How customer need focused the development of a new remote terminal unit line

Major enhancements to the traditional supervisory control and data-acquisition (SCADA) functions of remote terminal units (RTUs) are described. They consist of: (1) simultaneous communication with up to four master stations with different protocols; (2) a partitioned database allowing each master station to retrieve data and control outputs independent of other master-station uses of the RTU; (3) RTUs with the ability to reserve resources to perform special calculation programs while executing standard SCADA functions; and (4) a distributed model of operation allowing multiple RTUs to appear as one unit to the master station. A major application of these enhancements is an energy management system (EMS) project that requires RTUs to report, via several communications means, EMS data to a central mainframe computer while performing regional SCADA using another protocol.<>