Telecom and SCADA in Oil and Gas

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  Telecommunication, Data Gathering and Supervisory and Control systems are best described as the nervous system of an Oil & Gas pipeline or plant. The following are some of the main functionalities of these networks:

-Enabling Voice communication (wired and wireless) between the personnel and control centers.
-Creating integrated Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs) through the pipeline or plant for data communication.
-Offering various services based on the aforementioned telecom backbone, including Video Conferencing, CCTV, Voice Messaging, etc.
-Implementing a network of Distributed Control Systems (DCS) which provides reliable local control and monitoring.
-Gathering data of hundreds or thousands of I/O points from different parts of the pipeline or plant into the Central Control Rooms (CCRs) through the telecom network, creating a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) network.
-Enabling many useful services using the gathered data, including Leak Detection Systems (LDS), Phase Detection Systems (PDS), etc.

Without a telecommunication and control network in place, managers of an Oil & Gas project would have a modest chance of running their pipeline or plant safely and efficiently