SCADA Interface

A SCADA Interface is a software and hardware integration layer that enables bi-directional communication between the AGL system (ALCMS) and the airport's enterprise SCADA system. It translates AGL-specific data models, alarm events, and control commands into standard SCADA protocols (OPC UA, DNP3, IEC 61850, Modbus TCP) and data formats, allowing the AGL system to be monitored and controlled from the same operator workstations used for other airport infrastructure (HVAC, power distribution, baggage handling, etc.). The interface provides real‑time status updates (circuit health, CCR current, lamp failures), alarm annunciation, historical data logging, and remote control capabilities (brightness step changes, circuit switching, maintenance overrides). By integrating AGL into the airport's SCADA ecosystem, the interface enables comprehensive situational awareness, streamlined operations, centralized alarm management, and facilitates predictive maintenance through data analytics.

The SCADA interface exists to prevent airfield lighting from becoming an isolated system that operators have to monitor separately from every other piece of airport infrastructure. Without it, a controller managing power, HVAC, and baggage systems from one set of screens would need an entirely different, disconnected interface just to see AGL status — a gap that slows response time and increases the risk that a lighting fault goes unnoticed amid other operational demands.

By translating AGL-specific data into the same protocols and workstations used across the airport's other systems, the interface gives operators one unified, comprehensive view of the field's overall health, and lets AGL alarms compete for attention on equal footing with other critical infrastructure alerts rather than existing in a separate silo an operator might not be watching.

The SCADA Interface is deployed wherever the AGL system needs to be integrated into a broader airport control environment, including:

• Airport Operations Centers (AOC): Providing centralized visibility of AGL status alongside other airport systems.
• ATC Towers: Integrating AGL status with tower control systems for enhanced situational awareness.
• Airport SCADA Control Rooms: Enabling unified control of airfield lighting, power distribution, HVAC, and other utilities from a single HMI.
• Remote Substations: Aggregating AGL data from multiple CCRs and field devices for transmission to the central SCADA system.
• Maintenance Management Systems: Providing real‑time equipment health data and alarm history to computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS).
• Predictive Analytics Platforms: Feeding AGL performance data into analytics engines for predictive maintenance and anomaly detection.
• IoT Gateways: Acting as a bridge between legacy AGL protocols and modern IoT/MQTT-based data platforms.

The interface unit or server mounts in the ALCMS control room alongside (or as a software module on) the ALCMS server, with its own network connection to the airport's wider SCADA/building-management backbone kept on separate structured cabling from the AGL-side network so a fault on one side doesn't propagate to the other. Where the interface aggregates data from multiple remote substations before passing it upstream, it's sited close to the ALCMS server room rather than out at a substation, since its role is central aggregation rather than local field control; power is fed from the same UPS-backed supply as the ALCMS server it's paired with.

The SCADA Interface operates as a protocol translation and data aggregation engine, performing several key functions to enable seamless integration:

• Data Aggregation: The interface collects data from multiple AGL subsystems—CCRs, Remote I/O, lighting circuits, sensors, and control panels—and aggregates it into a unified data model.
• Protocol Translation: It converts AGL-specific protocols (often proprietary) into standard SCADA protocols such as OPC UA, DNP3, IEC 61850, Modbus TCP, or BACnet/IP, enabling interoperability with various SCADA platforms.
• Data Modeling: The interface maps AGL data points (e.g., "Circuit R1 Current," "Runway Edge Light Status") to SCADA object models (nodes, tags, points) with appropriate data types, scaling, and engineering units.
• Alarm & Event Management: It translates AGL alarms (overcurrent, open circuit, lamp failure, communication loss) into standardized SCADA alarms with priority, timestamp, and descriptive text, and manages acknowledgment workflows.
• Historical Data Logging: The interface can provide historical data to SCADA historians for trend analysis, reporting, and compliance documentation.
• Command & Control: It receives control commands from the SCADA system (e.g., "Set Runway 09 Brightness to Step 4") and translates them into the appropriate AGL control protocol, executing the command on the target device.
• Security & Authentication: The interface enforces authentication and authorization (role‑based access control) to ensure that only authorized personnel can issue control commands via SCADA.

The interface can be implemented as a standalone software application running on a dedicated server, as a firmware module in a communication gateway, or as an integrated function of the ALCMS server.

The SCADA Interface sits at the boundary between the AGL-specific ALCMS and the airport's broader SCADA or building management system, which typically also covers power distribution, HVAC, fire and security systems well beyond the scope of airfield lighting. It aggregates the relevant AGL data — circuit status, alarms, CCR loading — from the ALCMS server and re-publishes it in the data model the airport-wide SCADA expects (commonly IEC 61850, DNP3, or OPC UA), and it passes supervisory commands or acknowledgements back the other way where the airport's SCADA is permitted to interact with lighting. It does not itself control any lighting circuit; it exists purely so that airfield lighting status is visible in the same control room as every other airport system without requiring the ALCMS and the airport SCADA to speak the same protocol natively.

The interface runs on a rack-mount server (1U/2U) or an industrial PC, built with the same rugged construction principles as other control-room computing equipment: a steel or aluminium chassis, redundant hot-swappable or dual power supplies, and conformally coated boards where the industrial PC variant is deployed outside a conditioned server room. Network interfaces are brought out through panel-mounted RJ-45 or SFP connectors, and where the unit sits in a field cabinet rather than a data centre, it is housed in a sealed enclosure with cable glands for each conductor entry. The hardware is otherwise a standard rack-mount or DIN-rail industrial computing platform, distinguished mainly by the software stack it runs rather than by any AGL-specific mechanical construction, and is typically installed alongside the ALCMS server it bridges to the airport SCADA network.