Energy · Case study

When the API did not exist, the interface became the data source.

Existing SCADA screens became a reliable data source without replacing the system or waiting for an API.

Case study context

The project and the problem

A renewable-energy operator used proprietary supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software to monitor turbines and operating conditions across multiple wind farms. Staff could reach each system only through a restricted remote-desktop screen: there was no usable API or database connection. The screen itself was therefore the only available data source, but conventional optical character recognition was unreliable because the interface rendered heavily antialiased vector text with ambiguous character edges.

How the process worked

Automation navigated each remote session and captured the relevant screens. Vision models first located tables, rows, columns, labels, status graphics and value regions; difficult text was then split into individual glyphs, classified and ordered back into words and numbers before the reconstructed record was structurally validated.

From screen to record

Watch a locked screen become usable data.

Use the controls below to inspect the key stages, constraints and validation decisions in that process.

From operator pixels to a governed record

Follow one scheduled capture through detection, reading and validation.

Source: Restricted RDP
Cadence: 5 seconds

Captured frameWF-A / Turbine T-14

CAP-14321014:32:10T14-overview v3.2

Scheduled captures3 of 5

Extraction history3 records observed

Time	Output	Temperature	State	Alarm	Destination
14:32:00	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available	Reading pixels
14:32:05	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available	Reading pixels
14:32:10	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available	Reading pixels

Provenance · RDP-OPS-04 / T-14 overview · T14-overview v3.2 · vision-edge 2.4

Operating constraints

No usable API or database access
Restricted desktops and permissions
Antialiased interface text
Multiple visual structures and alarm states

What changed

Automated observation
Structured historical data
Alert-ready events
Less dependence on continual manual viewing

Evidence retained: Each structured record retained its source screen, extraction state and validation outcome for review.

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