Advanced drivers:
- Enable ClearSCADA to communicate with outstations and other devices using a permanent direct connection, such as a cable, network, or continuous radio signal, and/or a dial-up modem to enable communication via the telephone network (PSTN) (see Direct and PSTN Communications).
- Enable ClearSCADA to poll (scan) those devices for current data (the present state or value of a point) and/or logged data (time stamped data that is stored in the outstation).
- Tend to support other protocol-specific features, such as file transfer or application program management.
- Can support downloading of configuration from ClearSCADA to the outstation (via the Download Configuration pick action).
- Have the ability to support Extension Drivers.
- Tend to support a channel, set, outstation, and point architecture (see Driver Components).
The way in which each advanced driver scans devices for data differs per driver—for an understanding of each driver’s scanning regime, see the information in the relevant driver guide, and the scanning sections within the ClearSCADA Guide to Advanced Drivers.
Outstations on many advanced drivers have the ability to filter historic data before passing it to the ClearSCADA server, so enabling ClearSCADA to store only those point values that are of interest. (In order for point values to be stored historically in the ClearSCADA database, historic data storage has to be enabled for the relevant point(s) (see Defining Historic Details for a Point in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Point Configuration).)
For general information on configuring the advanced drivers on your system, see the rest of this guide and the ClearSCADA Guide to Advanced Drivers. For driver-specific information, see the relevant driver guide.