8. A few facts about computerized control systems

Control computer systems are designed to ensure very high availability of supervision and decision-making functions. Secure telecommunication networks carry information gathered from substations and power plants to control centers. There, this information is filtered and processed to be presented to operators in real time, or fed into mathematical decision-making models. Feedback actions, if any, are redirected to the remote-controlled equipment. In this section, we will briefly describe the architecture that is gradually being put in place to manage the French power system. Even if this field is subject to the rapid evolution of IT techniques, its guidelines are indeed representative of current global trends.