Remote monitoring and control refers to a field of industrial automation that is entering a new era with the development of wireless sensing devices. Initially limited to SCADA

SCADA

SCADA generally refers to industrial control systems : computer systems that monitor and control industrial, infrastructure, or facility-based processes, as described below:...

 technology, remote monitoring and control refers to the measurement of disparate devices from a network operations center

Network Operations Center

A network operations center is one or more locations from which control is exercised over a computer, television broadcast, or telecommunications network....

 or control room and the ability to change the operation of these devices from that central office.

Today the application of remote monitoring and control extends from fields such as:

• smart grid
• positive train control
  Positive Train Control
  Positive train control is a system of monitoring and controlling train movements to provide increased safety.-Overview:The main concept in PTC is that the train receives information about its location and where it is allowed to safely travel, also known as movement authorities...
  
  
• Structural health monitoring
  Structural health monitoring
  The process of implementing a damage detection and characterization strategy for engineering structures is referred to as Structural Health Monitoring . Here damage is defined as changes to the material and/or geometric properties of a structural system, including changes to the boundary conditions...
  
  
• Pipeline sensors
• Patient monitoring
• Desktop/server monitoring

While this field overlaps with machine to machine

Machine to Machine

Machine-to-Machine refers to technologies that allow both wireless and wired systems to communicate with other devices of the same ability...

communications, the two are not identical.