RACOM microwave links can be found in places you wouldn’t expect. One example is the ski resort of Tignes in French Alps and the Grande Motte Glacier cable car at 3,500 m above sea level.

Nowadays, of course, a cable car operator needs to have a good and reliable IP network to communicate with the top station of the cable car including a high-speed internet connection. In addition to HD camera images, status data from the cable car sensors, meteorological data and much more needs to be transmitted. It appeared that providing such a link is not easy at all…

The original connection did not work well, so when looking for a replacement, the choice turned to RAy microwave link from RACOM. At first RAy2 at 24 GHz was used on part of the link and when it proved to be successful, it was decided to implement the whole link on RACOM microwaves in the 80 GHz band.

The original connection did not work well, so when looking for a replacement, the choice turned to RACOM’s RAy microwave links. Initially RAy2 at 24 GHz was used on part of the link and when it proved to be successful, it was decided to implement the whole link on RACOM microwaves in the 80 GHz band.

Our partner Seirel invited RACOM’s technical support to help so that the installation and commissioning be carried out quickly and without complications. Although the installation took place in the summer in late August and early September, it was not easy at these altitudes. Due to the strong winds, the cable car could only travel at 1.5 m/s instead of the standard 10 m/s. On the second day it even snowed and about 700 kg of snow had to be removed from the roof of the cable car in order to climb from the cabin to the mast about halfway along the route where the repeater is located.

The connection between the top and bottom stations is realized by three RAy3-80 links. There is one link between the top station and the repeater, between the repeater and the bottom station the communication is fully backed up and there are two lines in parallel.

Despite adverse weather conditions, everything was installed and up and running within two days and all links are running reliably at 2 Gbps.

The Arabian Gulf has some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Many of the vessels are Oil tankers that use offshore moorings while their cargo of oil is loaded for transportation around the world.

The Kuwaiti authorities understand the environment is a major element of the comprehensive development of a country. The Environment Public Authority (EPA) of Kuwait was established to monitor the environment and implement international legislation and policy. In 2016 a decision was taken to establish an environmental monitoring information system using a network of buoys, strategically positioned throughout the coastal waters of Kuwait, to monitor water quality and alert the authority to oil spillages.

The logistics of establishing and maintaining a marine monitoring offshore network meant the authority could only consider radio modems with an industrial hardened design that use heavy duty industrial components and can provide  a 24/7 reliable service in a harsh maritime climate. The only radio modem that EPA Kuwait sourced that could meet all their criteria was the RACOM RipEX radio modem.

The network was designed to operate using Flexible protocol at a frequency in 300 MHz band. Due to the distances involved, it was necessary to use several repeaters to enable data transmissions between the center and farthest buoys.

The network came into service in 2017 and has been successfully helping EPA monitor the environment in Kuwaiti coastal waters ever since.

Highlights

• M!DGE
• Leased services network
• Mission critical applications
• Ethernet and serial interface
• Mountainous arctic environment
• Extreme temperatures up to -30 ^oC
• Over 500 units deployed

LMC (Last Mile Communication) has delivered enterprise-critical communication solutions with high focus on quality and reliability to customers since 1999. During that time LMC has become aware of a large demand for remote management, monitoring, tracking, alert, and remote access at customer installations with emphasis on security, that did not have a solution available on the market.

IOG, an LMC company, was formed with the commitment to meet that demand and provide solutions and expertise, making it possible to use cellular networks for these critical industrial installations. IOG makes it easy to establish and operate robust M2M solutions. The IOG network operates as a leased service for virtual private networks with typically 2-70 sites.

With the remoteness of many locations requiring these services, in Northern latitudes and rugged mountainous landscape, it has been important to develop robust solutions and use only the highest quality hardware. Adding to the challenge is the fact that many applications are mission critical, including pumping and power stations.

The IOG business model provides leased services and a commitment to provide high SLA provision to their customers; it has been essential for IOG to ensure that every part of the infrastructure meets the stringent demands placed on it.

Years of experience has proven that the RACOM M!DGE is the best choice in such an environment, providing excellent levels of stability. IOG customers also appreciate the serial SCADA protocol implementation.

As of 2017, IOG has over 500 M!DGE units in service and is delighted with the reliability offered by the device, helping IOG develop and maintain a justifiable reputation for quality in the Scandinavian market and beyond.

Dag Nielsen, Technical Director, states “LMC cooperation with RACOM dates back to 2001. During this time LMC has used different RACOM products and has always been happy and satisfied with levels of performance and reliability. RACOM technical support has also been excellent. It is why M!DGE is our product of choice.”

Highlights

• RipEX, RipEX-HS, 432 MHz
• Irrigation & Security management
• Two control centers
• Flexible protocol
• Solar powering – Sleep mode
• Back up routes
• Over 100 remote sites

The Consortium of Reclamation CELLINA MEDUNA, Italy manages over 116,000 hectares of land. It is responsible for coordinating public and private activities related to hydraulic and irrigation works, designing land works and maintaining land reclamation and irrigation projects.

In 2013 the company issued a tender for procurement of a SCADA system to monitor and control an irrigation project and to provide a security management system for the entire area. Due to the remote nature of the terrain, it is important it can be monitored remotely. ETG s.r.l. were invited to provide the optimal solution and utilizing RACOM products, met and surpassed every requirement for a system providing a secure means of communication using a RipEX radio network.

Key mandatory requirements within the tender were:

• Redundancy of the base station – RipEX-HS was used there
• Maintain network remotely – RipEX hosts a ‘fast remote access’ management system and SNMP with alarms
• Solar powered units – RipEX can operate in ‘Sleep Mode’ with 0.1 W power consumption

RipEX has also proven to be outstanding in terms of reliability with anti-collision communication using Flexible protocol on the radio channel and TCP/IP protocols support.

As the application is considered to be very important and outages cannot be tolerated, the RipEX ‘Backup routes’ feature has been implemented. If a radio link fails for any reason, RipEX units automatically switch to GSM backup.

HIGHLIGHTS

• MR400, 400 MHz
• Avalanche protection
• Hydrometric services
• Solar powering – Sleep mode
• Temperatures below -30 °C
• Altitude up to 3400 m
• 7500 km², 100 units

Reliable and durable modems of MORSE system enabled the construction of a data network in the demanding high-altitude conditions of the Italian Alps. This hydrometric network operated by the Department of Civil Protection of the Bolzano region transmits data needed for avalanche protection, meteorological services and hydrometric services. The highest altitude station is placed on Mount Wilder Freiger at an altitude of 3400 m and is one of the highest located meteorological stations in Europe.

• 400 MHz, 1 simplex channel
• Covered area of 7500 square kilometers
• 17 backbone and 70 terminal sites
• Fully redundant backbone network; 2 MR400 radio modems at each location
• Surrounding temperature frequently below -30 °C

MORSE system replaced and merged 5 legacy systems into one network:

• HYDRO98 radio network: the network is not transparent (only partially expandable, with difficulty, low-speed, but good coverage)
• Fixed telephone lines: high fixed costs and limited choice of sites, which can be covered
• GSM dial-up connection: high cost and limited reliability in case of a disaster
• GPRS: lower costs, but limited reliability in case of a disaster
• Radio Network CAE: difficult management and configuration, high maintenance costs

MORSE system was selected for this application because it fulfills the requirements of the contractor:

• Ability to connect all existing stations
• High sensitivity, resp. maximum range
• High climatic resistance: -25 to 55°C
• Maximum number of possible user interfaces: Ethernet, RS232 max. 4x, RS422/485 max. 2x, GPS, M-BUS, I/O
• Remote diagnostics
• Sleep mode for solar power