Remote Terminal Unit (RTU)
Industrial/ICS 🏭
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Difficulty: premium
Definition
An RTU is a ruggedized field device that interfaces with sensors and actuators at remote sites, executes basic control/telemetry logic, and communicates measurements and commands with a central SCADA master over long-distance links.
Examples
- A pipeline block valve site uses an RTU to read pressure, report alarms, and remotely open/close the valve over a cellular link.
- A power substation RTU gathers breaker status and analog measurements and relays supervisory commands from the control center.
Discover 🔎
RTUs connect dispersed, hard-to-reach assets to the control center. They are optimized for reliability, wide temperature ranges, noisy power, and intermittent communications. In many systems, RTUs act as outstations: they buffer events, apply simple logic, and exchange data with a SCADA master using telemetry protocols designed for constrained links.
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