IDOLO: multimedia data deployment on SCADA systems

IDOLO project was born with the objective of adding audiovisual information to the usually text-based human-machine interfaces (HMI) used on supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. This is not a simple task, as SCADA systems have traditionally been based on proprietary, low transmission speed networks, due to the special requirements that such systems impose in terms of network reliability and timing requirements. Within this paper we describe our efforts on the design, implementation and deployment of a networked computer system that adds multimedia information to the usually text-based SCADA/HMI systems. IDOLO system is based on well-known hardware and software solutions, such as Ethernet networks or MPEG codecs, resulting in a flexible and expandable system that has successfully been deployed on a real electrical facility.