Post by Psymin Yakapin-Cisneros

Hello friends! For Spring quarter, the team and I are working on developing a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Power Grid Simulator. I am the Frontend Engineer for this project. The goal with this project is to provide an educational tool to the general public. This tool is designed to simulate real-time data for a potential electrical grid. We also want this to be used for training purposes for operators of these kinds of automated industrial systems. The User in this situation is the person who is the operator for this make-believe electrical grid. There will be different options to "simulate" real-life emergencies plus tutorials on how someone can manage these random instances. My work in this project focuses on all the visuals. Some questions for myself in the project's current state: How can I optimize this to work well on desktop as well as a mobile application? How do I develop a secure way to simulate real-life SCADA industrial automation without compromising current industry operations? The Work I Have Completed So Far: - Implemented three frontend components which handle the data from the backend and showcase the findings through multiple monitors on the SCADA power grid. - Developed a wireframe that demonstrates real-time data acquisition for our Power Grid Simulator. - Generated unit tests that cover 100% of all current functions on the frontend. What I Have Learned: One of the common issues with SCADA systems is that data from legacy code is hard to translate into modern day applications. While upgrading industrial systems is necessary, it is impossible to do an update to a SCADA system since the grid should no experience any downtime due to ongoing constant electricity needs. Ongoing Challenges: The beginning of this project had me doing days of research over modern SCADA systems. While we can't feed live data from any local electric grids, this is not necessary. However, we need to be able to demonstrate real-life scenarios on the job of an operator who works on an electrical grid. (From Left to Right: Screenshot of frontend wireframe, screenshot of test cases, and screenshot of function test coverage)