How to Set Up a Free SCADA System in 5 Minutes (No Installation Required)

The Problem

Setting up a SCADA system for a small water treatment plant or solar farm usually means:

1. Spending $10K-$50K on software licenses


2. Dedicating a Windows server


3. Hiring a specialist for weeks of configuration


4. Ongoing maintenance fees

What if you could just open a file in your browser?

Step 1: Download awtSCADA

# Download the demo (20 MB)

wget https://github.com/larionovavi-stack/awtscada/releases/download/v1.0-en/awtSCADA_Demo_EN.zip



# Extract

unzip awtSCADA_Demo_EN.zip

You now have:

• 
  SCADA_IEC61850_v8.html - the SCADA application


• 
  SCADA_Gateway - binaries for Win/Mac/Linux


• 
  Demo_Project.json - sample project

Step 2: Start the Gateway

The gateway connects your browser to real industrial equipment.

# On macOS/Linux

chmod +x SCADA_Gateway_macOS

./SCADA_Gateway_macOS



# On Windows

SCADA_Gateway.exe

Gateway starts on port 8080 with a web dashboard showing all protocol connections.

Step 3: Open the SCADA

Just open SCADA_IEC61850_v8.html in Chrome, Firefox, or Edge. That's it.

The demo project loads automatically with a built-in equipment emulator so you can see everything working without real hardware.

Step 4: Connect Real Equipment

Modbus TCP (Most PLCs and sensors)

In the Gateway config, add your device:

modbus:

  - name: "Power Meter"

    host: 192.168.1.100

    port: 502

    unit_id: 1

OPC UA (Siemens S7-1500, Beckhoff, etc.)

opcua:

  - name: "S7-1500"

    url: "opc.tcp://192.168.1.50:4840"

MQTT (IoT sensors)

mqtt:

  broker: "192.168.1.1"

  port: 1883

  topics:

    - "sensors/#"

Step 5: Build Your HMI

The built-in editor has 65 drag-and-drop elements:

• Pumps, valves, motors with animation


• Tanks with level indication


• Gauges, indicators, trend charts


• Pipes with flow direction

Plus 53 function blocks for logic:

• PID controllers


• Timers and counters


• Math and comparison


• Interlocks and alarms

Real-World Use Cases

Small Water Treatment Plant (~200 tags):

• 3 pumps, 2 chemical dosing, 5 level sensors


• Modbus TCP connection


• Alarm management + operator log


• Total setup time: 2 hours

Solar Farm Monitoring (~500 tags):

• 10 inverters via Modbus


• Weather station via MQTT


• Energy production trends


• Total setup time: 4 hours

Digital Substation (~1000 tags):

• Protection relays via IEC 61850


• Circuit breaker control via GOOSE


• Measurement via Sampled Values


• Total setup time: 1 day

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