Configure Geo SCADA Expert to Communicate with, and Monitor the Status of, Downstream Slave Devices

You can configure Geo SCADA Expert to communicate with SCADAPack x70 devices that themselves provide access to other slave devices that are further downstream in your operational network. If Geo SCADA Expert is to communicate with those downstream devices via the SCADAPack x70 devices, in addition to the usual SCADAPack x70 configuration, you need to:

• Configure a protocol-specific SCADAPack x70 Slave Device per downstream slave device
  (with some communications protocols, you might also need to configure a protocol-specific SCADAPack x70 Point Scanner)
• Configure the relevant settings on the Mapping tab of each SCADAPack x70 Analog, Digital, or Counter Configuration item that represents an input or output on each downstream device (see Configure the Properties on the Mapping Tab).

We recommend that you use status points to monitor the status of the downstream slave devices. The status points comprise internal points that are built into the SCADAPack x70 devices. To make use of these status points, in the database you have to:

1. Create and configure a SCADAPack x70 Configuration item of the relevant type (analog, or digital) for each status point that you want to use. (Some devices represent communications status as analog, while others represent it as digital.)
2. Create and configure a protocol-specific SCADAPack x70 Point of the relevant type (analog, digital or binary) to associate with the above Configuration items, in order to monitor the status data in Geo SCADA Expert.
3. Associate each point with the relevant status item that you want to monitor.

   For example, to monitor the communications status of an I/O module, use the Digital Status Object field on the SCADAPack x70 I/O Module's configuration Form to associate that I/O Module with the relevant protocol-specific status point (see Configure the Common Properties of I/O Modules).

   Likewise, to monitor the communications status of a downstream slave device, use the Communication Status field on the protocol-specific SCADAPack x70 Slave Device to associate that slave device with the relevant protocol-specific status point. (Depending on the protocol used, see Configure Modbus Slave Device Status and Control Object Associations, or for DNP3 see Configure Object Associations for a Slave Device.)

The protocol that you use for the status points and downstream slave devices must correspond to the communications protocol that the SCADAPack x70 devices use to communicate with the downstream slave devices. That protocol might well differ to the communications protocol that Geo SCADA Expert uses to communicate with the SCADAPack x70 devices themselves.