Hi Everyone,

We are building a SCADA system with architecture as attached. All network components already exist except for SCADA.

Network is MPI with 187.5k data rate.

WinCC Advanced (Windows 10 Pro 64-bit) is being used for SCADA, CP5622 card will be used for communication with PLC's.

I would like clarification on below queries.

1) Is any other software/hardware component required for establishing communication with the 6 S7-300 PLC's?

2) I came across another application with a similar configuration, but they were using SIMATIC OPC installed on the same PC running a custom-built monitoring application. Should I also be using SIMATIC OPC? what purpose does it serve? I understand that if I have multiple applications requiring the data from PLC then it may be wise to use an OPC server. Would I need SIMATIC OPC?

3) The customer wants to make the segment A to B in the attached drawing redundant. From what I recall MPI doesn't support redundant network configuration, converting to fiber optic and installing OLMs may be required. Is there any other solution to achieve segment redundancy?