DEV Community: Александр Ларионов

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

Александр Ларионов — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:21:17 +0000

The Problem

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

Spending $10K-$50K on software licenses
Dedicating a Windows server
Hiring a specialist for weeks of configuration
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

Free SCADA Alternative for Small Facilities - awtSCADA vs Wonderware vs Ignition

Александр Ларионов — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:20:50 +0000

Why I Built a Free SCADA Alternative

Commercial SCADA systems are insanely expensive:

Wonderware (AVEVA): $25,000+ license
Ignition: $4,000-$50,000/year
WinCC (Siemens): $15,000+ Windows-only

For small water treatment plants, solar farms, or educational labs this is overkill.

Meet awtSCADA

A complete SCADA/HMI that runs from a single HTML file. No installation, no server, no license fees for the demo.

What Makes It Different

Feature	Traditional SCADA	awtSCADA
Price	$10K-$100K	Free demo
Installation	Days/weeks	0 seconds
Server	Required	None
OS	Usually Windows	Any browser
IEC 61850	Add-on or none	Full stack

9 Industrial Protocols

IEC 61850 (MMS, GOOSE, Sampled Values) - unique for browser-based SCADA
OPC UA - universal industrial connectivity
Modbus TCP/RTU - PLCs, sensors, power meters
MQTT - IoT and edge devices
SNMP, BACnet, DNP3, IEC 60870-5-104, REST API

53 Function Blocks

PID controllers, timers, counters, logic gates, math operations, filters, comparators, interlocks.

65 Graphic Elements

Pumps, valves, motors, tanks, vessels, pipes, sensors, gauges, trends - drag and drop to build your HMI.

Architecture

Browser (Single HTML)  <-->  Python Gateway  <-->  Real Equipment
        |                                            |
   SQLite DB                                    PLC / RTU / IED

The HTML file contains the full HMI engine. The Python gateway (FastAPI + asyncio) handles communication with physical devices.

Who Is This For?

Small facilities - water treatment, solar farms, building automation
Education - teach SCADA without expensive licenses
Prototyping - quick HMI mockups for client demos
Digital substations - full IEC 61850 for power utilities
Security research - safe ICS/SCADA lab environment

Try It

Live Demo
GitHub
Download Free Demo (20 MB, 2-hour trial)

Full source code available on Gumroad - $5,000 one-time, no recurring fees.

What SCADA system do you use? Would a browser-based alternative be useful in your workflow?

I Built a Full Industrial SCADA System That Runs From a Single HTML File

Александр Ларионов — Sun, 17 May 2026 05:00:08 +0000

The Problem

Setting up a SCADA/HMI system typically requires:

Expensive proprietary software ($10K-$100K licenses)
Complex server infrastructure
Windows-only environments
Weeks of configuration

I wanted something different.

The Solution: awtSCADA

awtSCADA is a complete industrial SCADA/HMI system that runs entirely in your web browser. No installation. No server. Just open one HTML file.

🔗 Live Demo | GitHub

What's Inside

Feature	Details
Protocols	IEC 61850 (MMS, GOOSE, SV), OPC UA, Modbus TCP, MQTT, SNMP — 9 total
Function Blocks	53: logic, math, timers, PID, filters, interlocks
Graphics	65 elements: pumps, valves, motors, tanks, pipes, gauges
Database	Built-in SQLite: trends, alarms, operator log
Performance	10,000 tags/sec, 100ms update cycle
Gateway	Python — connects to real PLCs, RTUs, and IEDs via REST API

How It Works

Browser (Single HTML) ←→ Python Gateway ←→ Real Equipment
         ↕                                    ↕
   SQLite DB                            PLC / RTU / IED
   (trends, alarms)                     (Modbus, OPC UA, IEC 61850)

The HTML file contains the full HMI engine with:

Drag-and-drop graphic editor
Function block programming
Real-time trending
Alarm management
User authentication

The Python gateway handles communication with physical devices.

Use Cases

Education — teach SCADA concepts without expensive licenses
Prototyping — quickly build HMI mockups for client demos
Small facilities — water treatment, solar farms, building automation
Security research — safe ICS/SCADA lab environment
Digital substations — full IEC 61850 stack for power utility automation

Tech Stack

Vanilla JavaScript (no frameworks, no dependencies)
HTML5 Canvas for graphics
Web Workers for parallel processing
IndexedDB + SQLite via sql.js
Python 3 for the gateway (FastAPI + asyncio)

Try It Now

Open the live demo
Or download the zip (20 MB)
Open the HTML file in your browser — that's it

Why Open Source Matters for Industrial Automation

The ICS/SCADA industry has been locked behind proprietary walls for decades. Engineers can't learn modern protocols without access to expensive software. Security researchers can't test defenses without realistic environments.

awtSCADA changes that. A full-featured SCADA system that anyone can run, study, and extend.

⭐ If this is useful, star the repo on GitHub — it helps others find it.

Questions? Comments? I'd love to hear how you'd use a browser-based SCADA system.

I Built a Full Industrial SCADA System That Runs From a Single HTML File

Александр Ларионов — Fri, 15 May 2026 16:24:08 +0000

How a single HTML file replaces million-dollar SCADA software

After 20+ years in industrial automation — working with PLCs, RTUs, SCADA systems, and digital substations — I was frustrated. Every SCADA platform I used required:

Heavy installation (2-4 GB)
Dedicated server infrastructure
Annual license fees ($5,000-50,000/year)
Vendor lock-in
Windows-only deployment

So I built awtSCADA — a complete industrial SCADA system that runs entirely from a single HTML file. Open it in Chrome, Firefox, or Safari — and you have a fully functional SCADA with real-time visualization, function blocks, and industrial protocol support.

What makes it unique?

1. Literally one file

The entire SCADA — graphic editor, runtime engine, 53 function blocks, 65 graphic elements — lives inside a single HTML file (~240 KB online, ~3 MB offline with embedded React). No installation. No server. No database server (SQLite is built into the Gateway).

2. Full IEC 61850 support in a browser

This is the part I'm most proud of. No other browser-based SCADA supports IEC 61850. awtSCADA implements:

MMS client — read/write data objects, datasets, reports
GOOSE subscriber — real-time event subscription
Sampled Values receiver — phasor measurement streams

This means you can connect to digital substations directly from your browser.

3. 9 industrial protocols

IEC 61850 (MMS, GOOSE, Sampled Values)
OPC UA (browsing, subscriptions, read/write)
OPC DA (via COM/DCOM bridge)
Modbus TCP (holding/input registers, coils)
MQTT
SNMP
REST API (15 endpoints)
WebSocket (real-time)
Custom protocols via Python Gateway

4. 53 function blocks

Not just visualization — awtSCADA has a complete FBD (Function Block Diagram) engine:

Logic: AND, OR, NOT, XOR, SR flip-flop, edge detectors
Math: add, subtract, multiply, divide, abs, min, max, formula
Timers: on-delay, off-delay, pulse
Counters: up, down, up/down with preset
PID controller with anti-windup
Filters: exponential, sliding window, RMS
Comparators, limiters, multiplexers
Database write, alarm generators, signal generators

5. 65 graphic elements

Drag & drop from the palette:

Process equipment: pumps, motors, fans, compressors, conveyors
Valves: gate valves, ball valves, check valves, control valves
Vessels: tanks, columns, separators, heat exchangers
Piping: horizontal/vertical pipes, elbows, tees, reducers
Electrical: contactors, fuses, transformers, grounding
Sensors: pressure, temperature, level, flow meters
Indicators: gauges, bar charts, traffic lights, lamps
Displays: trends, sliders, buttons, switches

Architecture

The system has two components:

Browser (any modern browser)
└── awtSCADA HTML file
        ├── Graphic Editor (drag & drop, multi-page, popups)
        ├── Runtime (fullscreen, password protection, alarms)
        ├── Function Block Engine (53 blocks, 100ms cycle)
        └── WebSocket ←→ SCADA Gateway (Python)
                            ├── IEC 61850 (asyncua + custom)
                            ├── OPC UA (asyncua library)
                            ├── Modbus TCP (pymodbus)
                            ├── MQTT / SNMP
                            ├── SQLite Database
                            └── REST API (15 endpoints)

The Browser handles all visualization and logic. The Python Gateway handles protocol communication and database storage. They communicate via WebSocket.

Performance

Metric	Value
Scan rate	10,000 tags/sec
Update cycle	100 ms minimum
Parallel threads	4
Browser tabs	8
Startup time	< 3 seconds
File size	240 KB (online) / 3 MB (offline)

Tech stack

Frontend: React 18, JSX, Babel (transpiled in-browser)
Backend: Python 3.10+, asyncio, aiohttp
Protocols: asyncua (OPC UA), pymodbus, custom IEC 61850
Database: SQLite3
Build: Custom Python build script, Base64 encoding, XOR protection

The build process

One thing I'm particularly proud of is the build system. The JSX source (~175 KB) gets:

Base64 encoded
SHA256 integrity hash computed
XOR-encrypted author watermark embedded
Unique Build ID and License Key generated
Everything injected into the HTML template

The result is a self-contained, tamper-protected HTML file that works offline.

Try it yourself

🌐 Live Demo & Documentation

📥 Download Free Demo — 2-hour trial, no registration

💻 GitHub Repository

💰 Buy Full Source Code — complete source with build system

About me

I'm an industrial automation engineer (IACS/SCADA) with 20+ years of experience:

Process automation systems design and deployment
PLC/RTU programming and commissioning
Network equipment configuration (Cisco, MikroTik, Huawei)
SCADA/HMI development and integration
IEC 61850 digital substation projects
Technical documentation per industrial standards (GOST, IEC)
Full-stack development (Python, JavaScript, React)
AI/ML engineering (PyTorch, custom model training)
AutoCAD, electrical schematics design

I built awtSCADA because I needed a lightweight, portable SCADA that I could deploy anywhere — from a USB stick at a remote substation to a tablet on the factory floor.

What's next?

I'm currently working on:

Genesis-1 — an AI model trained on 32 IT specializations that can autonomously manage infrastructure
Expanding awtSCADA protocol support
Mobile-optimized runtime

What do you think? Would you use a browser-based SCADA in your projects? Let me know in the comments!

DEV Community: Александр Ларионов

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

The Problem

Step 1: Download awtSCADA

Step 2: Start the Gateway

Step 3: Open the SCADA

Step 4: Connect Real Equipment

Modbus TCP (Most PLCs and sensors)

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

MQTT (IoT sensors)

Step 5: Build Your HMI

Real-World Use Cases

Links

Free SCADA Alternative for Small Facilities - awtSCADA vs Wonderware vs Ignition

Why I Built a Free SCADA Alternative

Meet awtSCADA

What Makes It Different

9 Industrial Protocols

53 Function Blocks

65 Graphic Elements

Architecture

Who Is This For?

Try It

I Built a Full Industrial SCADA System That Runs From a Single HTML File

The Problem

The Solution: awtSCADA

What's Inside

How It Works

Use Cases

Tech Stack

Try It Now

Why Open Source Matters for Industrial Automation

I Built a Full Industrial SCADA System That Runs From a Single HTML File

How a single HTML file replaces million-dollar SCADA software

What makes it unique?

1. Literally one file

2. Full IEC 61850 support in a browser

3. 9 industrial protocols

4. 53 function blocks

5. 65 graphic elements

Architecture

Performance

Tech stack

The build process

Try it yourself

About me

What's next?