1 Components of an Industrial Control System

1.1. Introduction

1.1.1. Definition: automated and cyber-physical systems

The systems we are interested in are automated systems in the broad sense: they consist of a computerized control system, sensors to access physical quantities and actuators to act on the controlled system.

Such systems are found in industrial production facilities, where control is carried out by a programmable logic controller (PLC) or by a set of connected objects. There are also such systems for the automation of buildings, water and electricity distribution networks, transport systems, etc. They have a computer part constituting an information system (IS) and a physical part. We are talking about a cyber-physical system (CPS).

1.1.2. Definition: Information System (IS)

An Information System (IS) is an organized set of resources (hardware, software, personnel, data, procedures, etc.) for acquiring, processing and storing information (in the form of data, text, images, sounds, etc.) within and between organizations.

Many ISs only process information, others affect the physical world. It is the latter that we are interested in this book.