Simon Carlsen

WirelessHART Versus ISA100.11a: The Format War Hits the Factory Floor

The first decade of the new millennium has been a stage for the rapid development of wireless communication technologies for low-cost, low-power wireless solutions capable of robust and reliable communication [1]. IEEE Standard 802.15.4 for low-rate wireless personal area networks (WPANs) [2] has been the enabling technology for numerous applications within the field of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) [3], and more recently, wireless instrumentation. Although WSNs quickly found their way into a wide variety of applications, the adoption of wireless technology in the process automation and manufacturing industries has been slow. None of the industrial solutions based on standards such as IEEE 802.11 [4], Bluetooth [5], ZigBee [6], and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) over low-power wireless personal area networks (6L0WPAN) [7] have yet to achieve a breakthrough a widely adopted wireless solution for industrial applications. A major reason for this is believed to be the lack of an open, international standard fulfilling the industrial requirements [8]. This changed in September 2007, when the Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (HART) Communication Foundation (HCF) released the HART Field Communication Protocol Specifi cation, Revision 7.0, which included the definition of a wireless interface to field devices, referred to as Wireless HART [9].

Applications of Wireless Sensor Networks in the Oil, Gas and Resources Industries

The paper provides a study on the use of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) in refineries, petrochemicals, underwater development facilities, and oil and gas platforms. The work focuses on networks that monitor the production process, to either prevent or detect health and safety issues or to enhance production. WSN applications offer great opportunities for production optimization where the use of wired counterparts may prove to be prohibitive. They can be used to remotely monitor pipelines, natural gas leaks, corrosion, H2S, equipment condition, and real-time reservoir status. Data gathered by such devices enables new insights into plant operation and innovative solutions that aids the oil, gas and resources industries in improving platform safety, optimizing operations, preventing problems, tolerating errors, and reducing operating costs. In this paper, we survey a number of WSN applications in oil, gas and resources industry operations.

Performance evaluation of WirelessHART for factory automation

The WirelessHART specification has given the industry access to their first open standard specifically aimed at wireless instrumentation for factory automation. For WirelessHART to be a viable solution for the process and automation industry, it has to provide a robust and reliable alternative to todays wired networks.

Using wireless sensor networks to enable increased oil recovery

This paper describes how a wireless sensor network (WSN) was deployed at the Gullfaks offshore Oil & Gas facility in the North Sea. At the Gullfaks field, decline in flow line pressure occasionally causes loss of flow from wells. This is not readily detected, and leads to large financial losses. The installation and maintenance of a traditional detection system is costly, complex and requires a production shutdown. In this case, a wireless temperature sensor network was chosen to predict the loss of flow from a well. Before deployment, the solution was tested in a semi- industrial environment to ensure that it fulfilled all requirements. The conclusion is that the described WSN solution enabled quick, relatively inexpensive and reliable detection of lost flow, thus enabling prompt action to re-establish this.

Comparison of industrial WSN standards

This paper presents a comparison of the current Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) standards that are available for industrial applications. Zigbee, WirelessHART and the recently released ISA.100 are carefully considered. The comparison outlines how WirelessHART and ISA.100 address some of the ZigBee weaknesses in the oil and gas domain.

Taxonomy of Wireless Sensor Network Cyber Security Attacks in the Oil and Gas Industries

The monitoring of oil and gas plants using sensors allows for greater insight into safety and operational performance. However, as a result of strict installation regulations of powered sensors near oil and gas fittings, the introduction of new wired sensors to optimize end-of-lifecycle plants has been expensive, complex and time consuming. Recent advances in wireless technology have enabled low-cost Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) capable of robust and reliable communication. However, the critical WSN security issues have not been sparsely investigated. The goal of this paper is to define the security issues surrounding WSNs with specific focus on the oil and gas industry.

ZigBee/ZigBee PRO Security Assessment Based on Compromised Cryptographic Keys

Sensor networks have many applications in monitoring and controlling of environmental properties such as sound, acceleration, vibration and temperature. Due to limited resources in computation capability, memory and energy, they are vulnerable to many kinds of attacks. The ZigBee specification [1], based on the 802.15.4 standard [2], defines a set of layers specifically suited to sensor networks. These layers support secure messaging using symmetric cryptographic. This paper presents two different ways for grabbing the cryptographic key in ZigBee: remote attack and physical attack. It also surveys and categorizes some additional attacks which can be performed on ZigBee networks: eavesdropping, spoofing, replay and DoS attacks at different layers. From this analysis, it is shown that some vulnerabilities still in the existing security schema in ZigBee technology.

The role of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in industrial oil and gas condition monitoring

Wireless sensor networks have a vast amount of applications including environmental monitoring, military, ecology, agriculture, inventory control, robotics and health care. This paper focuses on the area of monitoring and protection of oil and gas operations using wireless sensor networks that are optimized to decrease installation, and maintenance cost, energy requirements, increase reliability and improve communication efficiency. In addition, simulation experiments using the proposed model are presented. Such models could provide new tools for research in predictive maintenance and condition-based monitoring of factory machinery in general and for “open architecture machining systems” in particular. Wireless sensing no longer needs to be relegated to locations where access is difficult or where cabling is not practical. Wireless condition monitoring systems can be cost effectively implemented in extensive applications that were historically handled by running routes with data collectors. The result would be a lower cost program with more frequent data collection, increased safety, and lower spare parts inventories. Facilities would be able to run leaner because they will have more confidence in their ability to avoid downtime.

Research challenges in applying intelligent wireless sensors in the oil, gas and resources industries

The monitoring of oil, gas and resources plant performance and the operational environment through sensors allows for greater insight into potential safety problems and operational requirements. Such solutions promote a safe and healthy work environment for all stakeholders and optimized operations. Intelligent techniques and the monitoring of key historical operational properties can be used to realize certain characteristics and patterns in operation data. Such solutions may enhance operational visualization, foresight, forecasting and maintenance schedules for effective and efficient operation and maintenance. This optimizes plant safety, production, turnarounds, shutdowns and maintenance and improves error tolerance and recovery. However, the development of robust devices that are able to perform in these remote and hostile requirements along with the intelligent solutions to structure, store, process and retrieve this information are difficult to realize. This paper investigates the use of wireless sensors and the related intelligent solutions in the oil, gas and resource industries.

Layered Software Challenge of Wireless Technology in the Oil & Gas Industry

Recent advances in wireless technology have enabled the development of low-cost wireless solutions capable of robust and reliable communication within application areas such as wireless networking, wireless sensor networks, and asset tracking. For the oil & gas industry, utilizing this technology will lead to reduced operating costs and enable new applications. There are several challenges related to the introduction of wireless technology in the oil & gas industry. Primarily, wireless devices have to execute software implementations of complex network algorithms with real-time requirements on embedded platforms with limited resources and low-power requirements. Further, how to enable the monitoring and control applications of the wireless solutions to be managed and operated by technical personnel who do not necessarily have extensive knowledge of the underlying wireless technology. And finally, wireless systems should seamlessly integrate with already existing IT infrastructure and user applications. In this paper, issues related to these challenges are investigated.