Brad Bechtold (@bradbechtold2) of Cisco via @CiscoCanada explains why the Oil & Gas industry needs to embrace new IP-based infrastructure not currently in oilfields. The concept he references is a “connected field” in which multiple IP communications technologies work together as a system. These technologies include UHF, VHF, LMRS, microwave, WiFi, fiber and satellite which are all today hotly debated as to “what works best” (answer: none, it depends on what you need to do).
Speaking in Calgary April 23, 2015 at the ISA Show
Hope to see folks there!
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Conference Schedule: http://isacalgary.com/conference-schedule/ (no longer published)
Session information: http://isacalgary.com/sessions/understanding-the-remote-field-data-communications-challenge/ (no longer published by the presentation can be accessed by clicking here)
Remote field data communications is challenging. There are often multiple teams and vendors involved and no-one seems to have the big picture! Automation systems require different wireless systems than traditional broadband internet systems further confusing what should be used. This talk by Trevor Textor will help unravel the complexities and highlight:
- The differences between automation traffic and traditional broadband traffic and how that might change the radios installed based on the circumstances.
- Understanding wireless frequencies and the reasons different wireless frequencies are not better/worse than the other.
- How video changes traditional approaches to communications (telecom as a utility).
- How traditional IT merging into the automation world necessitates a different model between IT and engineering.
- Financial impacts of a digital oilfield and how a “connected field” can deliver the dream of “just turn it on anywhere”.
- What is telecom passive infrastructure? Why should we care?
- How telecom passive infrastructure engineering determines your bandwidth availability.
- When should a business think about passive telecom infrastructure?
- How much does rural data communications outages actually cost?
Trevor Textor is a rural data communications expert with over a decade of experience. Trevor has participated in wireless system design, control system segregation projects, radio equipment evaluations and facility drawing reviews (to name just a few).
Please note: Trevor adheres to the CTCA code of ethics, has no agency relationships with equipment vendors and will attempt to provide fact and generic experience based advice.
Virgin / Branson – set to disrupt yet another industry – Satellites
Virgin / Branson – set to disrupt yet another industry; this time the satellite industry. The “Oneweb” low earth orbit (LEO) Satellite constellation consisting of up to 2400 satellites will be disruptive to data communications globally but especially the satellite industry. Expect consumers to benefit only after earth station technology improves as LEO services require the consumer to have an expensive tracking/motorized antenna.
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2871304/security0/virgin-galactic-wants-to-launch-2-400-comm-satellites-to-offer-ubiquitous-broadband.html
“Why are you bringing a paper map?”
My brother in-law said to me as we prepared for an 8 hour cross-Canada journey. “Why not just use your smartphone?” I said a cheeky “You will see” but felt guilty and proceeded to explain that reality does not match expectations. That is, most rural areas are little connected… if at all. During that journey we relied exclusively on the paper maps and were without cell phone service for at least 3 hours of that journey.
The fact of the matter is, our expectation is that connectivity to the Internet is a utility. But it is not formally assigned this distinction by our governments and the corresponding policy. So the delivery of the internet, or broadband as it is more truly called, is not up to par. It’s not that we don’t have the technology, or the money, it’s that the game is not setup to win.
Here are two fun stories of rural broadband challenges that you probably never thought of from the UK (the problem is a global issue):
Boaters left high and dry in broadband rollout?
https://www.cable.co.uk/news/boaters-left-high-and-dry-in-broadband-rollout-700000139/
Rural broadband: Microwave radio link brings fast connection to remote village
Global average internet speed has surpassed 4Mbps
Akamai, reports that the Global average internet speed has surpassed 4Mbps, which is the threshold for the definition “Broadband”. Broadband is the term used to describe the basic level of service required to realize economic prosperity in the coming digital future. If your speed is below this you are now below the global average, not just your country average. 83.58% of people in Canada are at or above Broadband speeds.
http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/30/akamai-broadband-speeds-tip-4-mbps-globally-ddos-attacks-down-15/
Akamai State of the Internet maps:
http://www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet/soti-visualizations.html#stoi-map
Why fiber (to the X)?
Much touted for increased bandwidth speeds the detractors say smaller locations such as residential housing do not need that kind of bandwidth. I think they are both wrong. The real reason to use fiber (single mode – SMF) is to prevent cable changes. SMF is the only communications technology that has no theoretical limits which effectively future proofs it and means you never have to re-trench that cable. Think of it as a storm sewer pipe that never has to be upgraded. Instead of a large expenditure to upgrade the pipe, it might cost something between 5-20% of the complete replacement cost to increase the capacity of the fiber.
802.11 wireless – install easy / performance hard
Wireless can be easy to install but getting wireless performance is not. An easy installation is convenient yes, but does it work for every application? It can but doing it the right way could be difficult and/or expensive. Often times, the cheapest & most effective answer is a wired connection.
However, the trend in easy consumer access to inexpensive 802.11 devices has made it the “duct tape” of the networking world. This logic is dangerous. Why? Wireless is an open system, unlike wires (closed system) which means that the variables affecting performance in a specific location can only be estimated. 802.11 itself, in an effort to make wireless more accessible has made many trade-offs that make it often useless for anything but the least demanding applications.
Since we can only estimate conditions, there is a standards body (ITU-R) that provides models to help with accuracy. Model updates in the last decade have made drastic changes. The P.452 model update from revision 14 to 15, for instance, impacted the model calculations less favourably by 20dB. Decibel math is a way to do logarithm base 10 math (exponential) in your head using simple addition & subtraction. For example, a 3dB difference is double, whereas 10dB difference is 10 times. So 20dB means 10×10 worse or 100 times worse than the older revision. For the engineering types, wireless propagation modelling and the different models available are discussed in this whitepaper:
http://www.transfinite.com/papers/Propagation_Modelling.pdf
Why Oil and Gas companies should consider a different strategy for their telecommunications.
An article of mine was published in Tait Connection magazine. In it I argue that treating communications as a utility can translate to better business efficiency and big savings.
Magazine version:
http://magazine.taitconnection.com/taitconnection/issue_5#pg42
Web version:
“Tait Communications is a multinational radio communications company with headquarters based in Christchurch, New Zealand. The company has offices in 17 countries and employs 869 staff (2011).”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tait_Communications
Oil & Gas Cellular Service Challenges
Gap Wireless shed further light on cellular service to Oil & Gas at the CommTech West conference. Gap installed the Bow office tower’s Distributed Antenna System (DAS). Had the Bow not had a DAS there would have been poor cell service on the top floors because of “pilot pollution” or too many ideal cell services to choose from. The cell phone gets so confused it doesn’t work even though it shows 4 bars. For the O&G field, cell boosters are a big issue. Every 3dB noise increase, which can be caused by a single booster (there are 10’s of boosters around each cell base station), cuts the incumbent’s cell base station’s capacity considerably. More proof that O&G cellular data service will continue to be a challenge in the field (In addition to large changes in population from O&G development).
You know you have a smart oilfield when…
Petroleum Development Oman (66%) / Shell (34%) Joint Venture adoption of IHS CERA’s 2003 study’s recommendations for a Smart Oilfield and a connected field has enabled them to deploy technologies that:
- Increased a mature oilfield’s production by 100K barrels/day. At $90/barrel this is $3.2 Billion/year in additional revenue.
- Reduced drilling time from 39 to 14 days ($40K/day savings = $1M per drill saved). Saved $5M per-well cost (includes drilling and completions).
The cost of a connected field to one year of savings and revenue increase: less than 1%. Perhaps a smart oilfield is better than simply making educated guesses to increase reservoir pressure via water injection?
Redline’s Connected Field for PDO/Shell Joint Venture – This mature 45,000 sqr km brownfield contains:
- 6600 broadband connection points
- 52 base stations
- 13 Gbps total capacity
- 130,000 end devices
Source: CommTech West, Redline Seminar, Calgary, AB, May 28, 2014.