Case Study for the Deployment of Private LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) Network in ADNOC Onshore for Remote Monitoring and Operations

Abstract

Abstract Remote monitoring and operation are a key aspect in oil and gas facilities due to remoteness of producing and gathering facilities. Traditionally, SCADA system based on wired Fiber Optics or wireless radio communication is used to gather this remote data and perform supervisory actions. During last decade IoT (Internet of things) solutions are being adopted in oil and gas industries because of their cost efficiency and ease in deployment. Most of industrial internet of things solutions (IIoT) available in market are utilizing LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) wireless technologies e.g., LoRaWAN, SigFox, NB-IOT with backbone network infrastructures based on GSM/Satellite/ public cellular network and cloud-based application/network servers. Such solutions, due to the involvement of 3rd party/public networks pose a concern related to data security and complete network ownership. This paper explains the PoC trials conducted in Giant Oil and Gas Production Field (X Field) in ADNOC Onshore for the assessment of following attributes of LPWA networks. Deployment private LPWAN based on existing telecom backhaul consisting of FoC and WiMAX network.Centralized monitoring of existing active instrumentation by utilizing Class C LoRa/LoRaWAN end nodes through Lora/LoRaWAN private network.Effectiveness of Lora/LoRaWAN Class C devices for bidirectional communication. Thus, utilization of LPWAN for monitoring as well as remote operations. At present, in ADNOC Onshore there are multiple remote facilities e.g., oil wells, water injection wells, CP system solar stations etc. which are without centralized remote monitoring; at the same instance, the field has a widespread SCADA network based on WiMAX and FoC. This situation is equally applicable for most of oil and gas brownfield facilities. Private LPWA networks built upon these existing SCADA networks are cost effective solutions to cover the gap for remote monitoring of the facilities where near real-time data monitoring is required. Below LPWA technologies were tested during these PoC trials. LoRaWAN (LoRaWAN protocol over Physical layer of Lora)Private Lora (Modbus RTU over physical layer of Lora)