Abstract
Many businesses and industries have seized upon the opportunity to expand the ability to command, communicate and control remote systems, processes and operations. Within the Critical Infrastructure Industry (CCI), Process Control Network (PCN) systems are integral components of the operations for the oil & gas industry. The use of Machine To Machine (M2M) technologies in the PCN environment is not new but it has continued to advance. From the early days of collecting basic telemetry data M2M has continued to evolve into highly sophisticated and advanced applications providing information for critical decision support systems.
One of our initiatives has been to focus on developing the potential to enhance the M2M communications infrastructure capabilities through the use of cellular services. Working with our preferred M2M systems integration alliance partner, we are piloting solutions to leverage the cellular services offered by Wireless Carriers to implement private cellular networks.
Through our innovation projects, we have been able to reduce the time to deploy and cost to maintain field communications and increase the productivity of mobile workers by providing reliable communications connectivity. We have established a consistent M2M technology governance model for the enterprise which provides an alternative field communications and data backhaul solutions for challenging operating environments.
The ability to develop a cost effective method to deploy cellular based sensors provides the opportunity for the collection of additional relevant data and trend analysis in support of decision support systems. This increase in available data can directly impact the decision quality of all economic and operational production business decisions.
