Industrial control system
general term that encompasses several types of control systems and associated instrumentation used for industrial process control
An industrial control system (ICS) is an electronic control system and associated instrumentation used for industrial process control. Control systems can range in size from a few modular panel-mounted controllers to large interconnected and interactive distributed control systems (DCSs) with many thousands of field connections. Control systems receive data from remote sensors measuring process variables (PVs), compare the collected data with desired setpoints (SPs), and derive command functions that are used to control a process through the final control elements (FCEs), such as control valves.
Larger systems are usually implemented by supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, or DCSs, and programmable logic controllers (PLCs), though SCADA and PLC systems are scalable down to small systems with few control loops. Such systems are extensively used in industries such as chemical processing, pulp and paper manufacture, power generation, oil and gas processing, and telecommunications.
History
Process control of large industrial plants has evolved through many stages. Initially, control was from panels local to the process plant. However, this required personnel to attend to these dispersed panels, and there was no overall view of the process. The next logical development was the transmission of all plant measurements to a permanently staffed central control room. Often, the controllers were behind the control room panels, and all automatic and manual control outputs were individually transmitted back to the plant in the form of pneumatic or electrical signals.
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