Preprocessors for Remote Supervisory Control Stations

A building-block approach to implementing remote supervisory control stations is described. By structuring the interface between functional blocks to be compatible with a mini-computer I/O bus, small hardwired remotes can be easily upgraded into programmable remotes. Several hardware/software tradeoffs are involved in the system design. By utilizing inexpensive MOS serial memories and limited processing in the individual functional blocks, a more powerful hardwired remote can be realized without reducing the flexibility of the larger programmable remote. This preprocessing also permits a small mini-computer to handle a remote with a large number of data points.