SCADA System Robustness and Accuracy: Looking Beyond the Hardware

Modern, flexible irrigation service inherently results in more demanding operating conditions throughout an irrigation district’ s delivery system compared to more rigid rotational delivery schemes. Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems are commonly used by irrigation districts to provide some of the enhanced management capabilities required for flexible deliveries. In these cases, robustness and accuracy are important SCADA system characteristics. Achieving robustness and accuracy requires extra attention to detail well beyond specifying good quality hardware. This paper presents specific examples deficiencies commonly identified by the authors in the field that can have real impacts on the robustness and accuracy of SCADA systems. Recommendations for improvement are also presented so that readers might avoid these issues in the future.