PLC Simulator

Industrial networks and SCADA training for technicians

From a sensor reading to a historian trend: how plant data moves, which protocol does which job, and how to keep the whole system secure and readable.

16 units
4 free
4.1 hours
Start free: The plant-floor network stackSee plans

Training material. Follow your site procedures, local electrical code and the manufacturer's instructions. Lockout/tagout and a qualified person are required for real equipment.

What you will be able to do

  • You can describe each layer from field I/O to MES and ERP, and say what each layer must not be asked to do.
  • You can work out RS-485 polling time against a cyclic Ethernet exchange and explain why determinism matters.
  • You can tell EtherNet/IP implicit from explicit messaging, and explain PROFINET device names and GSDML files.
  • You can browse an OPC UA address space and design an MQTT topic hierarchy that supports the filters people need.
  • You can place devices into IEC 62443 style zones, choose what crosses each conduit and justify the choice.
  • You can read an alarm flood, find the root causes and explain how a historian can hide a short real event.

  1. 01

    The plant-floor network stack

    Free12 min · lesson

    Follow one pressure reading from the transmitter up to the ERP system and learn what each layer does, and what it should never be asked to do.

  2. 02

    Fieldbus versus industrial Ethernet

    Free14 min · lesson

    Poll twelve drives over RS-485 and over Ethernet, calculate both update times and see why a predictable update matters more than raw speed.

  3. 03

    Modbus RTU and TCP refresher

    Free12 min · lesson

    Decode a Modbus frame byte by byte, compare RTU and TCP framing and connect it to the existing Modbus labs.

  4. 04

    EtherNet/IP and CIP

    Pro14 min · lesson

    Choose implicit or explicit messaging for five real tasks and estimate the traffic a requested packet interval creates.

  5. 05

    PROFINET: names, roles and GSDML

    Pro13 min · lesson

    Match IO devices to their configured names, understand controller, device and supervisor roles and fix a name mismatch.

  6. 06

    OPC UA: servers, nodes and subscriptions

    Pro16 min · lesson

    Browse a small address space, read node attributes and see why a subscription beats polling for slow-changing values.

  7. 07

    Lab: OPC UA browse and read

    Pro15 min · lab

    Browse a simulated plant address space and report a pressure, a run state, a writable setpoint and a bad-quality variable from the right nodes.

  8. 08

    MQTT and IIoT: publish, subscribe, topics

    Pro15 min · lesson

    Try wildcard filters against plant topics and learn what a broker, QoS levels, retained messages and a last will each guarantee.

  9. 09

    Lab: MQTT topic design

    Pro20 min · lab

    Design topics, retained flags and delivery levels for a bottling site, then prove the hierarchy with two wildcard subscriptions.

  10. 10

    OT cyber-security basics

    Pro18 min · lesson

    Learn zones, conduits, least privilege and why patching a running plant differs from patching an office, then assign devices to zones.

  11. 11

    Lab: network zones and conduits

    Pro20 min · lab

    Place thirteen plant devices into five zones, set six conduits and choose remote-access, password and patching practices.

  12. 12

    SCADA architecture: layers, tags and scan classes

    Pro14 min · lesson

    Follow a value from transmitter to historian and budget the polling load of a tag list with scan classes.

  13. 13

    Trends and historians: deadband, compression, sampling

    Pro13 min · lesson

    Slide a deadband across a trend and watch a short real spike disappear from the stored record, then judge safe settings.

  14. 14

    Alarm management: floods, nuisance alarms, rationalisation

    Pro17 min · lesson

    Rationalise eight alarms, watch the alarm rate fall and learn the ISA-18.2 vocabulary that the triage lab puts under pressure.

  15. 15

    Lab: alarm flood triage

    Free15 min · lab

    Sort forty alarms from ten minutes of a utilities upset into causes, consequences and nuisance, then pick the three actions that matter.

  16. 16

    Networking and SCADA knowledge check

    Pro15 min · quiz

    A graded quiz across the whole track, from the plant-floor stack to alarm management, with an explanation for every answer.

4 of the units are graded or interactive practice on simulated equipment rather than reading:

  • Lab: OPC UA browse and read: Browse a simulated plant address space and report a pressure, a run state, a writable setpoint and a bad-quality variable from the right nodes.
  • Lab: MQTT topic design: Design topics, retained flags and delivery levels for a bottling site, then prove the hierarchy with two wildcard subscriptions.
  • Lab: network zones and conduits: Place thirteen plant devices into five zones, set six conduits and choose remote-access, password and patching practices.
  • Lab: alarm flood triage: Sort forty alarms from ten minutes of a utilities upset into causes, consequences and nuisance, then pick the three actions that matter.

Who this track is for

Technicians, controls engineers and integrators who already know a PLC and now need the plant-wide picture: networks, supervisory systems, historians, alarms and OT security.

4 of the 16 units are free with a free account, with no card and no expiry. The other 12 are part of a paid plan; compare them on the pricing page.

Related tracks

What is the difference between a PLC network and SCADA?

The network carries data between devices. SCADA is the supervisory layer that collects tag values from many controllers over that network to show, trend and alarm them. Understanding the network explains most SCADA symptoms.

Which industrial protocols should a technician learn first?

Start with Modbus because it is simple and everywhere, then learn the Ethernet-based protocol used by the brand you work with, such as EtherNet/IP or PROFINET. The shared ideas are addressing, polling or cyclic exchange, and what happens when a device stops answering.

Is this OT cybersecurity training?

Only the basics. One unit and one lab introduce network zones and conduits and why plant networks are segmented, but there is no cyber range and no security credential. Treat it as awareness that makes you a better-informed technician.

How much of Industrial Networks and SCADA is free?

4 of the 16 units are free with a free account, no credit card and no expiry, starting with The plant-floor network stack. The remaining 12 units are included with a paid plan; see the pricing page for the current plans.

Do I need a PLC or any hardware?

No. Everything runs in the browser against simulated equipment. It is training material: it does not replace supervised practice on real equipment, and lockout/tagout and a qualified person are required for real equipment.

Start with the free units

Browser-based, no install, no hardware.

Start free: The plant-floor network stack