How to add watchdog to your SCADA devices
The watchdog function is important to detect device malfunctions. It will trigger a tag or alarm to indicate that the device is disconnected for any reasons.

Follow these steps below to add a watchdog to your SCADA devices.

  • First, put both the .json and .csv file into the project folder.

  • Next, open and edit the .json file.
  • Then add a new entry under the config section called “watchdog” and give it a value in milliseconds (ms). The watchdog has a timeout of 5000 ms in the screenshot below. Save and close the file.

  • Finally, run the project and IGX SCADA will automatically create a runtime system tag called “<moduleID>.<deviceID>.watchdog.alert” which in this case is called “module01.device01.watchdog.alert“.

  • IO-hub will actively monitor if any of the last updated tag timestamp from the attached device. If the last update timestamp of all the tags from the DX module exceeds the timeout limit, then the module01.device01.watchdog.alert tag will be set to true.

NOTE:

  1. Make sure both files (.json and .csv) are placed in the project folder or the watchdog tag will not appear.
  2. Any tags that are listed in the .csv file but are not under virtual tags will be generated as runtime tags.

Lastly, you may download a free copy of IGX Web SCADA and give it a try! Click here to view our online demo.