Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Where does ScadaMobile best fits?

ScadaMobile is a very cost-effective Scada iPhone app which helps to improve the way process engineers, system operators and maintenance people deal with remote facilities.

It is specially advantageous and very well adapted for the following cases:

- Autonomous systems or facilities running without on-site human supervision for most of the day, if at all.

- Systems or facilities which operators and maintenance team are mostly away due to shared tasks or because they are in charge of several installations, possibly away from each other.

- Systems which require a fast, reliable and lightweight off-the-shelf wireless terminal to interact with either locally or remotely

- iPhone owners that must deal with remote facilities and do not want to carry on with the overhead of classic web based remote solutions.

Can ScadaMobile be run as an add-on to existing systems?

Sure, although ScadaMobile by itself has enough capabilities to be deployed as a standalone remote monitoring solution it can also be run alongside existing systems so the user can chose what is more convenient to use at any time.

Who can use ScadaMobile?

Typical industrial users include plant engineers, plant operators, and maintenance teams needing wireless access to real time PLC data. Also, PLC software developers and Scada integrators can use it as a helper tool during plant commissioning and initial start up stages. In particular, anyone using PLCs for whatever process to which mobile remote access is needed will find it advantageous.

Can ScadaMobile be offered by OEMs?

Yes, and it has specific features designed for this. For example OEMs can use the administrator account with a private password to upload configuration files (Source Files) as well as a company logo into ScadaMobile in order to customize the app for working with their systems only. End users do not need to know or to have access to most details, therefore OEMs can chose to offer a pre-configured version of the app, which is already prepared to run with their systems. By keeping the administrator password private, the OEMs technical staff is the only authorized party for defining what users are allowed to do.

Can I monitor several PLCs on a single interface?

Yes, ScadaMobile lets you import independent configuration files (Source Files) for each PLC you want to connect to, and it provides ways to arrange data from all PLCs in any desired way within the Pages/Sections layout that the app features. ScadaMobile automatically establishes connections to relevant PLCs depending on actual tags arrangement and current display.

Is it secure to use ScadaMobile?

Absolutely. ScadaMobile is based on Internet standards and supports proven security protocols including VPN (Virtual Private Networks) and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption. It also makes extensive use of passwords to prevent access to unauthorised persons or to filter access to unsuitable data for particular users.

Is it safe to use ScadaMobile?

That's an excellent question. Deploying and using any remote monitoring solution requires that you or your users understand exactly what can be accomplished. Simply changing a set point, or turning an equipment on or off can have hazardous consequences. Much worse if you are not present. But remote supervising applications will also bring more safety to processes or systems if you are able to take action at any time in the event of an incident. So this should be carefully balanced.

As any other remote monitoring product, ScadaMobile does not escape from these issues. The best advice is to keep remote monitoring as simple as possible and use it with judgement, always keeping any crucial real-time control task in the safe hands of on-site logic controllers.

Why would ScadaMobile implement user accounts if the iPhone or iPod Touch is a single user device?

There are several reasons for doing so. First, even if mobile devices are intended for personal use, it is relatively easy for anyone to gather physical access to someone's else iPhone. This may have no major consequences for most applications but can be potentially dangerous in case of ScadaMobile as seen in previous question. Setting up private user accounts can help to prevent this risk.

Furthermore, user accounts allow for establishing access policies for process variables by specifying reading or writing levels so that users can have limited or customised access to remote systems. Even a single iPhone owner may chose to create several accounts from basic access to full access to prevent herself from accidental changes on the remote process.

User accounts also make possible for OEMs to prepare and offer a pre-configured version of the app featuring full integration with their systems.

Do you have any plans to support other PLC besides OMRON?

We are already supporting Modbus/TCP and Allen Bradley Ethernet/IP on Logix controllers. The app is internally designed to make really easy to add any industrial protocol to it. So the main barrier that we come across before we are able to implement a protocol is usually to find a reliable source for detailed information about the protocol. Most protocols are simply hidden or not freely documented. However, if you want us to support other protocols please do not hesitate to ask for what you need. We would like to hear from you.

ScadaMobile is fine for presenting a list of tags, but will it ever support custom layouts or customised arrangement of display elements?

We conceived the app as a configurable app for presenting a list of plc tags in the most efficient way. It can deal with hundreds or even thousands of tags. Eventually, filters, groups, and hierarchy will be implemented to give further usability if needed and the ability to display small icons may be added too.

We agree that a full graphic representation would be helpful for some users or uses, Home Automation comes to mind, but we have to balance developing effort and unfortunately this is not currently in our top priority list. We believe the app is still very useful with its current paradigm, it does its job pretty well, and it is very cheap compared to anything else doing similar things. However, again, tell us if you think otherwise and we will reconsider it.

On the iPad with its bigger screen we will be offering a version supporting at least some basic custom arrangement of tags and controls.

What languages do you support?

The app comes in English and Spanish and we are able to give technical support in any of both languages. We are not native speakers of any of them though, so we want to apologise if we sometimes do not sound natural enough. If by chance you belong to the 0.1% world population who is able to speak Catalan you will be warmly welcome since this is the language we mostly speak in the company!.

Otherwise, use English or Spanish, our language skills are shown in this site. Correction proposals are welcome. For the app, we may add additional language support depending on demand: Dutch and German translations would be easy for us to add given enough demand but we would not give technical support in these languages in the short term.

What are the differences between the Lite and Full versions?

The only difference is the number of tags that can be monitored. ScadaMobile Lite is limited to a maximum of 4 tags. Beyond that it will display an information icon indicating this restriction in place of tag values. Other that this all features are identical to the Full version with the same version number. Lite version is available on the App Store for only 2.39 € (or $2.99) and it is mainly intended for evaluation purposes. The full featured app is 59.99 € (or $74.99).