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.

Highlights

• RipEX, 300 MHz
• Environmental Monitoring
• Installation on sea buoys
• Solar powered
• Flexible protocol
• Maximum reliability
• Multiple repeaters

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.

Características

• MR400 radio módems
• 7.500 Km² de cobertura
• Velocidad: 10.8 Kbps / 12.5 KHz
• 70 Sitios remotos
• Temperatura Exterior -30 °C
• Sleep Mode, para alimentación por paneles solares

La durabilidad y eficiencia de los módems de una red MORSE permitieron la construcción de una red de datos en condiciones de alturas significativamente altas en los Alpes Italianos. Esta red hidrométrica, operada por el Departamento de la Protección Civil de la Región de Bolzano, transmite los datos necesarios para la prevención de avalanchas, y para los servicios meteorológicos e hidrométricos. La estación más alta está ubicada en el Monte Wilder Freiger, a una altura de 3400 m metros y es una de las estaciones meteorológicas más altas de Europa.

• Banda de 400 MHz, 1 canal simplex
• Cobertura de más de 7.500 Km²
• 17 Sitios de backbone y 70 sitios remotos
• Red de Backbone completamente redundante ; 2 Radio Módems MR400 en cada ubicación
• Temperatura cercana inferior a los -30 °C

El sistema MORSE reemplazó y se convirtió en el sistema que integró los 5 sistemas existentes:

• Red HYDRO98: Esta red no es transparente (difícilmente y sólo parcialmente expandible, baja velocidad pero buena cobertura)
• Líneas telefónicas fijas: Costos fijos elevados y con limitada selección de sitios a instalar que puedan ser interconectados con esta red.
• Red GSM: Altos costos y confiabilidad limitada en caso de desastre.
• Red GPRS: Costos más bajos pero confiabilidad limitada en caso de desastre.
• Red CAE: Configuración y gestión muy compleja, altos costos de mantenimiento.

El sistema MORSE se escogió para esta aplicación porque cumple con todos los requerimientos del contratista:

• Habilidad para conectar con todas las estaciones existentes.
• Alta sensibilidad, permitiendo mayor cobertura
• Alta resistencia climática: -25 a 55 °C
• Máximo número de interfaces de usuario posible: Ethernet, máx 4x RS232, máx 2x RS422/485, GPS, M-BUS, I/O
• Los diagnósticos pueden realizarse de manera remota.
• Sleep Mode, para alimentación por paneles solares.