World without wires

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Lief Erikson thinks there is room for wireless growth in the oil industry.

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Ferhad Patel sees wireless as a way to improve performance.

"For example, the application of WiMax in the field of upstream applications has a real benefit as data generated during exploration can be transmitted in real time to engineers, who can make informed decisions," said Ferhad Patel, regional business manager, Gulf countries, Intel.

"Additionally oil drilling platforms can be connected to each other and to shore based facilities. Voice, video and data can be transmitted cost effectively, reliably and securely thus providing a command centre with information on weather conditions, oil rig equipment information and work progress.

"The enhanced recovery of limited oil and gas reserves through the use of real time information systems will allow timely business decisions that generate revenue and save money," said Patel.

"Field and refinery resources can be monitored and maintained based on their condition resulting in cost savings, in addition to facilitating better collaboration between remote resources and centralised decision makers."

Driving development

The requirements of the industry as a whole will be the drivers behind most of the development in specialised areas of the oil and gas industry. It will be important for any technology developed to have the capability to seamlessly integrate into existing systems, across platforms and brands.

"In the case of industrial technological advancement the evolving needs, requirements and growth of the industry form the backbone on which technology is tailored," said Todorov.

Patel believes there are already enough compelling reasons for the industry to use wireless technology.

"The oil and gas industry has been deploying satellite communication technology but now have a more cost effective and robust alternative," he said.

"Real time information allows for quicker and more efficient decision making. In an industry where milliseconds can mean the difference between success and failure, any technology that can help will be adopted and retained. It will be driven by the need to remain competitive in the world markets by enhancing the efficiency of the oil field and the refineries."

Technological breakthroughs over the last few years are also contributing to a growing interest in applying the technology.

"Developing the 802.15.4 low power radio on a chip coupled with mesh networking technology is a major technology advancement enabling industrial wireless," said Kagan. "Additionally the proliferation of the WiFi standards - 802.11xxx and WiMax 802.16xxx have helped spur [the development of] wireless solutions."

Todorov highlights similar points, suggesting that the concept of ‘mesh' networking is perhaps the biggest breakthrough.

"The mesh is a network of many intelligent ‘nodes', each communicating to one of the nodes next to it in the network topography - the more nodes the better the mesh," he said.

"With an abundance of communication paths redundancy is assured, because if a node drops out of the network for one reason or another, the other nodes around it are smart enough to realise it is no longer there and work out for themselves an alternative communications path."

Some challenges

Despite continuous improvements in technology, there are issues that need to be resolved before wireless networks achieve their full potential in an industrial environment. For instance, there have been safety concerns about the use of wireless equipment offshore in the oil industry, due to the fact that sparks from electronic equipment can cause damage. In response the industry has cited the development of explosion-proof packaging as essential to continued development. Wireless' use has also been hindered in the past because of unreliable technology, and conflicting standards and protocols.

"Almost certainly the most important obstacle has been the lack of progress in the various standardisation bodies," said Todorov.

Dealing with the issue of standardisation is the work of several organisations. In the 1980s, efforts were made to develop a digital communication standard for field devices. Process control suppliers began work on their own proprietary digital communication standards resulting in a handful of competing protocols, none of which could work together.

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