This book on Industrial Automation Technology begins with a discussion
on the overview of automation history in Chapter 1, followed by discussions on
Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), Distributed Control System (DCS), and
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) in Chapters 2, 3, and 4, respectively. A comparison between the above three established technologies and advancements in SCADA in the light of IIoT deployment has also been discussed. Chapter 5 delves into the advantages of fieldbus technology in the industrial sector, while
Chapter 6 describes the status of wireless sensor network technology. IIoT, which is
of very recent origin, is discussed in Chapter 7; it relies heavily on convergence of
operation technology (OT) and information technology (IT). This convergence has
changed the automation architecture altogether. Recently introduced Open Platform
Communications (OPC) technology is discussed in Chapter 8 along with its advanced
version OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) that has already transformed the way
communication takes place across multi-vendor software applications making it an
effectively vendor-neutral platform.