USE OF WIRELESS NETWORKS FOR GAS FIELDS AUTOMATION

Abstract

The largest gas and condensate fields (GM and GCM) of Russia located in the Far North region with hard climatic conditions and the lack of infrastructure, including power supplies. Therefore, the main problem during the development and operation of GM and GCM automation systems is the absence of wired communication channels between the individual gas field facilities, such as wells and treatment plant. This problem is solved by using the wireless data transfer technologies. Today there are a lot of different systems for wireless data transmission, differing transmission distance, its maximum speed, the technology used. It’s analyzed the existing technologies and systems in this article. The requirements for the operating conditions of wireless channels of communication technology used are formulated too. The best option is the use of wireless sensor networks (WSN). It is a distributed self-organizing network, consisting of a variety of sensors and actuators connected to each other via radio. This network meets the basic requirements for the gas fields, namely, it can be combined to thousands of electronic devices, cover the space of a few kilometers due to the ability of nodes to relay messages and embedded in automation systems in the area between the managed process and the SCADA system. The authors recommend to use the system Swift, developed by the Russian telecommunications’ company Swift Telematics. The main factors affecting the reliability of operation of the FSU, as well as its individual components, are considered. The ways to improve it are shown.