Remote Management In Action

Anvil Mobile have been supplying  fixed IP data SIMs to enable remote 3G access to wind turbines for some time now.  But, have never visited a site or seen the wind turbines in action until yesterday. One of our customers, a wind turbine site owner and a farmer by trade, had to reconfigure his 3G router and wasn’t comfortable with the technical challenge. Managing Director Ian and Business Development Executive Philip happened to have a meeting arranged in the same general area so volunteered to go on site to make the necessary changes. This was to help out a customer but also because they wanted to see a turbine in action and boys like toys – the bigger, the better.


Arriving on site and parked up right next to the turbine the first thing that was noticed was how quiet it was. The blades were turning and generating electricity but there was hardly any noise at all. This surprising as the press and media always talks about noise as a major problem. Perhaps it was just this type of wind turbine, manufactured in the Netherlands, that was quieter than other types, but this one was almost silent.

Connecting to the router via WLAN the changes that were required could be made in just a few minutes and also enabled a feature on the router that would mean the customer didn’t have to re-boot the router if it lost power or signal. This feature (ping re-boot) is very useful when the router is in a remote area and it can be a pain and an expense to have to visit the site personally just to press a button.

The router is the small blue box on its side with an external (white) antenna cable.











The site owner doesn’t manage the control system that keeps the turbine working safely and efficiently. This is all done by the manufacturer in the Netherlands who can see the control panel information which is linked to the system that controls all of the mechanics keeping the turbine working properly.
  
After calling the engineer in the Netherlands to make sure he had full access to the management systems we headed off to the next meeting after taking one last photo.  An interesting day at the office and as you will see from the photo fantastic weather for once!

Wind turbines and remote management of control systems in rural areas.

Applications & Case Studies

Wind turbines and remote management of control systems in rural areas.

Wind turbines need to be constantly monitored and managed according to the local weather conditions. There was a recent case that hit the TV and press where a wind turbine could not be shut down in gale conditions and was destroyed by fire. The pictures were dramatic and the cost of the incident included the valuable equipment that was destroyed, the clean-up operation and the lost revenue from the electricity that was no longer being generated.

Wind farms by necessity are located in rural areas where there is often no internet connectivity available using traditional fixed line connections. The cost of providing an internet connection is prohibitive in many of these locations as new cables have to be run from the nearest telephone junction. Sometimes satellite can be the answer, however, it is also expensive in terms of equipment, installation and running costs.

The latest solution to the internet connectivity problem is to use the, now mature, nationwide 3G network with some added capabilities that standard consumer grade SIMs don’t currently support. By using the 3G coverage that the mainstream network operators provide, Anvil’s data service with fixed IP addresses on the SIM allow for remote access to the control systems.  So, connectivity is now easy to establish, but issues such as security and reliability have to be addressed. The first part of the answer is to avoid sending any data over the public internet. This is accomplished using a private APN to establish a layer 2 connection and then secure the link with either VPN encryption using appropriate hardware devices such as an integrated router/firewall device - or – for larger implementations, Anvil can even build a private managed VPN over the 3G network using private IP address ranges so the network device housing the SIM can be simple and inexpensive.

The reliability and performance issues are addressed by providing an un-contended internet connection so that the data does not go over the public network. This means that although all mobile 3G networks have variable performance based on factors such as atmospheric conditions and congested cells (unlikely in rural areas), the stability of the connection is greatly enhanced.

In this application note we have concentrated on wind turbines, however the same capabilities can be used for any control or management system with an IP address. This includes Video surveillance and monitoring systems.

Broadband down again? Business grade 3G mobile broadband will keep your business working.

Broadband down again? Business grade 3G mobile broadband will keep your business working.

DSL broadband is not as reliable as old style phone lines and the time to repair is not guaranteed. This means the service can be down for considerable amounts of time without contravening any service level agreements. This causes problems for businesses where vital trade and communication is carried out using the internet. Using VoIP for phone calls is commonplace today and with no phones or internet, businesses can be crippled. There are however, solutions that are readily available to solve the problem.

There are three options shown below, a temporary fix, a permanent fix with manual intervention and a permanent fix that works automatically and retains any VPN connections to other offices.

Temporary fix - a 3G router with a business grade 3G SIM card can be rented for short term requirements. The device has Wireless LAN access and a switch can be added for more Ethernet connections if required. VoIP phones can be part of the package as well as the SIMs use Three UK's mobile coverage and VoIP traffic is not blocked over the mobile network. 

Permanent fix - manual intervention. A 3G router can be supplied and kept as a back up that can be switched on to provide internet access in less than 5 minutes. A low data use tariff keeps the service active and ready to use whenever it is needed

Permanent fix - automatic and retaining VPN capabilities. An existing DSL connection can be ported to the service or a new connection can be supplied  using a 1:1 contention, business grade internet service. A DSL router with automatic fail over to 3G is supplied and the same IP address is allocated to both the DSL connection and the 3G SIM. If DSL broadband fails for any reason, the 3G connection is activated and, as there is no change in IP address, VPN connections to other offices and/or the corporate intranet will continue to work as normal.

Signal strength tips - for 3G data applications

http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/search is a useful site for 3G router installations. When you type in the postcode it shows a map with all of the nearest mobile operators masts highlighted.

The other good aspect to knowing where the masts are is that for some installations where the signal is poor from all operators, an external, directional antenna can help and it is useful to know where to point it for the strongest signal. The higher the antenna can be positioned, the better.

For Three UK you can also use http://www.three.co.uk/support/coverage and remember to check the mobile broadband button and for Vodafone use http://www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafone-uk/personal-coverage/index.htm and check the button for internet and email

3Green Fixed IP Data SIMs – Ecologically sound and good for the environment?

Travelling to the location of an installation that could instead be accessed over the 3G network and internet has many consequences. There are carbon emissions, pollution from exhaust fumes, it takes valuable time, there is wear and tear on the vehicle, as well as the high fuel costs. If the remote system can be accessed directly over Anvil’s fixed IP 3Green data service, the time it takes to resolve an issue or adjust control settings is drastically reduced. By eliminating the time and cost of travelling, this benefits  the individual, their company and also the user of the system because problems and changes can be dealt with immediately simply because issues can be managed or fixed remotely. From a personal perspective we should also perhaps mention the frustration element that would be saved on both sides. The environment also wins as the pollution and carbon emissions that the journey would have caused are completely eliminated.

A real life case where Anvil’s fixed IP SIMs have been deployed is a customer who installs small scale, environmentally friendly hydro electric generators based on an Archimedes screw rather than the traditional turbine design. The benefits are that fish and other organisms are carried down through the generator safely rather than being chopped to pieces and damaged by the dramatic increase in water pressure caused by standard turbines..

A 3G router with an Anvil Fixed IP SIM is installed to monitor and manage the operation of generators where previously the management and control of these systems had to be carried out on site. The nature of these installations means that they are in rural locations all around the UK. Freezing temperatures, heavy rain and drought conditions are all likely to happen during a normal year and control systems  therefore need constant monitoring and adjustment.  Visit  http://www.mannpower-hydro.co.uk to read more about their technology and how it has been deployed – there are some very interesting case studies and research articles.

Other examples of customers who use remote management of control systems are wind farm operators and intelligent building management where heating, lighting, ventilation, water and power are managed for cost reduction and to save energy.  All great examples of the application of green technology aided by Anvil’s 3G Fixed IP SIM.

Future blog posts will focus on enabling remote video surveillance and monitoring using a fixed IP SIMs either in a 3G router or in a camera SIM  slot. There will be separate posts on remote IT support of servers, data centres and IT resources, another on bonded 3G where up to 6 SIMs can be bonded into a single high capacity internet connection for larger user populations and applications such as live video streaming and another on hosted VoIP support over 3G (Three UK network).  Please let us know if you have a preference for the priority of these topics.

The Technology

For those who want more technical detail -  3G mobile broadband can deliver an experience similar to being locally connected to the remote management system. GSM and even GPRS networks were just too slow to make the user experience acceptable. Anvil's 3G service uses private APNs to connect from the mobile network to the internet and then the internet connection has a 1:1 contention ratio over Layer 2 (low latency). Consequently no data is sent over the public internet. We use a tunnelling protocol called L2TP to carry the data. Each SIM has a unique user name and password and uses CHAP authentication to access the network. The result is better performance, security and reliability and what we refer to as business grade mobile broadband as opposed to the standard consumer SIM service.  Multiple IP addresses can be supported on the Anvil SIM to enable the remote control of multiple devices and external firewall appliances. The fixed IP addresses can be either publically addressable or from a private IP address range and managed VPNs can be built using the private ranges. We offer a data monitoring portal to our users so that they can report and analyse the data use by time of day and day of the week. We supply 3G Data SIMs on Three UK, Vodafone networks and from July 2012 on Orange.

Welcome to Anvil's blog. This is where we will post the latest information on our products and services and also any news or articles relating to the communications and high tech world. Also, if we think something is interesting, this is where we share it with our readers.