What is SCADA, HMI and DCS?

SCADA, HMI and DCS are acronyms used in industrial control.

SCADA is short for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition.

Definition: (SCADA) Systems are used in industry to monitor and control plant status and provide logging facilities. SCADA systems are highly configurable, and usually interface to the plant via PLC's (Programmable Logic Controller).


HMI is short for Human Machine Interface. Originally referred to as MMI short for Man Machine Interface.

DCS is short for Distributed Control System.