Africa's cellular networks a gift to utility engineers

GSM cellular networks are ideally suited to industrial communications, says Metacom chief technical officer Jako Winter - despite the common perception that they're not reliable enough to be used for anything but voice and non-essential data communication.

“GSM communication is a lot more reliable than people think,” says Winter, “especially if you don't depend on a single network operator. At Metacom, our network design adds extra layers of reliability and security, which makes it ideal for machine-to-machine communications within banks and utilities.”

South African power utility Eskom, for example, uses Metacom communications devices to monitor equipment in the field and deliver vital information directly to the desktops of the engineers who need it. “It's a well tested solution with more than ten thousand devices in the field already, including in remote areas with harsh conditions,” says Winter.

Using the existing infrastructure for vital industrial communications is an attractive proposition for many utilities, says Winter. “It's a cost-effective, reliable and secure way to make your equipment visible - and it's already there! In rare cases where there is no existing network coverage, we can supplement it with our satellite link.

“The only other alternative is building your own private radio network,” says Winter. “At $150 000 and up for a single repeater, that can rapidly become prohibitively expensive. It makes far more sense to piggy-back on a network that's already in place and that can be configured to suit most industrial communication needs.”

Winter believes the biggest barrier to more widespread adoption of GSM-based industrial communications is the perception of unreliability. “Most utility engineers have had the experience of their voice calls being dropped, and they take that as an indicator that the networks aren't good enough for critical communications,” he says. “But the right network design combined with the right equipment design makes an enormous difference. With dual SIM cards and advanced monitoring solutions we can switch between cellular networks should there be a network related failure. It can even be configured for automatic failover to satellite in the event that both GSM networks fail. The Metacom industrial communication solutions are reliable enough for even mission-critical communication requirements.”