, click Add.
  3. Set device name, device type (ModbusTCP is selected here), refresh time, sub-device IP and port (502 by default), and sub-device ID (do not repeat).
  4. Select Enable to enable the connection.
  5. Click OK to save.
Add tag for each OpenPLC I/O point Add a tag for each OpenPLC I/O point to establish connection:
  1. In the Device settings screen, locate the target device, and click the Edit device tags icon.

  2. Select add tags and fill in Tagname (optional, but preferably corresponding to OpenPLC interface -> Monitoring -> Point Name), Register (point data type), Address offset (starting from 1 in FUXA, i.e. 0.0 in PLC)
  3. Add other I/O pints in the same way.

ScadaBR Integration

ScadaBR is a mature, Java-based SCADA platform with extensive industrial protocol support. However, it has more demanding installation requirements.

To install ScadaBR:

  1. Prerequisite: Install OpenJDK and TomCat9.

  2. Download the ScadaBR .war file and put it into the TomCat webapps/ directory. Double-click on the TomCat bin/starup.bat, and then visit localhost:8080/ScadaBR to enter the ScadaBR interface.

  3. Enter the default user name and password (admin and admin) when prompted.

ScadaBR Operations

Add a data source for each OpenPLC I/O to establish connection.
  1. Click the following icon for Data source in the upper left corner of the main interface:
    Figure 1. Data source
  2. Select Modbus IP as the data source type and click Add.
  3. In the Modbus IP Properties screen, set the name, select the appropriate update time, fill in the host IP, and save the data source. Then select the value type to be read in the registration range of Modbus read data and click Read Data to read the current value of the corresponding type quantity of the corresponding host through Modbus.
    Figure 2. Modebus IP Settings
  4. Click Add point in the Point locator test screen, enter the Name of the data Point (preferably the same as PLC > monitoring > Point Name) and Offset (starting at 0, corresponding to 0.0 in PLC), and save.
    Figure 3. Point Settings
  5. Click the first icon in the upper left corner to view the value of each data point of the device in real-time.
    Figure 4. Data Point Values