Home | Choosing A SCADA Radio Technology | FCC License License Free or Cellular | Design, Test, Then Build It | Radio Study Why | How to Build it Reliably | Photo Gallery |
Now
more than ever
technology
options for creating a radio connected SCADA system
are vast. The intention of this site is to provide resources for those
tasked with
designing, maintaining or operating a high importance factor SCADA
system. FCC licensed, unlicensed and cellular
technology
will be discussed along with pros and cons of each. User
owned SCADA radio networks often require initial design energy, this
energy if spent well can
afford the owner a very robust and exceptionally reliable
communications network. Cellular based strategies have their
place in the market too and weighing the pros and cons of each
technology will allow the owner to make their best business
decisions.
User owned SCADA communications networks can achieve minimal down time
measured in minutes
per year vs. weeks after a severe weather event, power failures, cable
cuts, etc. The user owned SCADA radio networks are
completely controlled by the owner and their maintenance organization,
Vs. telco, cable, or cellular communications carriers.
Private
secure and autonomous data radio networks are not vulnerable to
cyber-attack / terrorism or hackers, Article from Wired Magazine on Cyber War.
Proper
planning and control of your spare parts program can make a return to
service as simple as replacing a broken part. Tornados,
hurricanes, fires, and power outages often cause cellular networks
outages, as site backup power is usually a small number of minutes,
cell sites rely on wired telco infrastructure to create the cellular
network backhaul connections that
are required for operation. Commercial power availability is
required for both wireless and wired connectivity as their (telco
& cellular) backup power access is typically minimal.
The industry standard for designing SCADA radio links (both FCC
licensed and unlicensed) is 20 dB of RF fade margin.
This defines the additional radio
signal
that is designed into each radio link to insure
reliability. What the 20 dB fade margin really means is that
there is 100 times more signal than the minimum amount of RF carrier
signal
needed to reliably operate the radio link and transport your mission
critical SCADA data on
it. Decibels are logarithmic numbers and a little goes a long
way to
provide data reliability.
There are countless SCADA radio networks throughout the
United States and abroad monitoring and controlling municipal water,
waste water, flood water, oil & gas production, power grids,
automatic meter
reading, and much more. These mission critical radio technology based
communications systems have ranges from yards to hundreds of
miles. Selecting the right technology, defining the projects
requirements, and creating a robust SCADA communications network is
what I do as an RF consultant. Having the personal
understanding of the pros and
cons
of each technology can empower the project engineer, owner or operator
to make
the best business decisions for a system that will have a 10-20 year
service
lifetime and are often mission critical or high importance
factor operation SCADA systems.
Please browse this site, if you have any questions or a specific
project you would like to discuss, please feel free to call
on me, Mark Lavallee. I truly enjoy sharing my 30 years of
specialized experience and knowledge. My company is often
called upon
assist design build consultants, controls system integrators, and the
end
users directly. We are highly specialized with tools and
talent for auditing existing SCADA systems, selecting the best SCADA
radio technology
for
new systems, and providing qualified radio network designs / in-field
radios studies.
954-961-2642
or
email:
mark.lavallee@advantage-com.com