Central Iowa Section & PES Chapter Meeting – Ignition SCADA in Industries

SCADA platforms have evolved from simple monitoring tools into the backbone of modern industrial operations. Ignition SCADA is one of the most powerful and flexible tools in this space. It enables engineers to connect, visualize, and control plant processes with ease while promoting smarter, data-driven operations.
Tanuja uses Ignition every day in real industrial projects, and she has seen firsthand how it simplifies engineering work and makes automation more approachable. This talk is designed to be completely beginner-friendly and easy to follow for both young engineers and experienced professionals who want to understand how modern SCADA systems work in practice.
The session will start with a simple overview of what SCADA is and how Ignition differs from traditional platforms in terms of openness, modularity, and ease of development. She will then walk through the architecture of Ignition and explain how it connects to Allen-Bradley PLCs, manages tags, and enables real-time control and visualization.
As an example, Tanuja will demonstrate a traffic light control system built in Ignition. This example will show how the interface is designed within Ignition, how components such as buttons, indicators, and timers are configured, and how each element is bound or tagged directly to the PLC logic. Through this simple visual model, attendees will learn how SCADA screens communicate with PLC data and how changes on the interface translate into control actions in real time.
Topics that will be covered include:
● Understanding SCADA and why Ignition is changing how industries approach automation
● Overview of Ignition’s modular architecture and core components
● How to connect Ignition to Allen-Bradley PLCs and configure tags
● Differences between Vision and Perspective, and when to use each
● Designing HMI interfaces and binding them to live PLC data
● Example walkthrough: traffic light control system design and PLC integration
● How SCADA improves plant safety, reliability, and data transparency
Speaker(s): Tanuja Upadhyay,
Agenda:
7:00 PM – Presentation
8:00 PM – Questions & Answers
Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/516801