ENTELEC 2010 Conference And Expo

The Energy Telecommunication and Electrical Association (ENTELEC), is an energy industry user group that focuses on communications and control technologies used by petroleum, natural gas, pipeline and electric utilities.

In anticipation of this year’s ENTELEC 2010 Conference and Expo, scheduled April 13-15, 2010 at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Amanda Prudden, association manager of ENTELEC, recently sat down with a few of the group’s members to discuss current issues affecting the industry. The panelist included: Enoch Charles, senior technical analyst, CenterPoint Energy; Jack Richards, partner, Keller and Heckman LLP; James Coulter, consultant, Engineering Telecom and Network Services, El Paso Corporation; and Brian Gore, network and security architect, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners.

Here’s how they responded to the questions:

Q. Is Ethernet really the magic cure-all communication protocol?
Coulter: For SCADA Communication Ethernet does not function well in the last mile radio links. Although there are Ethernet radios, often many energy companies are using licensed spectrum radios with 12.5 khz bandwidth, liming data rates to 9.6 or 19.2 Kbt. The protocols, like Modbus, are very efficient, but the addition of Ethernet overhead will significantly impact the efficiency of the channel, limiting the number of remotes or messages that can be carried either direction. The concept of Ethernet and standard Ethernet encryption tools as a solution to SCADA security has many issues to overcome as well as a massive number of embedded systems.

We actually use Ethernet at the Polling engines which talk out over the network Ethernet. Strategically located terminal servers then translate into serial communication in the last mile links (radio or satellite systems). I believe most energy companies are generally doing something similar.

Charles: Ethernet and serial communications will likely coexist in the oil and gas sector for the foreseeable future. Moreover, both technologies will allow legacy serial devices to communicate with Ethernet products with ease. Wireless technologies have advanced to the point where we must consider them extremely secure, reliable and flexible enough to handle any application. With these options, anybody can take advantage of remote monitoring and control without sacrificing functionality.

Gore: Ethernet is not the magic cure-all communication protocol. However, Ethernet will work for most communication applications. TCP/IP is the vehicle to support legacy protocols, as they are often encapsulated over IP, which continues to expand closer to the end device. As vendors continue to develop more products that support Ethernet, the remaining communications protocols will greatly diminish in use. There are many Control System applications and communication devices using protocols other than Ethernet, and given the lengthy timeframe most Control Systems are in place with no upgrades, legacy protocols will remain for many years.