Distributed control system
From Free net encyclopedia
A distributed control system (DCS) is part of a manufacturing system.
Distributed control systems (DCS) are used in industrial and civil engineering applications to monitor and control distributed equipment with remote human intervention.
It is generally, since the 1970s, digital, and normally consists of field instruments, connected via wiring to computer buses or electrical buses to multiplexer/demultiplexers and A/D's or analog to digital and finally the Human-Machine Interface (HMI) or control consoles. A DCS is a process control system that uses a network to interconnect sensors, controllers, operator terminals and actuators. A DCS typically contains a single computer for control and uses proprietary interconnections. See PAS.
DCS is a very broad term that describes solutions across a large variety of industries, including:
- Electrical power distribution grids and generation plants
- Environmental control systems
- Traffic signals
- Water management systems
- Refining and chemical plants
- Pharmaceutical manufacturing
The broad architecture of a solution involves either a direct connection to physical equipment such as switches, pumps and valves or connection via a secondary system such as a SCADA system.
A DCS solution does not require operator intervention for its normal operation, but with the line between SCADA and DCS merging systems claiming to offer DCS may actually permit operator interaction via a SCADA system.