Smart Wireless Communication

Published: 25th September 2009 | Issue 3 Share article:

New Smart Wireless Communication capability in the ROC800-Series enables PlantWeb® to improve predictability of remote oil and gas assets. Emerson Process Management has expanded its Smart Wireless solutions family, with the addition of native communications capability for the integration of wireless field networks to the ROC800-Series Remote Operations Controller. Extending the ROC800-Series to include wireless field networks enables oil and gas operators to improve asset predictability, manage remote assets more profitably, improve maintenance efficiency and effectiveness, and deliver cost reductions in asset construction time.

Wireless technology has long been used in the oil and gas industry where production and distribution systems can span hundreds of kilometres. In this industry, Emerson’s remote operations controllers communicate with instrumentation at wellheads, pipelines, and other remote sites. Secure and robust wireless technology centralises access, helping users improve safety and minimise risk of dangerous environments. Furthering these benefits, Emerson’s enhancement of the ROC800 adds wireless functionality to the company’s Smart Remote Automation Solutions, which further extends the predictive intelligence of PlantWeb digital architecture into remote oil and gas locations.

The new Smart Wireless Communication capability allows the ROC800-Series Remote Operations Controller to communicate directly with any mix of up to 30 wireless temperature transmitters or wireless pressure transmitters over the self organising mesh field network. This has significant cost benefits when used for monitoring process variables that may be located up to 200 metres away from the RTU. Wiring of instrumentation has significant costs in these environments since land is often leased and surfaces may be rocky and difficult for wiring. The remoteness of such locations also makes manual monitoring very expensive. Since Smart Wireless monitoring points enable up to 90 per cent installed cost reduction as compared with wired installations, the technology opens significant opportunities for operations improvement. Field instruments that use the wireless self-organising network approach can be installed to bring in diagnostic information from points that could not be monitored earlier because of cost constraints.

There are a number of applications in these locations that can benefit from low cost incremental monitoring. The predictive intelligence provided by the ROC800 with Smart Wireless Communication increases process availability and eliminates unnecessary field trips for data retrieval, configuration changes, and asset profiling. Through enabling online monitoring with detailed diagnostics and notification of potential problems, Smart Wireless helps users prevent unplanned downtime. Furthermore, it extends asset lifecycles through proactive asset management. Scheduled maintenance is now linked to actual asset performance to target the highest value equipment. Learn more about the ROC800 and other Remote Automation Solutions from Emerson Process Management at: www.EmersonProcess.com/Remote

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