Communications is one of the most important functions have any SCADA system. If the sites cannot communicate with one another and also update the HMI software, then the system is doomed to failure.
To that end, we realize the importance of properly designing and verifying the radio system, and its associated RF paths.
We base our design upon the availability of RF paths, determining their reliability first in the job process. We choose to do this because are goal is to design a ‘fault-tolerant’ and ‘fail-safe’ system, where there are no single point of failures.
To accomplish the RF design, we use:
- Global Position System (GPS) for site location
- RF propagation analysis software
- USGS Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) developed by the United States Geological Survey
- The latest in digital maps, both 2D and 3D to reflect the true picture of the system
After performing a ‘paper’ evaluation developed on a computer using the above software, if it is determined that one or more sites are marginal, we have the equipment to run an actual RF field study, measuring the RF strength between various sites.