Highlights

• RipEX 400 MHz
• Water utility
• Migration Solution
• No additional migration hw
• Both networks concurrently
• One frequency for both networks
• 150 sites in the 1^st stage
• EMR News Release

Affinity Water is the largest water-only supplier in the UK, committed to delivering high quality water service to all its customers. It provides, on average, 900 million litres of water each day to a population of more than 3.6 million people throughout South East England.

As part of an overall modernisation drive, Affinity identified a need to upgrade 5 scanner stations and around 150 remotes as an individual project. The successful solution had three key criteria to meet:

• Migration to a digital radio that enables implementation of key security features
• Use a solution that allows smooth transition to a new network, without changing or adding base stations or frequencies
• Move toward Water Industry Telemetry Standard protocol

Part of the tender process involved potential suppliers performing heavy tests to assess their proposed hardware solutions. Bench tests were conducted to confirm the functionality of the Migration solution and to ensure the new radios could handle traffic routed through them on the legacy protocol, Proteus 2000 and Serck RTU’s.

Field tests were then initiated, involving the installation of a migration base station to communicate with 3 remotes, all with very weak RSS on a shared frequency, while the legacy network still ran in parallel. This test was specifically to perform link stability proofing.

Since the RACOM Migration solution is very easy to understand and implement, all tests were smoothly materialised by our partner, EMR Integrated Solutions with RACOM support.

After undergoing all these tests and evaluating the hardware and software parameters offered with RipEX and other radios, RipEX was chosen as the optimal solution for this Migration solution.

As noted by Andrew Fletcher, Telemetry Systems Manager for Affinity, “The cost of migrating from analogue to digital shouldn’t be underestimated.  With the RipEX base stations we now have, we don’t need to revisit sites twice to change frequencies and we don’t need additional base stations or licenses. There’s a big benefit to that.”

It has also been commented on by Affinity Water management that the roll out of radios is happening exceptionally fast which implies the engineers are particularly comfortable with every aspect of RipEX.

The principal value added extra of the solution, is improved management and monitoring. Affinity has been able to streamline its maintenance programme, undertaking much higher levels of remote monitoring of all radios, thus minimising site visits and making substantial cost savings as a result.

A real life example to further explain the added value of remote monitoring is explained by Andrew Fletcher. “We can suffer from atmospheric interference in certain areas and that had a big impact on our signals until RACOM solution was used.  With RipEX we can now log in remotely, see how the interference is climbing and where. It reduces the effort required to identify the problem and it’s speedier for to us to respond.”

Highlights

• RipEX 400 MHz
• Power distribution
• Pole top circuit breakers
• DNP3 for SCADA
• COM1 and COM2 concurrently
• High speed / 16DEQAM
• 50 remotes under one base station

Mainpower NZ Ltd is a community owned company and has been distributing electricity to the communities of North Canterbury and Kaikoura in New Zealand for nearly 100 years. It is a not for profit company with customers receiving a share of profits and the company sponsoring community initiatives.

RipEX network is used there for SCADA communication with pole top circuit breakers which are part of the power lines company’s network and also for remote maintenance of these RTU’s.

Key requirements of the new network are concurrent serial communications over multiple serial ports while keeping max. throughput over long distances. The terrain within which the network operates is a mixture of rural and urban environments that includes multi-path propagation. RipEX ticked all the boxes and provides the robust solution the end user was looking for.

The main RF network is around one hilltop base station that services approx. 50 remote sites.  The network operates at max. data speed (16DEQAM) in UHF band using frequency split (different Rx and Tx channel).  Com 1 services the SCADA communications utilising DNP3.  Com2 provides transparent serial coms for several proprietary RTU maintenance and programming protocols.  A broadband RipEX RF link carries the two serial connections from HQ SCADA to the hilltop base station.

A fifteen years old network had been used that offered low speed serial communications. It was becoming obvious that this network needed to be migrated to a modern efficient solution. The new RipEX network delivers such a solution and more than surpasses all the customer’s expectations.

Highlights

• RipEX 400 MHz
• Water distribution
• Migration from legacy network
• Robustness, Reliability, Flexibility
• SIEMENS S7-1200 RTU’s
• Direct remote-to-remote communication
• More than 50 sites

Andalucia in the South of Spain is renowned for its rugged countryside and dry climate. Within the region lies Alcala la Real. Its population of about 22,000 inhabitants are fully aware of the essential need to preserve freshwater resources.

For over 20 years ADALSA (Aguas de Alcala la Real) has managed the supply and distribution of potable water to the consumers of this province. This has not been easy due to the scarcity of water resources and the layout of the land making water supply extraordinarily complex, with 15 catchments, 29 regulation tanks and 8 pumping stations.

Committed to embracing new technologies to maximise the efficient use of water and ensure this vital resource is not squandered, ADALSA came to realise they would have to migrate from their legacy UHF radio modem network to improve robustness and reliability as well as higher flexibility of their SCADA network. The network consists of a control centre, a set of remote control stations and a communications system for the data transmission between them. The remote stations have PLC control automata SIEMENS S7-1200.

After assessing the capabilities of a number of products on the market RipEX digital radio equipment was chosen as the best solution, based on its dependability, high reliability and high data throughput. RipEX also enables direct communication between related remote stations eg. the pump station and deposit level of water, without the intervention of the base station.

Although migration of the network is not yet complete, discussions about expansion of the network are already well under way. ADALSA is delighted that its commitment to new technologies is already reaping the rewards of more efficient and effective use of this invaluable resource under its control, generating long term benefits for the citizens of Alcala La Real.

Highlights

• RipEX 300 MHz & M!DGE
• Hybrid network
• Power distribution
• Tropical environment
• Up to four repeating hops
• Multi-master
• IEC101, IEC104 and DNP3

PLN is a nationally owned company in Indonesia that has been managing electricity distribution throughout the country for over 50 years.

PLN chooses RipEX radio modems on a regular basis for networks throughout Indonesia. PT Surya Total Pertiwi, RACOM’s partner in Indonesia works extensively with PLN. They materialised a SCADA telemetry network to manage electricity distribution in Makassar district with a population over 2 million on Sulawesi Island in the East of the country.

Having considered the main products currently on the market that could potentially provide a solution to the problem, RipEX and M!DGE were chosen ahead of competition.

RipEX was the only product that was able to provide coverage to the remote geographical locations within the network and the complexities attached to servicing these endpoints; up to four repeating hops are required to reach some end points. Indeed, only RipEX offers an unlimited number of repeaters on the way; any endpoint can also work as a repeater simultaneously.

M!DGE is used in parts of the network for reclosers and RipEX for reclosers and RTU’s with one SCADA system used to control the entire network, regardless of the communication type.

The customer appreciates other of RipEX’s unique features such as multi-master applications. Thanks to the RipEX anti-collision Flexible protocol on the Radio channel, more applications can run simultaneously while using different SCADA protocols such as IEC101, IEC104 and DNP3. A Terminal server at the centre also allows the combination of Ethernet and serial RTU’s from five different manufacturers; ABB, Nulec, Cooper, Survalent and Kwang Myung.

As an additional control measure, RipEX had been successfully field tested to the top end of its operating temperature of 70 ⁰ C to ensure it operates seamlessly in the extreme climate.

The first 66 RipEX units and 3 RipEX-HS base stations have been installed at key points in the first phase during 2016, with the total number of sites estimated to be over 500.

The Partner view is given by Mr. Irwinho Harlim, CEO of PT Surya Total Pertiwi: “This tender was one of a number of a similar scope we are participiating for with high levels of success due to RipEX features. PLN is a long term customer who have very good experiences with this product over a long time. Both PLN and PT Surya Total Pertiwi really appreciate RACOM’s pre-sales and after sales support.“

Highlights

• RipEX, 400 MHz
• Water well management
• Installation in desert, over +50 °C
• High reliability
• Long distances – 10W
• Modbus protocol
• One Master & 64 remotes

Although 71% of the earth is made up of water, only 2.5% of this water is fresh and suitable for human consumption. This creates a growing demand to establish alternative accessible fresh water reservoirs, including groundwater.

Water wells are commonly drilled to enable access to ground water reservoirs. The ground water can then be transferred between reservoirs to maintain regulated supplies. To manage such an invaluable resource, a secure and reliable communication method is required between the pumps, equipment and the water wells.

RipEX radio modems have been chosen as the optimal solution for a project providing water well management in Saudi Arabia. The Systems Integrator, Abunayyan Trading, were asked to provide a solution to transmit telemetry data from sixty four wells to a Central control centre. Key requirements included using a radio that offered 10Watt availability and that was able to transmit over long distances without the need for repeaters.

Having looked at and tested a selection of options available to them, Abunayyan selected RipEX as their radio of choice; the listed parameters for this radio modem, backed up with test results, showed RipEX was a perfect solution for this particular project.

One RipEX radio was positioned at the central control room as Master using Modbus protocol to communicate with the slaves. Master slave polling has been configured using half duplex communication thus ensuring that any radio transmission could use the full bandwidth available.

Specific issues that had been raised during the planning stage of the project were the long distances between sites and the harsh conditions of the environment that the equipment had to endure. On both counts RipEX reputation for reliability, performance and robustness have proven to be well founded.

Furthermore, the intuitive design of the interface enabled the network to be configured and implemented without needing to seek additional support from RACOM.

Highlights

• RipEX, 400 MHz
• Online TV broadcasting
• TV motorized camera control
• Ground to Air
• Joystick to Camera
• Mass radio interference
• 50 kHz channel, π/4DQPSK, 69 kbps

Tour de France is one of the most watched sports on TV. This cycling event has a reputation for high quality images provided from a variety of sources: motorbikes, cars, helicopters and fixed locations. The finish route circle on Champs-Élysées in Paris is so overcrowded by supporting cars and motorbikes that cable mounted, motorised cameras must be used to get clear images and close up shots.

ACS France, a leading company in providing TV broadcasting of sporting events for more than 17 years, was responsible for providing images from Tour de France in 2016.

Each stage of the Tour is accompanied by a squadron of helicopter and large numbers of police, international TV and radio stations, creating huge radio communication smog. Lots of equipment was tested in this harsh environment by ACS but only RipEX was able to provide fast and reliable communication.

During real-time broadcasting, one RipEX unit was connected to the joystick and the other to the motorized, gyro stabilised camera, for control management. It was essential to have a continuous fast data stream with minimum jitter, otherwise the pictures would be discontinuous. Despite the noise created by outside factors, the RipEX radios performed perfectly.

Robust, interference tolerant π/4DQPSK modulation with ‘only’ 69 kbps being used; 16DEQAM would have provided 166 kbps but with lower noise and interference resistance.

You can see unique images of the end of Tour de France captured with the help of RipEX here (sec. 27-45):

https://youtu.be/lfARUz9ak-k?t=25s 

RipEX radios have now become an essential piece of equipment for ACS and are likely to help bring unique action shots to your TV screens from global sporting events in the future, such as the French Open tennis championship at Roland Garros and of course, next year’s Tour de France.

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

• RipEX 400, 400 MHz
• Water distribution
• Modbus TCP
• Autospeed functionality
• TCP proxy
• AES256 encryption
• PtP and PtMP, Robust NLOS

Eau du Grand Lyon contracted Veolia to provide an efficient potable water supply to over 800,000 people within 33 municipalities; this contract came into force in February 2015. Eau du Grand Lyon wanted to benefit from the latest wireless technologies to expand its remote management network and entrusted SYSOCO the task of connecting a network of new remote sites. These included interconnections of production and processing structures such as boreholes, catchments, pumping and chlorination stations and infrastructure responsible for the storage and distribution of water.

As a means of managing the complete network, it was split into four zones. Each zone has its own control centre and each control centre communicates with the central command centre.

The standard method used to transfer data to and from each control centre is via Microwave link and Radio modems. At sites, which are too far from the control centre to be serviced effectively via microwave link, or require robust NLOS communication, RipEX was found to provide the optimal solution.  At other sites there is a need for PtMP communications and here again, only RipEX provides the ideal solution.

Eau du Grand Lyon were more than happy with RipEX being chosen after they discovered each RipEX unit offers three distinct levels of security and RACOM had partnered Sysoco in a number of previous network implementations. Also Modbus TCP, routing, frequency options and the modulation agility of RipEX more than meet the demands of the network.

Thierry Muron, Account Manager with Sysoco commented that he was very happy with the levels of support provided by RACOM’s technical support team; from providing complete radio propagation studies for each NLOS site to visiting with Sysoco engineers to configure the first RipEX site.

Since commissioning, the RipEX units have functioned perfectly and both Sysoco and RACOM are looking forward to joining forces on other projects in the future.

Highlights

• RipEX, 400 MHz & RAy, 10 GHz
• Traffic flow management
• RAy for backbone to base stations
• Sleep and Save modes
• Mixed TCP and UDP
• Polling and Report-by-exception
• Over 100 remote sites

Brno is the second largest city in Czech Republic and is the regional capital of Moravia. Brněnské komunikace a.s. [BKOM] was founded January 1, 1995. It is responsible for administration and maintenance of roads in the city: key responsibilities include limiting access to the old town, managing car parking facilities within the city centre and monitoring and managing traffic flows throughout the city.

RACOM has worked with BKOM since 2006, providing networks to enable controlled access for deliveries and emergency vehicles to parts of the old town using retracting bars controlled via a radio network. In 2008 the network infrastructure was extended to display availability of free parking spaces in car parks on electronic information boards.

With ever increasing numbers of vehicles on the roads, the city now experiences varying levels of traffic congestion within the city limits. Levels of congestion change constantly with no clear reason for the build up at any one time or in any one place. Monitoring and managing traffic flows would assist in provision of efficient public transport systems, assist future traffic planning and enable data to be made available for public access to provide best routes and estimated transit times across the city.

Having the opportunity of EU funding to support a directive to alleviate traffic congestion, BKOM asked RACOM for their support. Our remit was to perform a complete propagation analysis, design and implement a solution to connect over 100 traffic detectors to the control centre using SCADA networks, to include commissioning and configuring of the network.

Three RipEX star networks, each with a base station provide city wide coverage. RAy microwave links provide backhaul connectivity from base stations with the information centre.

Commenting on the schematic design chosen, Racom’s Head of Technical Support said, “The unique functionality of RipEX allows the same frequency to be shared between base stations. This enabled installation using less hardware and also reduced the number of frequencies required for efficient operation of the network.”

The installation also uses existing infrastructure, minimising installation costs and time constraints to gain planning permissions. Remote RipEX devices operate with a smart power source; mounted on street lights they operate using a Save mode offering further savings.”

Since coming into operation, BKOM representatives have noted how effective the UHF band is for penetration in urban areas and are delighted with the excellent sensitivity and robustness of connection stability shown by RipEX.

Highlights

• MR400, 160 MHz, Integrated GPS
• Train fleet & crossing zones management
• Remote desert installation, +50 °C
• Multiple Ethernet and Serial applicatons
• Mobile roaming protocol on Radio channel
• 180 km single track railway
• 3 repeaters for inclusive coverage

Ferronor operate rail freight services in Northern Chile over 1800 km of private one track railway.Heaviest traffic movements are between an Iron ore mine across the Atacama Desert to a port on the Pacific coast. With increased production, the manual management of the remotely controlled freight trains on this track became unsuitable for the increased number of freight movements. An automated system was needed that could provide high levels of reliability in the severe climatic conditions experienced in this remote wilderness.

A thorough examination of available products on the market revealed the best solution would be achieved using MR160 radio modems integrated with GPS in order to allow centralized coordination for desolate crossing zones on the one-track railway, in a non-fixed itinerary scheme for mining convoys. Support for locomotive conductors informing distances to the nearest trains ahead and behind, the next singularities in the route, text messages to and from the control centre, etc. are all combined within this application.

A unique RACOM mobile protocol with automatic roaming among bases stations (repeaters) is used. Only three repeaters are needed, strategically placed at dominant points in the hilly terrain, in order to minimize their numbers while having good coverage footprint in 160 MHz band over the entire length of the 180 km long railway. One frequency channel is used for communication among locomotives and repeaters and also between repeaters and the main base station. The second frequency is used for communication between the main base station and the centre.

Key features proved to be:

• Transparent route change for messages to/from mobiles transmitted through repeater stations
• A multiple communications path environment through Ethernet and serial ports
• Versatility to perform as a mobile end communications device, repeater, base and main centre communications server
• Multiple communication protocols allowing system integration of specific proprietary applications

After the network had been completed, Ferronor representatives openly stated that RACOM support was a fundamental part of the project’s success, from the initial selection of the optimal modem model, to selecting the best locations to install repeaters, configuration recommendations of MR160 parameters and remote testing of operations and performance.

Since commissioning, the network has allowed seamless, centralized coordination of desolate crossing zones in the one-track railway in the non-fixed itinerary scheme for mining convoys and support for locomotive conductors. Additionally it informs distances to other freight movements and passing places and direct communications with the control centre.

Such has been the success of this project, another was commissioned in the North of Chile. Both networks have helped the customer increase safety for personnel, the rolling stock and provide efficient management of freight movements.