Distributed Control System

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A distributed control system (DCS) is part of a manufacturing system.

Distributed control systems (DCS) are used in industrial and civil engineering applications to monitor and control distributed equipment with remote human intervention.

It is generally, since the 1970s, digital, and normally consists of field instruments, connected via wiring to computer buses or electrical buses to multiplexer/demultiplexers and A/D's or analog to digital and finally the Human-Machine Interface (HMI) or control consoles. A DCS is a process control system that uses a network to interconnect sensors, controllers, operator terminals and actuators. A DCS typically contains one or more computers for control and mostly use both proprietary interconnections and protocols for communications. See PAS.

DCS is a very broad term that describes solutions across a large variety of industries, including:

Electrical power grids and electrical generation plants
Environmental control systems
Traffic signals
Water management systems
Refining and chemical plants
Pharmaceutical manufacturing

The broad architecture of a solution involves either a direct connection to physical equipment such as switches, pumps and valves or connection via a secondary system such as a SCADA system.

A DCS solution does not require operator intervention for its normal operation, but with the line between SCADA and DCS merging systems claiming to offer DCS may actually permit operator interaction via a SCADA system.

Distributed Control System

See also