Interpreting Data on a Station Page

I/O Device Data

Each station page provides information about the polling driver or Data Flow RTU driver tag it represents, and about its related I/O tags. When you initially configure a new polling driver tag or Data Flow RTU driver tag, but have not yet configured or associated any I/O tags with it, the automatically generated station page appears like the one displayed below.

As you can see from this example, the top portion of the station page displays and provides access to information about the corresponding RTU or PLC, including:

•    Data Age The amount of time that has elapsed since the last time the RTU was polled (e.g. in the example above, it has been 12 seconds since the last poll).

•    Station Number The RTU address or number associated with this station (e.g. in the example above, the station number for this RTU is "126").

•    Total Number of Stations The total number of stations configured in this VTScada application (e.g. in the example above, the total number of stations in this system is "299").

•    Poll Mode Indicator The poll mode indicator appearing beneath the station number indicates whether this RTU is in fast poll mode (blue), or normal poll mode (green). Normal poll mode polls all stations in the order of their station numbers and continues this cycle (e.g. station 200, 201, 202, 203…). Fast poll mode polls for data as fast as the data can flow. Typically the station currently in fast poll mode will be polled, followed by the station next in the queue for normal polling, followed by the station currently in fast poll mode, and so forth (e.g. if station 200 is in fast poll mode, the polling pattern will be: station 200, 201, 200, 202, 200, 203…).

•    Show Stats The Show Stats button can be clicked to open the Driver Statistics dialog, which displays the details of any errors encountered by the RTU.

•    Normal/Fast The Normal/Fast poll button (labeled "Normal" in the image above) toggles the RTU between normal and fast poll modes. Please note that this button is labeled with the action that will occur when it is next clicked. When the button is labeled "Normal", the RTU is in fast poll mode (as indicated by the Poll Mode Indicator's color). When the button is labeled "Fast", the RTU is in normal poll mode (again, as indicated by the Poll Mode Indicator's color).

•    Modules The Modules button can be clicked to open the Installed Modules dialog which displays the modules that have been installed at this RTU (e.g. AMM, DMM, DCM, etc.)

•    Comm The Comm button can be clicked to open the Driver Comm Messages dialog that displays the communications transmitted and received by this RTU.

•    Alarm List The Alarm List on a station page has two views – unacknowledged alarms, or current alarms (a mixture of alarms that are either active, unacknowledged, or both). The list that is currently being viewed is displayed on the label above the alarm list. The Unack./Current toggle button (described below) enables you to toggle the list between these two views.

•    Silence The Silence button silences the alarm sound which has been triggered for the most recently triggered alarm.

•    Ack Shown The Ack Shown button acknowledges all unacknowledged alarms related to this station/RTU.

•    Unack./Current The Unack./Current button (labeled "Unack." in the image above) toggles the alarm list between the unacknowledged list, and the current list ( a combination of alarms that are either active, unacknowledged, or both).

I/O Data

Once you begin to configure input and output tags and associate them with your polling driver or Data Flow RTU tag, VTScada will include them on the related station page.

The image below displays an example of a station page including I/O values.

As you can see from the above example, four columns along the bottom of the station page contain I/O data being read from an RTU.

•    The first column on the left displays data for all analog status tags associated with this RTU driver tag at the top of the column, and data for all pulse input tags associated with this RTU tag at the bottom of the column.

•    The second column from the left displays data for all digital status tags associated with this RTU driver tag at the top of the column, and data for all pump status tags associated with this RTU tag at the bottom of the column.

•    The final two columns on the right represent the digital control tags associated with this RTU driver tag and enable you to control the digital processes associated with the selected station. These digital control drawing methods are drawn in corresponding pairs (e.g. an OFF button and an ON button).

The order in which the columns are arranged (as indicated above) is automatically configured by VTScada, and cannot be manually modified, however, you may modify the order in which the tags appear within the designated section of the designated column. For example, you may modify the order of the analog status tags in their designated portion of the station page, but you may not modify the order of the columns on the station page.