Use of IOT to provide redundant communication system for RTU/SCADA & VOIP to India’s leading Private Oil & Gas Company.

Customer Location: - Maharashtra 

Project Requirement: -

• To Provide Secure and Reliable 4G based communication system for Remote monitoring of RTUs at different CP Stations from Central SCADA Server & for providing VOIP communication between Remote stations to Control Centre .
• Main Communication system implemented was through Fibre optic cables. Customer was experiencing frequent cable break and loosing vital and timely required data
• A Backup communication was become necessary to avoid data loss and to reduce downtime.
• The proposed system should work in the existing network transparently without making any changes in IP network and without taking shutdown.
• Further system was required which can provide the hot stand by redundancy between existing fibre optic network and the GPRS / Cellular Network.
• In addition during maintenance Point to Point Voice communication was very important which was required to terminate in main control room EPABX . 
• Features of the project:
• Remote CP Stations are geographically at long distance from Central SCADA Location. Amongst the various other communication media, GPRS is the best suitable option which helps overcome distance and which have become relatively more reliable, with better availability and easy implementation compare to cable communication.
• There are total 12 RTU’s present in twelve different CP stations in order to collect different parameters around Pipeline. In each CP Station, GPRS modems and VOIP gateways are installed.
• Communication system comprising of, is fully hardware-based solution. All remote GPRS modems will communicate with respective masters at the Control Room. Cellular Routers at remote and Master are used with SIM card 4G/3G Internet connection.
• When the Fiber link is active, the Cellular network is ‘Standby’ and whenever fibre cable gets cut, Cellular network gets activated for data communication over wireless.
• When Fiber is live RTU data, VOIP communication and CCTV data communication takes place over Fiber. When Fibre is cut, Only the RTU data passes through the GPRS wireless link.
• VOIP based system includes Dial up communication between all CP stations, Extension of EPBX from control room to all CP Stations
• At any given point of time, Security is a major concern, as the private data is being transferred through public internet domain. The network is secured at various levels as follows:

1.     Secured VPN Communication shall be utilized.

2.     This ensures not just authenticated connections but also the entire data is encrypted to save it from eavesdropping.

3.     The GPRS at Remote Sites have inbuilt firewall modems, which shall be carrying SIM cards with 4G/3G internet services.

4.     At SCADA side also, Master GPRS modules with inbuilt Firewall and internet connection is using SIM card based 4G/3G services.

5.     Both the units, at site and at central side have secured login credential in terms of security certificate, to ensure the authenticated equipment handling.

System Architecture: -

We have successfully completed this project in 18 days including following activities:

• Finalization of Panel space, laying of Ethernet cables and Commissioning of Master GPRS modem at the Control Room.
• Installation of all remote 12 GPRS modems with necessary SIM cards and antenna and arrangement of necessary power.
• Installation and Commissioning of VOIP gateways with Telephone as per network scheme provided.
• Configuration of all GPRS modems and network switch as per Network Scheme.
• Successful testing and commissioning of complete system as per customer requirement.