Page 79 - Oil and Gas Production Handbook An Introduction to Oil and Gas Production

6.1.5 Telemetry/SCADA

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) is normally associated
with telemetry and wide area communications, for data gathering and control
over large production sites, pipelines, or corporate data from multiple
facilities. With telemetry, the bandwidth is often quite low and based on
telephone or local radio systems. SCADA systems are often optimized for
efficient use of the available bandwidth. Wide area communication operates
with wideband services, such as optical fibers and broadband internet.

Remote Terminal Units (RTU) or local controls systems on wells, wellhead
platforms, compressor and pump stations, and are connected to the SCADA
system by means of the available communication media. SCADA systems
have many of the same functions as the control system, and the difference
mainly comes down to data architecture and use of communications.

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