Highlights

• RipEX, RipEX2
• Power distribution
• 160 MHz, 25 kHz, 16DEQAM
• Base Driven Protocol
• Reclosers, DNP3 protocol
• Backup routes
• LTE or 2x RS232 mPCIE modules

RACOM’s radio modems becomes more and more popular also in Central America. One of the largest and most important electricity distributor there uses several hundred RipEX and RipEX2 radio modems at various positions in its network.

Power distribution company used radio modems from different vendors with which it had more or less issues. A typical example is a network located on the Caribbean coast in difficult terrain conditions. Even though the application required common p-t-mp communications, there were many p-t-p lines in the network that added a lot of latency and instability into the communications. The end user has therefore had to invest heavily in repairs and ongoing maintenance of the network.

All problems were solved when RipEX radio modems were deployed. The network works in p-t-mp mode even though there are no direct line of sight between the sites. The redundant p-t-p links have been removed. Response time and reliability have been significantly improved, interventions in the fields are not needed. For maximum reliability backup routes, a unique feature offered by RipEX radio modems, are also configured in the network.

Another problematic p-t-p link was between the centre of the first network and the next city. Using existing radio modems, the 68 km distance and multipath propagation required many repeaters, yet the link was unstable. When using RipEX2 no repeaters were needed. The link showed high reliability and a significantly shorter response time. In addition, the customer is considering switching this link to full duplex mode to increase the throughput.

The central RipEX2 interconnects both networks. It is equipped with an LTE module through which all radio modems in both networks can be remotely controlled and monitored.

Based on this experience the customer decided to deploy RipEX2 and RipEX modems also in other places, mostly for communication with reclosers. Today (2024) about 300 modems of different types from RipEX to full RipEX2 with LTE module were delivered. Most of the networks are star type with BDP protocol on the radio channel.

Highlights

• RipEX, 50 kHz/ 16DEQAM
• RipEX2, 200 kHz/256QAM
• Power distribution
• Remote meter reading
• Two levels backhaul
• Base Driven Protocol
• TCP/IP

Celesc, the largest power distributor in the state of Santa Catarina in Brazil with more than 3 million customers, is one of the leaders in innovation in the field of AMR (Automated Meter Reading) and AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure). The city of Araranguá has been selected for a pilot project to remotely collect data from power meters in order to automate metering. In total, approximately 35,400 meters were connected.

The tender was won by Wasion, a manufacturer of power distribution equipment such as electricity meters, WiSUN gateways, balance meters, etc.

Waison’s search for a reliable communication solution resulted in the choice of RipEX radio modems, which Celesc has been using in other applications for many years.

The AMI project in Araranguá consists of the following parts:

• Smart meters
• Smart set for measuring electrical values in transformers
• FAN (Field Area Network) — a communication network to connect the end points to the concentrators. Realized by using RF Mesh WiSUN equipment in the free 900 MHz band.
• Backbone Network — communication network for bidirectional secure data transmission between the FAN concentrators and the MDC system in the centre. Realized by using RipEX and RipEX2 radio modems in the 400 MHz licence band.
• Network device management system
• MDC (Meter Data Collector) — system responsible for receiving measurement data and processing events to ensure the security and integrity of field data.
• MDM (Meter Data Management) — a system responsible for metering data management

Wasion engineers, together with RACOM technical support, designed a tree-structured communication solution. The end meters were divided into 120 areas. In each area there is one concentrator to which approximately 300 meters are connected via WiSUN.

The concentrators are grouped into 12 clusters, where in one cluster there are about 10 concentrators that communicate to the cluster center via RipEX radio modems. Since the data volumes transferred from the clusters are high, the clusters communicate to the center in the city of Araranguá via RipEX2 radio modems, which have a capacity of up to 1.7 Mbps. The network centre in Araranguá is connected to CELESC’s control system in Florianópolis via an IP network.

As it happens in real life, installation and commissioning was not problem-free. Before the installations, a study and theoretical network design was carried out. In practice, however, it turned out that in some places the theory did not correspond to practice (metal shelters near the antennas, new high-rise buildings, etc.) and the strength and quality of the signals were not sufficient. Fortunately, RipEX radio modems are very flexible and the endpoints can work as repeaters for others at the same time, which has been used in several cases, saving significant investments.

After storms, which are very frequent and strong in the Araranguá area, some radio modems were damaged. Our technical support engineer in Brazil, in collaboration with our local partner Utili, found on site that the source of the problems was insufficient grounding on the installed sites. After implementing our recommendations, the problems no longer occur and the network has a long-term availability of 99.9%.

The AMI project in Araranguá is an example that even when problems occur in practice, RACOM and its partners resolve them quickly.

Highlights

• RipEX2, with Cellular module
• 400 MHz, 25 kHz, D8PSK – 256QAM
• Modbus TCP
• Flexible protocol, up to 6 repeaters
• Report by exception
• Sleep mode
• Solar powering

RACOM radio modems can be used in many different ways. One of the less typical ones is data transfer from remote, tectonically active places.

Laguna del Maule, a glacial lake of volcanic origin located in the Andes Mountains on the border between Chile and Argentina at an altitude of 2,165 m, is an important water reservoir in the area. Its water level was raised by a dam in 1957.

Tectonic plates are shifting in these area and the land surface is uplifting at a rate of up to 25 cm per year, with a total increase of 1.8 m between 2016 and 2020. This uplift is one of the largest of all volcanoes that are not actively erupting. It is therefore not surprising that the area is under permanent monitoring and continuous measurements are carried out.

RipEX2 radio modems were chosen for the data transfer from the measurement sites after a careful selection and testing process. Radio coverage of the extensive and hilly area was not easy and the most remote sites are connected via 6 repeaters, which is only possible with Flexible protocol from RACOM.

There is no infrastructure in the mountains, so the radio modems are powered by solar panels and batteries. To minimize power consumption, Sleep mode is used, another of our unique features.

Most of the sites where the modems are installed are only accessible by helicopter, so great attention has also been focused on their reliability. This year 4.5m of snow was in the area, so access is really complicated.

Surprisingly, there is LTE coverage in some places, so we deployed RipEX2 with mPCIe Cellular module and used the LTE network as a backup route, taking advantage of another one of the unique features of our modem.

Thanks to the collaboration with our local partner MT Ingeniería y Construcción, the end user Management of Hydraulic Works, Maule Region is very satisfied with our network and data transfer went smoothly even during this year’s very tough winter.

Highlights

• RipEX2, 400 MHz
• DMR Tier 3
• Voice Network
• Base station interconnection
• Full duplex p-t-p links
• 50 kHz channel, 64 QAM, 250 kbps
• Mountain area, NLOS

New Zealand is one of the countries where RACOM products are very popular. Since 2011, RipEX Radio modems have been installed here, which were later complemented by RAy Microwave links.

In recent years, our latest RipEX2 Radio modem has also been making its mark on the local market. Thanks to its high data speed of up to 1.7 Mbps and the possibility of full duplex operation, it is also deployed in applications where the use of VHF/UHF radio modems was previously not possible due to their limited data capacity. One example is the interconnection of base stations for voice DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) networks.

Ashley Communications provides voice mobile communications throughout the South Island of New Zealand. Ashley is steadily expanding its VHF DMR Tier 3 network and new interconnections between base stations are IP based.

Holland Communications, a long-time RACOM partner in New Zealand, offered Ashley our RipEX2 radio modems to test the possibility of connecting three remote sites to a central point on their DMR network.

The trial proved to be very successful and Ashley purchased new RipEX2 hardware to connect sites 50 km from each other in the rugged southern Alps of New Zealand. The full duplex links operate in the licensed 400 MHz band with 64 QAM modulation and 200 kbps on 50 kHz channels.

Compared to other options, building and then operating duplex links with RipEX2 is more economical than using microwave links, for example. Therefore, Ashley plans to use our radio modems to connect other base stations as well.

Highlights

• RipEX2, 400 MHz
• Power distribution
• Full duplex p-t-p links
• 1.6 Mbps
• 99,9% availibility
• 19‘ rack installation
• Rio de Janeiro

RACOM has been active in the Brazilian market for many years and has hundreds of RipEX radio modems installed there.

In 2022, in cooperation with our local partner Utili, we were able to win a contract to supply p-t-p lines in the 400 MHz band for a utility company that supplies electricity in the state of Rio de Janeiro and is Brazil’s fourth largest power distribution company in terms of customers, with approximately 10 million.

Similar to other utility companies, the distribution network needs to be monitored and managed. Radio modems are also used for this purpose.

The volumes of data transferred from the most important substations are so high that these substations need to be connected by separate p-t-p links with maximum reliability and availability.

Aprisa XE equipment was used for these purposes. However, the customer was not satisfied with the performance and reliability of these links in the long term, so they decided to replace them with RipEX2 radio modems.

In the first phase, three full duplex links were installed. On two of them the maximum possible modulation 256 QAM is set in the 250 kHz channel, i.e. a speed of 1.6 Mbps in both directions simultaneously. The distances are 9 and 10 kilometers and both links achieve 99,9 % availability over the long term. The third link is very complicated from a radio propagation point of view as it has very strong multipath propagation and reflections in a distance of 9 Km. For this reason, a more robust 16DEQAM modulation had to be used to achieve 98% availability at 1.1 Mbps.

The RipEX2 units are installed in 19’ rack cabinet using the RipEX2-RS chassis and an external duplexer.

The design, installation and commissioning of the links was carried out with the participation of our engineer Lorena, who is based in Brazil and in charge of technical support in Latin America.

We are pleased that the end customer was impressed with the performance and reliability of the full duplex links with RipEX2 radio modems and we believe that more will links be added to the first three soon.