Application Brief IoT Solutions for Utilities
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The document discusses the growth of the IoT market within utilities, highlighting the necessity for utility companies to modernize their infrastructure and business models to enhance operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. It outlines various IoT applications such as network monitoring, online transformer monitoring, and automated meter reading, emphasizing how these solutions can streamline operations and reduce costs. ST Engineering iDirect offers flexible IoT services tailored for different data rate requirements, facilitating market entry for service providers while minimizing upfront investments.
Application Brief IoT Solutions for Utilities
- 1. i IoT SOLUTIONS FOR UTILITIES IoT Within Reach The internet of things (IoT) is a steadily growing billion-dollar market largely driven by companies undergoing digitization for greater efficiency and transparency, as well as by 5G and emerging applications like smart cities. Satellite’s inherent capabilities — such as its ability to reach remote areas, its ability to scale, to extend coverage for other providers — make it an essential part of a hybrid network needed to support an interoperable IoT system. IoT and the Utilities Market Demandisexpectedtodoubleintheutilitiesmarketoverthecomingdecade, and many companies are preparing for this with increased investment into smart grid infrastructure, automation, redundancy, predictive maintenance, and the modernization of the poles and wires of the grid. However, utility companies will need to make significant changes in their busi- ness models to achieve the operational efficiencies needed to cater to these changes. For example, reducing or optimizing costs to serve customers IoT connectivity can give utility companies data and insight on operations from generation to distribution.This enhanced visibility can reduce the manpower andservicevisitsnecessarytomakerepairs,decreasingdowntimeandthereby enabling utilities to streamline operations, meet demand spikes, increase customer satisfaction, and maximize revenue.
- 2. IoT Application Summary Network monitoring - SCADA: Utilities can continuously monitor the distribution network for voltage fluctuations, outages, and peaks in service demand. This also applies to water flow and pressure. Recloser monitoring and reconfiguration: Reclosers are high voltage electric switches on power lines. Reclosers automatically shut off power when trouble occurs and are designed to programmatically reset when a problem has been resolved. With IoT connectivity, utility companies can monitor reclosers for fluctuations, service demands, and quickly react in case of outages. Online transformer monitoring: Power transformers are vital to power transmissionanddistributionsystems.Periodicmonitoringisoftenimpractical, astransformersaregeographicallydispersedandhighlydependentonmanual inspections.Onlinemonitoringenablesutilitycompaniestomonitortransformer parameters like oil levels, power overloads, temperature, and transmission to a smart grid monitoring system. Automated meter reading: Automated metering infrastructure (AMI) enables thecollectionandmonitoringofwater,gas,andelectricityusageforresidential andindustrialcustomers.SatelliteIoTextendsthecoverageofAMIandreplaces the need for onsite meter readings, reducing manual inspection costs and improvingreliability.Thisdataenablesutilitiestomonitorandoptimizeopera- tions about pressure, flow, and transmission loss across their entire network. Service fleet tracking and field force automation: Utilities have large, deskless workforces that use a number of applications and devices to communicate and provide real-time data back to their head offices. Reliable IoT connectivity enables the collection and delivery of this data regardless of the location, reducing fleet costs and increasing crew safety.
- 3. ST Engineering iDirect | www.idirect.net 04/23 IoT Within Reach With ST Engineering iDirect At ST Engineering iDirect, our IoT Solutions serve all of these data requirement use cases. Our Evolution, Velocity and Dialog multi-service platforms are ideal for fixed and mobility applications that range from high to very high data rates (HDR) and that require highly reliable and complex network configurations. However, we recognize that IoT requirements also exist in the low data rate (LDR) and medium data rate (MDR) market segments. Service providers that want to build a new IoT service offering for these markets, or that are new entrants into the IoT market in general, require a highly efficient, cost-effective solution and flexible business model. That’s why ST Engineering iDirect has launched our flexible IoT Services to supplement our highly successful platforms and to ease the entry of service providers into the IoT market. This new LDR and MDR offering pro- vides customers with a complete connectivity solution that’s built on a flexible service enablement platform paired with IoT-as-a-service options. With our scalable Evolution, Velocity, and Dialog platforms and our small form-factor IoT terminal, powered by hiSky, we can support flexible business models for immediate market access of fixed and mobile IoT environments while reducing the upfront capital investments and operational complexity usually required to launch an IoT platform and service. At ST Engineering iDirect, our IoT Services are ideal for LDR (small data bursts of 30 Kbps or 1–2 MB per month usage) and MDR (continuous, on-demand throughput of 10–500 Kbps) applications. Our solutions utilize a family of compact, lightweight IoT terminals that feature a tightly integrated satellite modem and flat-panel antenna design in Ka-band or Ku-band variants. Need more data than that? Our iQ and MDM series modems on our Evolution, Velocity, and Dialog multi-service platforms are ideal for fixed and mobility HDR IoT applications.