Disaster prevention along oil and gas pipes
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עברית (Hebrew)
Long pipe infrastructure, which could sometimes stretch for thousands of miles, conducting critical energy, is highly flammable. When it is exposed above ground at remote locations, it could pose a highly complex security challenge.
Incidents along the conduits, such as a terrorist attack, theft or sabotage, could develop into a major ecological disaster, on top pf the loss of resources, unplanned operational costs and so on. As a result, safeguarding critical infrastructure and securing their proper functioning is a paramount national mission for many countries, over an extended period.
A major project of securing gas pipes along the US-Mexico border was recently completed by Red Waves Systems with stellar success. The project comprised visual and observation systems installed in remote locations, linking them wirelessly to command and control stations while securing continuous high capacity quality relay volume over long distances. The project was designed to provide perimeter and deterrent defense to military bases and ground forces tasked with defending the local construction teams (e.g. from abductions).
The most challenging issue for Red Waves Systems, an Israeli company contracted to provide the project’s communications solution, was the communication between the command vehicle complete with all the surveillance and radar systems, designed to move along various sectors of the gas lines, and mobile and fixed masts which house sensors, thermal surveillance systems and radar.
Unmanned systems conference 2014 – Israel
The primary technological requirement of this project had been to provide continuous reliable and stable communication with minimal latency, which would be resistant to disruptions and would have a wideband of at least 12mpb, so that it would be capable of transmitting 2 high quality video channels as well as various telemetry data along a distance of 11 km at a 5.8GHZ frequency.
The company chose a directional omni antenna and carefully calculated the link budget so that it could guarantee an SNR of 18db. The transmitter-receiver designated for the project was manufactured by Radwin.
Providing reliable communication along the pipes’ topography required a solution for mobile transmissions, which was provided by Red Waves Systems. Some of the communications systems had been installed on a mobile mast which was carried by an armored vehicle. The folding mast extends up to 33m.
The mast was designed to operate in adverse environmental conditions with extreme temperatures, so it was also planned to operate autonomously. Therefore, its power source links up to a hybrid system in order to provide power to all the automatically installed systems 24/7 (without any human involvement).
Prior to its departure to Mexico, Red Waves Systems carried out several tests in the south of Israel in order to simulate the system in a similar environment. The test were successful, and they assured the comprehensive technological solution does meet the challenge.
