Petrofac needed a new solution replacing an old wireless radio system in a remote site, due to loss of the LOS (Line of sight) in urban extension process. The new system that needs to be installed must ensure reliable operation, and reduce data loss and failure problems that the old system suffered from.

The key features that the new system required:

• Provide secure and reliable communication
• A good range of operating temperature
• Modbus functionality to be compatible with the installed SCADA system.

After a number of site visits, Xceltra decided to provide Petrofac with the M2M remote connectivity solution. This decision was made based on the following factors:

• The sites were extremely far, and had good mobile network coverage.
• Upgrading an old Radio system, required additional installation costs as well as carrying out a new path study.
• Using the wired solutions wasn’t an option.

The designed M2M remote connectivity consisted of a Cellular (GPRS/Edge) Modbus Gateway with the following features:
• It achieved the desired speed.
• A Firewall and SSH to ensure secure Communication using static IP SIM cards.
• Modbus serial-network gateway to be connected to the SCADA directly.
• Temperature ranges: –40 to +75 °C.