Francis Enejo Idachaba

5G networks: Open network architecture and densification strategies for beyond 1000x network capacity increase

The key advantages of the 5G network include among other things a 1000x capacity increase in the available network capacity. This increase will support the Internet of things and also the Device to Device communication architecture. However, the increased network capacity provided by the 5G communications standards comes with the high cost of infrastructure. The high attenuation faced by mmWaves in the proposed 5G spectrum restricts the 5G network deployments to femto cells. This cell size, increases the densification of the network resulting in very high infrastructure cost for the operators. This paper presents a network topology capable of minimizing the deployment costs of the 5G networks and at the same time increasing the network capacity by several factors beyond the 1000x capacity increase currently being proposed by the 5G network. This architecture relies on the use of collocation strategies, centralized system network planning and a cloud based MSC and HLR/VLR database system. With this approach a single third party provides the MSC and database service while each operator controls their dedicated BSC and BTS. The traffic from users of a given operator is transmitted using the operators infrastructure and bandwidth. When the operators capacity is exhausted, the traffic is routed through the infrastructure of the next operator and the revenue from the traffic is shared between the operators. This system however gives priority to the original customers of the operator and only transmit traffic from other customers if the second operator has excess unused capacity. The centralized network planning makes the channels from each operator available at each cell. This increases the available capacity of the network to greater than 1000x and improves user experience and spectrum utilization.

Design of Intel 8751 Microcontroller-based System for Monitoring and Control of a Thermal Process

Abstract An Intel 8751 microcontroller-based system was developed to monitor and control the temperature of an oven. The IN4148 signal diode was used as the temperature sensor and the on-off control algorithm was utilized with the system switching off the heating process whenever it attains the preset value. The system provides a digital readout of the system temperature and a status/blinker indicator showing whether heating is in progress or terminated. The control programs were loaded onto the memory of the microcontroller and the enable the selection of the different temperature values. The system improves accuracy by eliminating human participation and saves operator time. The system is easy to operate, maintain, and upgrade.

Development of a Solar-ESP Based Wellhead System for Remote Wellhead Operations in Marginal Oilfields

Marginal Oilfield status is the terminal point of all mature producing oilfields before they are finally abandoned. At this point, it becomes uneconomical for most operators to continue producing the field due to the very low oil production from the fields coupled with the increasing water cut and sand production from the wells. In spite of the low production from these fields, records show that the field still contains up to 40% of its reserves. The field at this point is either abandoned or sold out to marginal operators who manage the fields with minimal OPEX to maintain profitability. The strategies to be deployed to ensure profitability of the field must guarantee very minimal or zero OPEX both for the production and the operation of the field. Artificial lift is a technique used for increasing the flow from low producing oil wells and the Electric Submersible Pump is a tool used in facilitating the increase of the well flow especially when the crude oil production has decreased. This work presents the development of solar power driven Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) for increasing the flow from oil wells. The system operation is managed by a controller which manages the operation of the ESP. It also utilizes the ESP and the choke to control well pressure while a sand trap is inserted between the wellhead and the choke to separate the sand from the oil. The utilization of solar power for the ESP eliminates the need for other sources of power supply which require increasing OPEX costs and integration of the electronic choke enables remote operation and control of the wellhead, thus minimizing operator visits. This system will enable marginal field operators produce from remote wells with minimal OPEX. It will also enable major operators extend the production from their oil fields especially in this era of low oil prices where new explorations are too expensive to consider. Introduction A definition of marginal fields is dependent on a mixture of specific conditions which include hydrocarbon resources, oil price, technical feasibility, operating company portfolio, commercial frame work and regulatory issues. Marginal fields can be broadly defined as oil and gas fields which are uneconomic to develop due to reserve size, complexity, fiscal and market conditions, or distance from nearby infrastructure. They could also be low volume producing fields near the end of their economic life where revenue is below operating expenditure.

Gas-Driven Power Generation System: The Niger Delta Contribution to the Nigerian National Grid

Nigeria ranks as the country with the 7th largest proven reserves of gas globally but currently focuses on the exploration of its oil with little economic use of its gas. The gas is either exported as Liquefied Natural Gas or flared by the oil and gas majors. The government has attempted to minimize the flaring by putting legislations to compel the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to stop the flaring and also encourage the utilization of the gas for electricity generation but the main challenge with this approach has been in the high cost associated with the compression and storage of the gas and the risks of vandalism associated with pipeline transport of the gas. This paper presents an approach for increasing the utilization of the gas for power generation by minimizing the risks associated with vandalization. The Niger Delta which has the bulk of the reserves can become the power generation hub of the country where all the gas driven power generation is done and fed to the national grid through a network of transformers and power lines. This configuration will eliminate the need for long pipelines while enabling the deployment of monitoring technologies on the short lines and also minimize the storage capacity required as the gas produced will be utilized by the generators. It also provides an opportunity for public Privat participation in the power supply sector. This system will ultimately improve the power supply availability in the country.

Microstrip Patch Antenna

The demand for smaller, conformable antennas with desired properties has made antenna Engineers to device better ways of making antennas. The patch antenna comes to the rescue, as it provides the features needed in antennas used in the telecoms, meteorological and military industries, where light weight low profile antennas are required. The Microstrip patch antennas comes in different shapes and configuration, the most common being circular and rectangular. The Microstrip patch antenna gives a relatively satisfactory antenna radiation pattern vis-a-vis the size and has different feeding methods used to ensure low return loss. The Patch antenna is conformal in shape as it ‘blends in’ with the aesthetics of devices it is used in. This chapter takes a close look at the performance characteristics of the rectangular and circular Microstrip antennas, comparing different antenna parameters like directivity, E and H planes Half Power Beam Width (HPBW) vis-a-vis the dimensions and size (area of patch). Five frequencies (0.9, 1.8, 1.9, 2.3 and 2.4 Ghz) are used in computing the configurations-these frequencies correspond to that of GSM, LTE and Bluetooth; results from this paper can be used in building practical antennas for phones and laptops or any Bluetooth enabled device.

LTE DOWNLINK AND UPLINK PHYSICAL LAYER

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a next generation standard by 3GPPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) consortium. This book chapter gives an overview of LTE, the physical signals and channels that are involved in downlink and uplink transmissions of LTE Physical layer (PHY). Throughput simulations results are presented and analyzed to show the performance of one of the downlink channels (PUSCH – Physical Uplink Shared Channel).

Exception Based Monitoring of Oil and Gas Pipelines Using VTOL Type-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)

The vast and diverse spread of the oil and gas pipeline infrastructure makes real-time monitoring of the entire network a very costly and impossible task. This topology has provided vandals and crude oil thieves with the opportunity of tapping the pipelines and successfully stealing crude oil from these lines unhindered. Nigeria lost over

Industry-Academia Collaborations: The Shell Sabbatical Model

11 billion to crude oil theft and pipeline vandalisation over a 4 year period (2007 to 2011). The increase in vandalisation has led to the divestment of assets by some of these oil companies as it is no longer economical to continue operating the assets. Strategies employed by the government and Oil companies to tackle these challenges include the deployment of military personnel to these assets and also along their pipeline right of way. In spite of this attempts, the results show that the deployment of these personnel and the attendant cost have not reduced the quantity and frequency of oil theft as the deployment time to some of these locations also contribute to delay in the response of the security personnel. The deployment of dynamic pipeline pressure profiles of enables the determination of the onset of a leak or a loss of crude oil. This paper presents the deployment plan and communication architecture of the Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) type of Unmanned Air Vehicles for pipeline monitoring. The pipeline network of the company is divided into wide area cells and each cell is controlled from a facility. Low power UAVs with directional antennas and long range zoom cameras are deployed to provide real-time visual monitoring of the pipeline section whenever a pressure drop or any significant third party activity is detected on section of the pipeline. Security personnel can then be deployed to the pipeline section if vandal activity is detected. This solution has the capability of reducing crude oil theft by providing accurate location data in a timely manner to the company with respect to the bunkering activity along its pipeline ROW and also enabling the timely deployment of personnel to contain the situation.

Development of a Self Configuring Mesh Network Architecture for Digital Oilfield Implementation

The quality of graduates produced by any institution is assessed by the ability of those graduates to add value to the business of their employers. Research has shown that the factors with the greatest impact on the quality of the graduates include the quality of the curriculum, the delivery method, the quality of the lecturers and the motivation of the students. The shell sabbatical model takes University lecturers with relevant proposals and integrates them into the company for a period of One year giving them the opportunity of participating fully in the company operations. This provides them with an opportunity to learn the culture of the industry and understand the skill requirement of the industry while contributing to the company business. It also provides these lecturers with an insight into the needs of the industry thus shaping their research directions. This model impacts on the quality of the lecturer, the curriculum and the teaching method by providing the lecturer with access to the latest technology in the industry, enabling the lecturer to identify relevant modifications that should be made to the curriculum of his courses and changing his teaching methods as he is now able to teach with practical examples and real life illustrations and scenarios. This also results in an increased motivation as they are taught with real life scenarios and examples. This paper reviews the Shell sabbatical model and presents some results on its

Remote Pipeline Pressure Monitoring Using Low Power Wireless Transmission

The Mesh network architecture provides a robust architecture for ad-hoc wireless communication networks utilizing low power transceiver for short hop links. The key advantages of this architecture include the ability of the network to configure itself and setup a transmission path between the different nodes. The requirement for all the nodes in the mesh network to be ON makes it unattractive for digital oilfield (DOF) implementations in both onshore and offshore Oil and Gas production installations due to the drain on the power supply. The self-configuring mesh network topology proposed in this work extends the coverage of the wireless sensor networks deployed in DOF implementations by maximizing the advantages of the mesh network and the power saving configurations of the star topology currently used in DOF implementations. It utilizes a set of algorithms which enables the Remote Terminal Units (RTU) to go into sleep mode without impacting on the real-time communication advantage of the mesh network. These algorithms enable the system to setup neighborhood cells comprising of RTUs within its coverage and identify multiple transmission paths in the event of a failure of the main link. This architecture allows more RTUs to communicate with the gateway using short hops thereby increasing data reliability. The short transmit distance extends the battery life and maximizes the gateway license as more RTUs can be linked to access the same gateway. The synchronization algorithm also enables longer battery life for the RTUs by ensuring that the RTUs operate in the sleep mode. The topology will increase the data reliability and reduce both the OPEX and CAPEX required for setting up the communication links in DOF implementations in both onshore and offshore installations.