Reliance is SCADA software designed for the visualization and control of industrial processes and for building automation. The Reliance system enables its users to visualize any industrial process and to monitor and control this process on a control PC. The visualization can also be displayed on tablets, smartphones, or Web pages.
The first version of Reliance was released in 1997. It was intended for Windows NT 4.0 and replaced its predecessor, the EP_DRAW SCADA system, which was used under MS-DOS between 1989 and 1996. The next versions followed in this order: 1999 – Reliance 2, 2002 – Reliance 3, 2007 – Reliance 4.
Reliance for education and research
The software is used worldwide by students at colleges and universities where it serves as an educational tool for their laboratory works and dissertations.[1] It is also used by scientific organizations for research.[2]
Scheme – supported platforms for displaying the visualization
Supported platforms
Reliance's main modules are intended for the Microsoft Windows operating systems. Using Reliance Smart Client, the visualization can also be displayed on tablets and smartphones with iOS (Apple), Android (Google), Windows Phone (Microsoft), BlackBerry. Reliance Web Client is a Java-based module designed to run a visualization application on various operating systems (Windows, Linux, Unix, etc.).
Software modules
The Reliance system consists of software modules. Thanks to this, complex and scalable visualization applications can be developed.
Reliance's development environment
Reliance Design
The Reliance Design development environment is intended for creating and editing visualization projects (applications). It is available in two versions, Desktop and Enterprise. The Desktop version allows for creating local applications for 1 computer. The Enterprise version is designed for creating network applications that can also be run in a Web browser, on a smartphone, or on a tablet.
Reliance Control
Reliance Control is a typical control module. In addition to the features common to all runtime software types, it allows displaying visualization windows with real-time data, displaying and acknowledging current alarms, displaying and printing historical alarms, displaying and printing historical data as trends and output reports. Visualization project diagnostics allows for detecting the cause of errors, e.g., in communication.
Reliance View
Reliance View is a 'view-only' module, so it does not allow controlling the visualized industrial process. It is intended for computers used to only monitor the process, i.e., no intervention of the operator is necessary, or it can be installed at workplaces of managers who need to have an overview of the production process, but who are not allowed to control it.
Reliance Server
For large-scale applications of type client-server, a server should be used. Reliance Server is a server module that runs as a Windows service. It provides data acquisition, archiving, alarm processing and provides connected clients with data and alarms. As Reliance Server is a Windows service, it cannot display visualization windows.
Example of the visualization of the tannery technology
Reliance Control Server
In addition to the features common to all runtime software types, Reliance Control Server includes all the features of Reliance Control and Reliance Server. Reliance Control Server does not run as a Windows service and so it can display visualization windows. It is intended for computers with enough performance to simultaneously handle operators' requests and requests from client instances of the runtime software and thin clients (Reliance Web Client, Reliance Smart Client, Reliance Mobile Client).
Reliance Web Client
Reliance Web Client is a program designed to run a visualization project over the Internet at remote user sites. It is based on the Java platform (JRE 6.0/Swing) and therefore independent of operating system and Web browser.
Reliance Smart Client
Reliance Smart Client is designed for use with smartphones and tablets. It is based on HTML5 and therefore independent of operating system. As a result, visualization applications can be run on tablets and smartphones with iOS (Apple), Android (Google), Windows Phone (Microsoft), BlackBerry, and others.
Reliance Smart Client – visualization of a single-family home on a tablet and smartphone
Reliance OPC Server and Reliance OPC UA Server
One of the important features of SCADA systems is that they can exchange data with other information systems used by the customer. The OPC (OLE for Process Control) technology is a worldwide standard for data sharing. Reliance OPC Server allows access to a visualization project's tags via the standard OPC interface. Thanks to this, it is possible to transfer data from a running project to information systems used by the customer, e.g., a customer information system or another SCADA system that is an OPC client and requires data exchange. Reliance OPC Server can be easily used even if it is necessary to interconnect two different Reliance projects or projects running in different Reliance versions. An improved version of this server – Reliance OPC UA Server – is also part of Reliance SCADA.
Data acquisition and archiving
Data from PLC control systems is acquired via communication drivers (native drivers, OPC and DDE servers). Each Reliance module is an OPC client. Historical data is logged to either SQL-based or file-based databases.
