What Is Remote Terminal Unit (RTU)?

Remote terminals are the new black. Remote terminals are much like a remote control for your life, except you can use them to manage your financial portfolio instead of controlling your television. Remote terminals are electronic devices that allow you to connect with your financial advisor from anywhere in the world, so you don't have to wait until the end of the day when they're back at the office to check up on how well your investments are doing. Remote terminals are the best way to get things done without leaving your couch. They're like the age-old standby of remote access but with a modern twist: they let you do everything from your phone. For example, imagine how handy it would be to use your smartphone to remotely unlock your car and start it up from anywhere in the world. What if you could turn on your lights or adjust the thermostat at home and save money on energy bills? What if you could check in on your pets while away from home? Or even watch Netflix while sitting on the couch? That's what remote terminals are all about! A remote terminal unit (RTU) is a multipurpose device used to monitor and control various devices and systems for automation. It is typically deployed in an industrial environment and serves a similar purpose to programmable logic circuits (PLCs) but to a higher degree. An RTU is considered a self-contained computer as it has all the essential parts that define a computer a processor, memory and storage. It can be used as an intelligent or master controller for other devices that automate a process, such as a portion of an assembly line. The main advantage of using an RTU over other controllers is its ability to simultaneously handle multiple inputs from different sensors, process them, and send commands based on what it has learned. Instead of having one sensor per device (like in PLCs), you can now have multiple sensors connected to each device so they can "learn" more about whatever they are supposed to be doing.