Future requirements for remote telemetry units
S. Mustard, S. Harrison · Computing & Control Engineering Journal · 2004
Remote Telemetry Units (RTUs) were initially designed to monitor critical signals and raise alarms over very low bandwidth (typically 300 baud) links to a central location. The signals for monitoring were hardwired to the RTU inputs and the entire unit was highly proprietary in its design. As communications bandwidth increased the demands on RTUs increased. At the same time, standard packages became available to process this data and along with it some standardisation of features. The arrival of the Internet had a significant impact on all aspects of business and this included telemetry. The explosion of the Internet, mobile communications and IP has seen the wide range of off-the-shelf equipment appear and vendors such as Cisco become almost household names overnight. The broad consumer acceptance of mobile handsets and networking equipment has forced vendors to standardise and provide easy to understand configuration capabilities.