Wireless data networks for wind farms
28 January 2004
Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
Information from Satel
Stark against the horizon like giant palms reaching for the sky, their beauty and contribution to the environment are a matter of some discussion. But love them or hate them, wind-driven generators are here to stay and are almost certainly going to become even more pervasive. In fact a great deal of investment in wind farms for the production of electrical power is happening in several European countries as well as in the USA. And every wind farm represents a classic market opportunity for an integrated data network, turnkey project.
By definition, these farms are located in scarcely-populated windy areas such as hills, narrow valleys or cliffs open to the sea; all places where there is little, if any, coverage from the public communication networks.
On the other hand, the nature of the energy produced requires that it cannot be stored but must be used immediately at the very same moment it is generated. Consequently, wind farms are almost always connected to the national grid; normally via a substation. Here the outputs of all the turbines are combined and the voltage is transformed up, the power is metered for accounting purposes and transferred to the grid. Often there are several vendors (the producers of wind power), each with its own substation next to that of the grid. These substations are usually located in remote areas and - for environmentally-aesthetic reasons - are in hidden areas.
As with any advanced technology, each and every turbine needs to be carefully controlled and monitored. Further, there are maintenance teams who have to communicate with each other whilst in the field: typically between the ground and the top of the towers and from each tower to the control room, etc. In some instances it is also necessary to transmit video signals.
In situations where the area of operation is relatively small and the number of towers is limited, a dedicated network with high speed narrow band radio modems such as the Satelline-3AS models from Satel are more than adequate. Where the installation is spread over areas covering many hundreds of kilometres then the delay time introduced by the repetition of the UHF signals is no longer acceptable and more sophisticated networks are required, eg, a long distance microwave network transmitting in realtime with an adequate number of broadcasting points from which utilities up to 20 to 30 km are served.
For more information contact Satel SA, 011 887 2898.
Further reading:
Power amps for portable radio comms systems
iCorp Technologies
Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
CML Micro expands its SµRF product portfolio with a pair of high efficiency single- and two-stage power amplifiers that offer outstanding performance for a wide range of dual-cell lithium battery-powered wireless devices.
Read more...
RF agile transceiver
Altron Arrow
Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
The AD9361 is a high performance, highly integrated RF Agile Transceiver designed for use in 3G and 4G base station applications.
Read more...
Choosing a GNSS receiver
RF Design
Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
Applications requiring sub-ten-meter positioning accuracy today can choose between single-band or dual-band technology. While this decision might seem as simple as flipping a coin, it is far from that.
Read more...
Tri-Teq’s latest range of filters
RFiber Solutions
Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
Tri-Teq recently presented its latest filter products, which included passive and co-site mitigation filters (lumped element and suspended substrate technologies) and tunable filters (bandpass and harmonic switched filters).
Read more...
Why GNSS positioning precision is enabling the next wave of IoT applications
iCorp Technologies
Editor's Choice Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
While high-performance GNSS implementations are achievable with few limitations, most real-world applications must balance power consumption, form factor and accuracy requirements.
Read more...
The evolution of 4D imaging radar
Altron Arrow
Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
4D imaging radar is redefining automotive sensing with unmatched precision, scalability and resilience and, as global adoption accelerates, this technology is poised to become a cornerstone of autonomous mobility.
Read more...
Links Field Networks: The perfect fit for telematics in Africa
Links Field Networks
Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
Operating at the intersection of global SIM innovation and local market intelligence, Links Field Networks has emerged as a premier provider of telematics-oriented connectivity across Africa and beyond.
Read more...
RF direct conversion receiver
iCorp Technologies
Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
The CMX994 series from CML Micro is a family of direct conversion receiver ICs with the ability to dynamically select power against performance modes.
Read more...
Bridging the future with RAKWireless WisNode devices
Otto Wireless Solutions
Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
The WisNode Bridge series by RAKWireless is designed to convert traditional wired industrial protocols like RS485 and Modbus into LoRa-compatible signals.
Read more...
Mission-critical RF transceiver
Vepac Electronics
Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
The Iris SQN9506 from Sequans Communications is a wide-band RF transceiver that operates from 220 MHz to 7,125 GHz.
Read more...
printer friendly version