Highlights

• RipEX, 400 MHz & M!DGE
• Emergency Early Warning System
• M!DGE used for backup
• MQTT protocol for sirens
• Mesh Network
• Backup routes
• 14 sites in 9 cities

Exxon Mobil is a major operator at the Port-Jerome-Gravenchon-Refinery. The facility is SEVESO classified and as such, stringent health and safety measures must be observed to protect the surrounding environment and infrastructure.

To fully meet their commitment to health and safety, Exxon Mobil chose to have a completely new, extensive, early warning system developed to include a central management system. A theoretical study of the links was produced and from this, it was realized that VHF was necessary to build a robust radio network. RipEX was chosen ahead of its competitors in the market because of its ability to transport MQTT protocol with efficiency and build a mesh network including Backup routes thus enabling the alarm system to remain functional even if the site is partially damaged. 3G is used as an additional backup.

The alarm system covers 9 cities; 25000 inhabitants spread over 28 km². RipEX with Router mode and Backup route features is used over 14 sites. M!DGE is used as backup for RipEX across the network. The advanced diagnostics of RipEX including link testing proved very useful during installation and configuration.

AE&T was the main contractor for this new design of Siren system. Such was the success of this application and interest it has generated that, AE&T and RACOM have implemented similar solutions at other sites in France and Spain.

How the system works:

Highlights

• RipEX, 400 MHz
• Installed in electric aircraft
• Air to Air
• Air to Ground
• Real time data transfer
• 35 km air-to-air, 10 cm antennas
• Crossing English Channel

The Airbus Group Innovations research and technology network is leading a company-wide electric aircraft roadmap. The development of flying demonstrators E-Fan, allows the group to evaluate the feasibility and benefits of e-aircraft technology. The wide ranging research into disruptive technologies and other programs will enable improvements across the Group’s product range, including more on-board electrical power to increase aircraft efficiency, reduce noise and lower emissions.

Success in this research project requires transfer of large amounts of data in real time. It was therefore important for Airbus to scrutinise the various technologies available within the market to find the most adaptive, best in class technologies. The RipEX radio modem is renowned for overall data throughput and this, combined with the way in which state-of-the-art concepts have been carefully implemented, provide the Airbus Group with the optimal solution.

In over 100 test flights leading up to the record crossing of the Channel, Airbus used one RipEX unit in the E-Fan transmitting telemetry data to another RipEX unit in the support aircraft. Successful communications were managed to over 35kms with only 10cm antennas being used on each unit.

For the record 38 minute flight itself, Airbus used air to air communication for transfer of data but also had simultaneous communications with static units on the ground. Because of the flight distance of 74 kms, a static unit was installed at either airport. Initially, air to ground communication was established with the RipEX unit in England and half way through the flight, a new communication link was automatically established with the RipEX unit at the landing airport in France. This network set up ensured telemetry data was being simultaneously transmitted, to two independent units throughout the entire flight.

Highlights

• RipEX, 400 MHz
• Water monitoring at wellheads
• Remote desert installations, +50 °C
• Serial interface
• Siemens ‘WinCC’ SCADA and ’S7-300’ PLC
• Bridge mode
• 2 base stations and over 20 remotes

The Jordan Phosphates Mines Co. , incorporated in 1953, extracts and processes phosphate ore as a primary activity. Operating three mines, it is the World’s second largest exporter of Phosphate ore. Accountable to the Kingdom’s environmental codes to ensure sustainability within the country, JPMC have looked to employ the latest technologies in relevant fields to comply with these demands.

As part of this review, JPMC realized the benefits to be gained in using modern digital radio networks; easy to configure and maintain and that provide robust and reliable communications with even the remotest sites. By the end of the tender process, RipEX proved itself to be the optimal solution for a network to monitor water at the wellheads. Since the customer put maximum stress on the communication reliability in remote desert locations and the data speed was not the issue, 4CPFSK modulation with 20 kbps data rate has been chosen. Each radio is configured in Bridge mode using the serial interface [RS232] to connect with SCADA PLC. Data acquisition includes water quality, pressure and temperature at the wellhead, with alarm values set to immediately notify the control centre of changes to measured values.

Despite being the first project for PALCO, RACOM’S new local partner, the installation and commissioning process was made very easy due to the intuitive nature of the set up configurations and technical support mechanisms provided by RACOM. In this case RACOM provided only Radio coverage path study.

At the time, Mr. Radwan Abu Tubbaneh, Deputy General Manager of PALCO said, “The engineers did not know the product but are so delighted with the ease of installation and commissioning, they are looking forward to using more RipEX units when the network is scaled up as well as in other projects.“

Since commissioning, the network has operated seamlessly and at time of writing, orders for additional RipEX units are already being processed to scale up the size of the network.

Highlights

• RipEX, RipEX-HS, 400 MHz
• Water distribution
• Whole Malta, 300 units
• Modbus TCP & Ethernet/IP
• Two independent SCADA applications
• Back up routes
• Case study, WSC White Paper

The Water Services Corporation of Malta (WSC) is wholly responsible for the complete water cycle, from production and supply to its safe disposal throughout the islands. As a key part of their environmental policy they are dedicated to the effective and efficient use and re-use of water. This approach reduces the energy consumption required to produce water and treat waste water, through use of equipment and technology that is as environmentally friendly as possible. In practical monitoring and management terms, this requires a network that can offer maximum capacity and response time.

RipEX provided an optimal solution to operate SCADA’s for both potable and waste water within one SCADA network, offering sufficient capacity, speed and reliability with ease of management and maintenance. RipEX also proved to be outstanding in terms of data throughput, anti-collision on the radio channel and network uptime, complemented by back up routes, and the quality and reliabilityof the hardware implemented. The network parameters chosen surpassed the desired requirement for capacity and response times.

Thanks to the use of common IP standards within RipEX, WSC engineers were able to install and configure the SCADA network independently. Ing. Antoine Psaila, Head of the SCADA team in WSC, commented afterward: “The setting up of the radio network was a learning experience for us since we are doing it in-house. At the beginning we were surprised how easy it was to configure the RipEX, even remotely. Then the unique diagnostic and monitoring tools were found to be really useful in practice. For example, the ability to provide a real time view of raw data packet transfer helped us a lot”.

During a training visit to RACOM headquarters to resolve SCADA integration issues and Back Up routes using specialised features of RipEX, WSC representatives were also impressed by the in-house approach used by RACOM for manufacture, the detailed QA and inspection models used throughout the process and the levels of customer support which have helped confirm their choice of manufacturer for this project.

Highlights

• RipEX, 160 MHz
• Power distribution
• Extreme Middle East climatic conditions
• DNP3 protocol
• Backup routes, Multi repeaters
• Press release
• 5000 sites planned

The Jordanian Electric Power Company Limited (JEPCO) was established in Amman in the year 1938. JEPCO is responsible for distributing mains electricity to about (66%) of the total consumers in the country. Forward planning and forecasting to meet the growing demands of the consumers has been embedded in JEPCO’s philosophy.

In tests lasting many months, RipEX had to prove its qualities not only in pure technical parameters, but also while operating in extreme climatic conditions, ranging from dusty desert heat to overnight frost. The customer also required an advanced topology design, including backup routes, multi repeaters and the ability to operate in locations with challenging infrastructure.

The customer appreciates RipEX’s outstanding performance over its competitors, embedded support of DNP3 protocol, friendly, yet advanced diagnostics and overall professional approach of RACOM as a producer.

The whole network is designed for more than 5000 sites. The climatic conditions of the Middle East thoroughly test any technology deployed in the field.

Highlights

• RipEX, 400 MHz
• Oil Production management
• Temperatures below -40 °C
• Extensive rough hilly wooded area
• TCP in the centre + Terminal server
• Polling and Report-by-exception
• 5 Masters in 5 locations, 120 remotes

LUKOIL is a major international vertically-integrated oil & gas company, the largest privately owned oil & gas company in the world by proved oil reserves and one of the biggest Russian oil business groups with $139 billion revenue and net income in excess of $11 billion.

LUKOIL have used the radio modems RipEX400 to create a geographically-distributed radio data network on a large oil field in the Republic of Komi in rough hilly wooded area.

Thanks to RipEX fetaures, the new functions have been implemented to the customer’s SCADA network such as the serial access (polling) and random access to a radio channel including the functions of distributed IP-routing, multiple retransmission and remote monitoring via the corporate Ethernet network.

Eidsiva is one of the largest energy companies in Norway with significant business within the production, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates over 22,000 kms of power grid and has a customer base of approx. 155,000.

With a mission to be “A driving force for us in Inland Norway” and holding core values based on innovation, dynamism and engagement, it was important for Eidsiva to find a like-minded partner to provide the optimal solution for a SCADA system to meet the needs of its entire grid and customer base. Resulting from exhaustive tests, RACOM’s RipEX radio modem proved it was more than up to the job; like Eidsiva’s core values it has proved to be future-proofed, very reliable with high data throughput and very easy to manage.

The RipEX radios connect more than 100 remote Siemens and ABB RTU’s using RP-570, IEC101 andIEC104 protocols in 2015 with the network still expanding.

Easy installation and an intuitive WEB browser interface, wide configuration options and integrated help files reduced the installation cost and reduces commissioning time down to an absolute minimum. Combined serial and Ethernet interfaces also reduced the number of external communication units needed in the field.

RipEX’s support of SNMP and advanced routing simplifies the integration of the radio network into the management and monitoring systems. With a focus on reliability and security, Eidsiva realized that support of AES encryption, Backup routes and Hot Standby mode does indeed make RipEx the optimal solution for this important public service.

Highlights

• RipEX, RipEX-HS, 400 MHz
• Power distribution
• Mass interference on pole mountings
• Underground installations
• 2 COM’s with DNP3 concurrently on remotes
• Over 10.000 remote sites
• Press release, Case study

Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission, Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), the state owned electric utility company of Mexico, issued a tender in July 2012 for the radio communication backbone of its SCADA system, which controls the power distribution in the Mexico City area. The company slogan ‘A World Class Company’ ensured the tender document was written to a very precise level, only considering the top manufacturers globally for inclusion in the tender.

Based on the global reputation of the product and service levels offered by RACOM, RipEX was included on the tender list and proved to be the only product to meet customer requirements in full, successfully passing the strictest selection criteria, from among all the mainstream competitors in the industry.

The RipEX radio modem proved to be the optimal solution for CFE for both commercial and technical reasons. The communication system has been designed to utilize two serial interfaces at remote sites, one for data acquisition and the second for RTU management, while all the acquired data are concentrated via Ethernet in the control center. All features of RipEX met or surpassed the functional requirements within the tender, especially the anti-collision protocol.

Such has been the unqualified success of RipEX within CFE SCADA networks, its use has now been expanded to networks beyond the Mexico City area; it is now (2019) used in 11 of their 16 divisions. More recently, CFE engineers have also chosen to use RipEX within their Smartgrid applications, such are the capabilities and versatility of this radio modem.

As part of strategic renewal and upgrading of infrastructure, CFE has already planned for continued expansion and a commitment to use RipEX radios within its networks. This in itself proves that RipEX is indeed a best-in-class radio modem renowned for overall data throughput.

RipEX is continuously delivered to CFE and till now 10.000 units have been ordered. This is the best confirmation that RACOM is really an expert in future-proof design and RipEX is is indeed a best-in-class radio modem renowned for its ‘best performance in any environment’.

Highlights

• Currently RipEX, 400 MHz
• Different Radio modems
• Since 1995
• Special usage
• Fixed and mobile networks
• Multi-master polling & report-by-exception
• Over 4000 units till 2017

The unique properties of RACOM radio modems are continuing to give RACOM the opportunity to supply the Czech Police. We began our long-standing cooperation back in 1995; a cooperation that is still proving to be mutually beneficial.

Special-purpose radio modems were developed for the Czech Police that comply with the most stringent standards on communication security and reliability; over 4000 pcs of different models of customized RACOM radio modems have been supplied up to 2017.

In 2017 the Czech Police took the decision to upgrade their entire network and went out to tender. After lengthy consideration, taking all options and possible global suppliers into account, it was decided to upgrade the entire network with customised RACOM RipEX radio modems. In order to meet the full tender specifications, special functionality has been incorporated into each radio.

Resulting from this latest tender, 3000 pcs of radio modems will be delivered before end 2020 with a possible expansion for an additional 2000 pcs.

RACOM is proud of its long standing association with the Czech Police and in providing some of the support required to allow the Czech Police to provide such a valuable service to the nation they serve.

Highlights

• MR400, 400 MHz
• Train fleet management
• SCADA, tracking, messaging
• Above and below ground level
• IP backbone to base stations
• RANEC
• 100 trains, 25 base stations

The MORSE system is also ideal for applications which are demanding on both security and reliability such as data transmission to and from metro trains. In the Portuguese town of Porto RACOM radio modems are communicating just as reliably in tunnels as they are above ground.

• IP over SDH for connecting base stations
• Use of special radiating cables in underground parts of the metro
• Redundant backbone network for ensuring maximum reliability
• The MORSE network allows data transfer for:
  • Determining the locations of trains
  • Messaging (centre to driver)
  • Train status